Can NS Collectively Decide How to Respond to This?

Deforestation

Deforestation

Active member
Ok, so I'm not sure if this is a national thing(I know it's everywhere on the East Coast #weekendwarriors #Iski1weekoutwest) but whenever I bring up skiing in conversation with other "skiers" (very loose generalization there), the first thing 90% of people ask is "can you do blacks?".

I mean it's at the point now where I simply fucking laugh in their faces, but that's not necessarily the best response, as it isn't really a response at all. I don't even think about "skiing blacks" at this point; they've made up the majority of my skiing since I was seven, but a simple "yes" puts me on the same level as people who think they're Candide (not that they know who that is), just because they literally skiied a "black diamond trail" ONE FUCKING TIME.

Halp
 
Just have fun. Don't worry about what people think.... Why is this so difficult for NS'ers to understand??
 
topic:Deforestation said:
Ok, so I'm not sure if this is a national thing(I know it's everywhere on the East Coast #weekendwarriors #Iski1weekoutwest) but whenever I bring up skiing in conversation with other "skiers" (very loose generalization there), the first thing 90% of people ask is "can you do blacks?".

I mean it's at the point now where I simply fucking laugh in their faces, but that's not necessarily the best response, as it isn't really a response at all. I don't even think about "skiing blacks" at this point; they've made up the majority of my skiing since I was seven, but a simple "yes" puts me on the same level as people who think they're Candide (not that they know who that is), just because they literally skiied a "black diamond trail" ONE FUCKING TIME.

Halp
Click to expand...

why do you want so badly to one-up them?
 
OP, you sound like a weekend warrior in the thread. You are complaining about questions you get relating to rated difficulty of a ski run. Real riders dont even acknowledge that kind of question. But FIY, you might want to know this.

- The rating are not standardized and only reflect the difficulty of the run comparing to the average mountain difficulty. I shit you not a blue run at Revelstoke is nowhere near the same blue run at Blue Mountain. You just cant compare.

- Noobs ALWAYS go from the bunny hill to the hardest run on the mountain. Sometimes the hardest runs at a ski center is less fun to ski that a well conceived blue cruiser run.

- Add your own challenges on easy runs. 360 the steep part, do the whole thing switch...add style to the run.

- When a noob's ego is too high to reason with him, send him down the steepest bumps or glades you can find and just leave him in the powder dust.

- Get shots. Vids or it never happened.
 
I wish i could have something to tell you because people tell ask me that too but I dont have any place to ski near me so i kinda am a "1-week a year out west" guy
 
13603700:freestyler540 said:
OP, you sound like a weekend warrior in the thread. You are complaining about questions you get relating to rated difficulty of a ski run. Real riders dont even acknowledge that kind of question. But FIY, you might want to know this.

- The rating are not standardized and only reflect the difficulty of the run comparing to the average mountain difficulty. I shit you not a blue run at Revelstoke is nowhere near the same blue run at Blue Mountain. You just cant compare.

- Noobs ALWAYS go from the bunny hill to the hardest run on the mountain. Sometimes the hardest runs at a ski center is less fun to ski that a well conceived blue cruiser run.

- Add your own challenges on easy runs. 360 the steep part, do the whole thing switch...add style to the run.

- When a noob's ego is too high to reason with him, send him down the steepest bumps or glades you can find and just leave him in the powder dust.

- Get shots. Vids or it never happened.
Click to expand...

Good answer
 
13603700:freestyler540 said:
OP, you sound like a weekend warrior in the thread. You are complaining about questions you get relating to rated difficulty of a ski run. Real riders dont even acknowledge that kind of question. But FIY, you might want to know this.

- The rating are not standardized and only reflect the difficulty of the run comparing to the average mountain difficulty. I shit you not a blue run at Revelstoke is nowhere near the same blue run at Blue Mountain. You just cant compare.

- Noobs ALWAYS go from the bunny hill to the hardest run on the mountain. Sometimes the hardest runs at a ski center is less fun to ski that a well conceived blue cruiser run.

- Add your own challenges on easy runs. 360 the steep part, do the whole thing switch...add style to the run.

- When a noob's ego is too high to reason with him, send him down the steepest bumps or glades you can find and just leave him in the powder dust.

- Get shots. Vids or it never happened.
Click to expand...

Totally understand where you're coming from with this in terms of how I sound like a weekend warrior in my original post. Let me rephrase:

It's not the need to one-up someone who clearly isn't good at skiing, but rather the desire to explain that asking someone if they can "ski blacks" isn't a relavent question at all. Yes, I realize that the rating of a run means literally nothing for the most part, which is why I find the question of whether one can "ski blacks" so frustration and stupid. I apologize for how I sounded originally, didn't mean it to come off that way.
 
I definitely have friends who have asked this question in the past, just tell them you can do backflips and one of two things happen:

-the conversation sort of takes care of itself from there

-panties drop
 
Isis_rocks, why do keep opening your mouth (in this case, creating a thread) and remove all doubt and solidifies everyone's thoughts around here that you are a complete dumbass poser. How many turns you got this year, 3?
 
13603781:McNoche said:
Isis_rocks, why do keep opening your mouth (in this case, creating a thread) and remove all doubt and solidifies everyone's thoughts around here that you are a complete dumbass poser. How many turns you got this year, 3?
Click to expand...

Flame him.
 
Don't expect someone that isn't an enthusiastic skiier themselves to be able to carry an in depth conversation about the sport.

This is probably them trying to ask if you suck or not politely.

People will need to be on snow with you and see you ski something difficult at speeds that would lead them into a tree to give you respect and not figure you are similar to them in terms of ability.
 
13603781:McNoche said:
Isis_rocks, why do keep opening your mouth (in this case, creating a thread) and remove all doubt and solidifies everyone's thoughts around here that you are a complete dumbass poser. How many turns you got this year, 3?
Click to expand...

bc7d68dd5ace8e2b805d05c8db5e3369.jpg
 
topic:Deforestation said:
Ok, so I'm not sure if this is a national thing(I know it's everywhere on the East Coast #weekendwarriors #Iski1weekoutwest) but whenever I bring up skiing in conversation with other "skiers" (very loose generalization there), the first thing 90% of people ask is "can you do blacks?".

I mean it's at the point now where I simply fucking laugh in their faces, but that's not necessarily the best response, as it isn't really a response at all. I don't even think about "skiing blacks" at this point; they've made up the majority of my skiing since I was seven, but a simple "yes" puts me on the same level as people who think they're Candide (not that they know who that is), just because they literally skiied a "black diamond trail" ONE FUCKING TIME.

Halp
Click to expand...

Meh - I mean really the sign of a good skier should be that you don't want to brag about how good you are. You simply don't need to.

If someone says "Do you do blacks?" A simple "yeah man, lets go hit one!" will do the trick. You will ski well, they will ski however they ski and you will have taken a run with someone.

If you're far better than they are, you'll get a compliment and then you give them a few pointers on how they can improve if they ask. Help a brutha get better.

Subtly they will realize it was stupid to ask if you can do blacks, and they will change their behavior in the future.
 
topic:Deforestation said:
Ok, so I'm not sure if this is a national thing(I know it's everywhere on the East Coast #weekendwarriors #Iski1weekoutwest) but whenever I bring up skiing in conversation with other "skiers" (very loose generalization there), the first thing 90% of people ask is "can you do blacks?".

I mean it's at the point now where I simply fucking laugh in their faces, but that's not necessarily the best response, as it isn't really a response at all. I don't even think about "skiing blacks" at this point; they've made up the majority of my skiing since I was seven, but a simple "yes" puts me on the same level as people who think they're Candide (not that they know who that is), just because they literally skiied a "black diamond trail" ONE FUCKING TIME.

Halp
Click to expand...

Cool story bro...
 
You just gotta think about it as a start to an educational conversation.

Follow up beginner questions with things like, "Yeah, where do you ride?", or "Yeah, any day there's powder, but I'm more of a park rat." or "Yeah, I've been scoping this chute for a couple years, wanna come check it with me?" or "Yeah, have you been hitting some good lines recently?", or "Yeah, I basically spent last Sunday burning laps on Waterfall, have you been out there?", or "Yeah, wanna go shred?"

You have now made the honorable first step of converting a gaper to the light side.
 
i get that statement a lot when i ask a customer where they ski and what type of terrain they like to ski. Telling me "i can do blacks" does not tell me anything because you can have the worst form on the mountain and be terrified the whole way down. This doesnt equate to skiing ability. How well can you ski a more difficult trail is the question. Can you top to bottom be in control the whole time and take the most technical line. can you carve a steep trail the same as a mellow one. thats what differentiates skiing abilities amonst people. Unfortunately its a part of our sport. So the next time you are on a lift and someone asks you that, just be specific about a certain "black diamond" trail and what section of the trail you liked and how you conquered it. It'll make them think about how they could do the same to improve. Laughing in their face does nothing but make you look rude and obnoxious. We're all on the hill to have fun and help others when we can.
 
I don't actually remember the last time I was asked if I skied blacks... Pretty sure it was back when I was a little kid chilling with other little kids when that was something that mattered.
 
If gapers piss you off with dumb questions, just push them down stairs in front of children. Next thing you know Park City will be naming runs after you because you're so good at skiing.
 
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