"So many kids these days are so worried about looking cool and making
the sport the next hot thing to do, the next snowboarding or
skateboarding or whatever, buying up the newest outerwear to look
badass, picking up the image or riding style of their favourite X-games
champ... and along the way, a lot of people have lost a feel for what
skiing is supposed to be. It's not about looking cool for the
mainstream, or about being able to say "I'm a skier" and make that a
legitimate way to impress people. It's not even about looking cool for
ourselves, doing what the rest of the industry will think is awesome,
because the more time passes, the more obvious it becomes that a lot of
this industry is in it for the wrong reasons. It's not about
"progressing the sport in the right direction" or "making skiing into
this that or the other thing" or "moving towards this or that style".
It's not about gaining legitimacy in the world of action sports. A lot
of people seem to think that it is these things. No. It's about
enjoying the sport for what it is. Skiing doesn't need to improve
itself. Of course we all love to see new things, and to push new
limits, but when you make that the focus of everything, you lose a lot
of the point of taking part in the sport to begin with. Pro skiers have
to look at it like a job, because that's what it is to Us."
Wow, that seems super familiar... wait a second, I WROTE THAT 3 YEARS AGO and it's still in my profile.