Favorite era?

J_Steez

Active member
What're your guys's favorite eras of park skiing? Honestly I love the new wave and all the nutty shit being offered, but nothing will be the same as the years 2008-2014. I miss tall t's, ninthward, and the era of hornbeck-wallisch and nick martini
 
My favorite era is 08-14 as well.

Park Skiing then was, I think, in it's golden era in terms of filming and the talent that was on the block.

That is not to disrespect the incredible talent, edits, and films that are being produced today. There are a lot of new things in skiing today that probably blow that era out of the water. But overall, 08-14 will always be the GOAT for me.
 
The dude is one of the best ever!!!!!

13893252:Cream_Sauce said:
Fuckin rights buddy his parts in Sunny and Partly Cloudy plus the Walk In The Park edits are still some of my favorite shit ever.
 
impossible for me to pick a favourite era, but if i had to do it, I would say whatever era we're in right now, or at least until the next era arrives. Each era was super sick in its own way, but there's so much crazy and inspiring stuff going on right now
 
The 2009 ish era was a lot of fun. It might be the nostalgia glasses but I feel like the vibe back then was all about just having fun skiing with your homies, EDIAS captured it perfectly.
 
Corey Vanular in LSS, when the first Line invaders came out plus Line’s shitty reactor bindings, Tanner hall breaking both his ankles, the how to get to chads gap from the bottom of Alta mega thread! This was a special era I will always hold close to my heart. Fuck I’m getting old.
 
2007-2013ish.

Just really felt like there was a lot happening then. New videos all the time, future spin arms race, lots of style, NS was a BUSTLING skiing Mecca. Freeskiing had been a thing for a while, but it felt like it started exploding around 2005 and then just went absolutely nuts up through like 2012.
 
What's left for newer folk like myself?

My style will be born into and molded by the new wave.

What about NS? It's like I joined a school in senior year.
 
1999 - 2005 T Hall, CR, Shane, SethMo, Eric Pollard, Mik D, Candide, Canadian Air Force, so many sick movies. I think one fo the coolest things about that time was it was before parks were super well built, everyone was just stoked to have a park at all, so it resulted in some wild shit going down on jumps that would never make it into a movie today. Also miss seeing pros send it on pipes smaller than 15 feet, back then it seems like everyone skied pipe.

**This post was edited on Nov 27th 2018 at 9:00:26am
 
13895472:chef_boyardee said:
impossible for me to pick a favourite era, but if i had to do it, I would say whatever era we're in right now, or at least until the next era arrives. Each era was super sick in its own way, but there's so much crazy and inspiring stuff going on right now

13965098:midwesternmaniac said:
We're in a very interesting time right now, a little bit of everything I think . Lots of inspiring stuff for any kind of skier

i'm with you guys, i think right now is the best era in skiing so far. the sport is at an absolutely insane level, yet people are also getting popular by jumping around on park benches. people are doing full on solo projects and most videos are released for FREE. there's just so much variety within the sport and it's all being fleshed out so much, i think it's amazing

after that, for me it's 2001-2003 ish, but i know a lot of that is nostalgia

funny that 2008ish is so popular with people. i thought things got relatively stale around then. felt like a blur of Biggie remixes and 3s 7s 9s and the occasional early dubs, and smaller simpler rails were more common cause everyone was obsessed with doing trixxx on them. i remember some douche telling me that "90 on 90 off a rail isn't even a trick"

Confused-Jacksonville-Jaguars-fan-in-stands.gif


regardless, i'm super thankful ive gotten to watch the sport mature. long after im skiing myself, i look forward to seeing what's going down in the sport in 2060 or whatever. i'm sure by then it will be hard to even remember that at one point a front swap was a new exciting trick..! 15 years ago people debated whether a cork 3 was possible. now people do dub 7s and trip 10s. just crazy how the sport changes what you think is physically possible
 
13965186:SofaKingSick said:
i'm with you guys, i think right now is the best era in skiing so far. the sport is at an absolutely insane level, yet people are also getting popular by jumping around on park benches. people are doing full on solo projects and most videos are released for FREE. there's just so much variety within the sport and it's all being fleshed out so much, i think it's amazing

after that, for me it's 2001-2003 ish, but i know a lot of that is nostalgia

funny that 2008ish is so popular with people. i thought things got relatively stale around then. felt like a blur of Biggie remixes and 3s 7s 9s and the occasional early dubs, and smaller simpler rails were more common cause everyone was obsessed with doing trixxx on them. i remember some douche telling me that "90 on 90 off a rail isn't even a trick"

Confused-Jacksonville-Jaguars-fan-in-stands.gif


regardless, i'm super thankful ive gotten to watch the sport mature. long after im skiing myself, i look forward to seeing what's going down in the sport in 2060 or whatever. i'm sure by then it will be hard to even remember that at one point a front swap was a new exciting trick..! 15 years ago people debated whether a cork 3 was possible. now people do dub 7s and trip 10s. just crazy how the sport changes what you think is physically possible

I agree with the baggy stuff being a little stale too , that stuff wasn't as exciting to me when I was new to the sport , but I can totally understand the nostalgia. The real og early 2000s stuff is just cool history to see. I think it's awesome no matter what though to see how the sport has gone from more than a sport to being a literal art
 
13965062:pinkcamo1000 said:
1999 - 2005 T Hall, CR, Shane, SethMo, Eric Pollard, Mik D, Candide, Canadian Air Force, so many sick movies. I think one fo the coolest things about that time was it was before parks were super well built, everyone was just stoked to have a park at all, so it resulted in some wild shit going down on jumps that would never make it into a movie today. Also miss seeing pros send it on pipes smaller than 15 feet, back then it seems like everyone skied pipe.

**This post was edited on Nov 27th 2018 at 9:00:26am

I agree, I am 30 years old now and have been skiing since I can walk and I have a certain nostalgia for this time. This was the era of the Smith limo and the venerable giant hip jump. It was also the big rivalry between Tanner Hall and Simon Dumont and Shane McConkey and Seth Morrison doing insane back country lines/drops. Freeze magazine was in its prime as well with the Lifty of the Month etc. As a skier, it was fun because it was a time that 'new school' skiing was just starting to become popular and growing as a sport so everything felt new and fresh back when kids were riding Solomon 1080s and Rossi Scratch skis. (I still have my old Pocket Rockets with the robot on them.) It was also a time before cameras and video sharing were widely available so skiing was more of a thing you did and kept between your ski crew instead of being shared online.

2005-2007 was a significant cultural change for skiing. Previously professional skiing often had a 'punk rock' attitude with partying etc. The most notable example of this is cringe worthy into to Jonny Moseley Mad Trix which was over the top but indicative of the attitude of the time. In 2005 Tanner Hall had his infamous crash on Chads Gap which took him out of skiing progression for years. Then in 2007 Eric Pollard, Andry Mahre, and Pep Fujas came out with Idea which in one movie changed skiing's punk rock culture to that of a more soulful creative endeavour.

2008 to 2014 in my opinion was definitely skiing in its prime. Every fall there were so many ski movie premiers you had to pick and choose including Poor Boys, Level 1, Stept, Matchstick etc. Internet content is great and easily available but I do miss the days of ski movie premiers where all the local skiers get together to meet the pros, sign posters, win raffles, hang out and get the stoke up for the upcoming season. This was also about the time the Banshee Bungee was invented and led to a revolution in urban skiing in what athletes could do and features to work with. It was also the time that resorts really got on board with building insane features for movies.

2014 to current is what I would call the Internet era of skiing. Ski Movies are quickly becoming eclipsed by internet media like SLVSH and other steaming content. This has allowed a new crop of athletes to express their style and progression outside the usual confines of sponsorships and media/film companies. Overall, I think this is a good direction and allows for a certain democratization of skiing styles but I feel it has taken away from the 'superstar' aspect of professional skiing that came with riding for a big media company.

Anyway, that is my .02
 
13965048:hubbards said:
What's left for newer folk like myself?

My style will be born into and molded by the new wave.

What about NS? It's like I joined a school in senior year.

That is one thing I dont like about what the internet did to skiing, it makes the presentation of what you are doing almost as important as the fun. Say fuck it, grab your skis, head to the mountain and have a good time and do whatever the hell you want. Dont even worry about filming it, just go. Ski Movies may be fading, NS may be past its prime or whatever, there is a 'new wave' I guess but all that doesnt really matter as long as there is snow and wooden sticks to ride on. I have been around for quite a long time and that has been the only constant through all the changes and fads- getting on the snow and having fun.
 
13965234:SuspiciousFish said:
I agree, I am 30 years old now and have been skiing since I can walk and I have a certain nostalgia for this time. This was the era of the Smith limo and the venerable giant hip jump. It was also the big rivalry between Tanner Hall and Simon Dumont and Shane McConkey and Seth Morrison doing insane back country lines/drops. Freeze magazine was in its prime as well with the Lifty of the Month etc. As a skier, it was fun because it was a time that 'new school' skiing was just starting to become popular and growing as a sport so everything felt new and fresh back when kids were riding Solomon 1080s and Rossi Scratch skis. (I still have my old Pocket Rockets with the robot on them.) It was also a time before cameras and video sharing were widely available so skiing was more of a thing you did and kept between your ski crew instead of being shared online.

2005-2007 was a significant cultural change for skiing. Previously professional skiing often had a 'punk rock' attitude with partying etc. The most notable example of this is cringe worthy into to Jonny Moseley Mad Trix which was over the top but indicative of the attitude of the time. In 2005 Tanner Hall had his infamous crash on Chads Gap which took him out of skiing progression for years. Then in 2007 Eric Pollard, Andry Mahre, and Pep Fujas came out with Idea which in one movie changed skiing's punk rock culture to that of a more soulful creative endeavour.

2008 to 2014 in my opinion was definitely skiing in its prime. Every fall there were so many ski movie premiers you had to pick and choose including Poor Boys, Level 1, Stept, Matchstick etc. Internet content is great and easily available but I do miss the days of ski movie premiers where all the local skiers get together to meet the pros, sign posters, win raffles, hang out and get the stoke up for the upcoming season. This was also about the time the Banshee Bungee was invented and led to a revolution in urban skiing in what athletes could do and features to work with. It was also the time that resorts really got on board with building insane features for movies.

2014 to current is what I would call the Internet era of skiing. Ski Movies are quickly becoming eclipsed by internet media like SLVSH and other steaming content. This has allowed a new crop of athletes to express their style and progression outside the usual confines of sponsorships and media/film companies. Overall, I think this is a good direction and allows for a certain democratization of skiing styles but I feel it has taken away from the 'superstar' aspect of professional skiing that came with riding for a big media company.

Anyway, that is my .02

hell yeah dude, I agree with everything you said here. While the early days of freeskiing are definitely my favourite cause I feel the most nostalgia for them, skiing definitely progressed and grew the most 2008 - 2014 which is why most people on this site love that era. IDEA was one of the biggest turning points in skiing, hands down. I think it's hard to pin down when the Internet era began, but I think that when crews like The Bunch, HG Skis, B&E, and LaFamilia started putting out full length movies for free online was when the old DVD model that dominated the 2008 - 2014 era started to fade.
 
13965234:SuspiciousFish said:
I agree, I am 30 years old now and have been skiing since I can walk and I have a certain nostalgia for this time. This was the era of the Smith limo and the venerable giant hip jump. It was also the big rivalry between Tanner Hall and Simon Dumont and Shane McConkey and Seth Morrison doing insane back country lines/drops. Freeze magazine was in its prime as well with the Lifty of the Month etc. As a skier, it was fun because it was a time that 'new school' skiing was just starting to become popular and growing as a sport so everything felt new and fresh back when kids were riding Solomon 1080s and Rossi Scratch skis. (I still have my old Pocket Rockets with the robot on them.) It was also a time before cameras and video sharing were widely available so skiing was more of a thing you did and kept between your ski crew instead of being shared online.

2005-2007 was a significant cultural change for skiing. Previously professional skiing often had a 'punk rock' attitude with partying etc. The most notable example of this is cringe worthy into to Jonny Moseley Mad Trix which was over the top but indicative of the attitude of the time. In 2005 Tanner Hall had his infamous crash on Chads Gap which took him out of skiing progression for years. Then in 2007 Eric Pollard, Andry Mahre, and Pep Fujas came out with Idea which in one movie changed skiing's punk rock culture to that of a more soulful creative endeavour.

2008 to 2014 in my opinion was definitely skiing in its prime. Every fall there were so many ski movie premiers you had to pick and choose including Poor Boys, Level 1, Stept, Matchstick etc. Internet content is great and easily available but I do miss the days of ski movie premiers where all the local skiers get together to meet the pros, sign posters, win raffles, hang out and get the stoke up for the upcoming season. This was also about the time the Banshee Bungee was invented and led to a revolution in urban skiing in what athletes could do and features to work with. It was also the time that resorts really got on board with building insane features for movies.

2014 to current is what I would call the Internet era of skiing. Ski Movies are quickly becoming eclipsed by internet media like SLVSH and other steaming content. This has allowed a new crop of athletes to express their style and progression outside the usual confines of sponsorships and media/film companies. Overall, I think this is a good direction and allows for a certain democratization of skiing styles but I feel it has taken away from the 'superstar' aspect of professional skiing that came with riding for a big media company.

Anyway, that is my .02

You absolutely nailed what made 08-14 so radically different from any other period and why it felt like so many different things were happening all at once. Also helped that there were tons of “little guys” in the ski movie arena, like 4bi9, Stept, and Clown School.

Shit man. Good times those were. Still good now but man that was a fun stretch back there.
 
13965062:pinkcamo1000 said:
1999 - 2005 T Hall, CR, Shane, SethMo, Eric Pollard, Mik D, Candide, Canadian Air Force, so many sick movies. I think one fo the coolest things about that time was it was before parks were super well built, everyone was just stoked to have a park at all, so it resulted in some wild shit going down on jumps that would never make it into a movie today. Also miss seeing pros send it on pipes smaller than 15 feet, back then it seems like everyone skied pipe.

**This post was edited on Nov 27th 2018 at 9:00:26am

Speak the truth!

The days of big air comps into a bottom quarter pipe hit! Fuck, quarter pipe hits at all...they just don't exist anymore.

Back when there were maybe 3-4 skiers in the park surrounded by an endless mob of snowboarders. Believe it or not, there was actually a time when NS connected the majority of park skiers in North America. Shit, we even knew each other by our real names and not just screen names...

Fuck we're old...
 
13965717:Pipe_Munky said:
Speak the truth!

The days of big air comps into a bottom quarter pipe hit! Fuck, quarter pipe hits at all...they just don't exist anymore.

Back when there were maybe 3-4 skiers in the park surrounded by an endless mob of snowboarders. Believe it or not, there was actually a time when NS connected the majority of park skiers in North America. Shit, we even knew each other by our real names and not just screen names...

Fuck we're old...

A modern day big air comp into a qp would be madness
 
Born in Nov 96, I'm super jealous of the era you guys got to experience

13965717:Pipe_Munky said:
Speak the truth!

The days of big air comps into a bottom quarter pipe hit! Fuck, quarter pipe hits at all...they just don't exist anymore.

Back when there were maybe 3-4 skiers in the park surrounded by an endless mob of snowboarders. Believe it or not, there was actually a time when NS connected the majority of park skiers in North America. Shit, we even knew each other by our real names and not just screen names...

Fuck we're old...
 
13966123:BigPurpleSkiSuit said:
Born in Nov 96, I'm super jealous of the era you guys got to experience

I'm only three years older than you, I just had two older brothers who were into freestyle from the beginning so I got exposed to it super young. I definitely wasn't on NS back then cause I was like 6 haha, and the park scene was minimal in Nova Scotia. As I've gotten older I've grown to appreciate the older movies more and more.

Some of my favourites from that era:

PBP Happy Dayz (2002)

MSP Global Storming (1999) https://vimeo.com/122757246

Eric Iberg/Tanner Hall WSKI106 (2004)
 
Just rewatched Seven Sunny Days last night. I think that's my all time favorite time in skiing.

One of the most brilliant shots ever captured in skiing. Genius. 916121.png
 
13966265:ButteredToast. said:
Just rewatched Seven Sunny Days last night. I think that's my all time favorite time in skiing.

One of the most brilliant shots ever captured in skiing. Genius. View attachment 916121

Oh man, I remember that shot now. So sick how he looks at the camera. On a somber note, you inspired me to watch CR's segment from Seven Sunny Days. It always gets to me how he recovered then passed away in another accident. I have his signed 4frnt poster from when I talked to him right as he was working on the CRJ prototype, its in my closet and I check it out from time to time.
 
13965717:Pipe_Munky said:
Speak the truth!

The days of big air comps into a bottom quarter pipe hit! Fuck, quarter pipe hits at all...they just don't exist anymore.

Back when there were maybe 3-4 skiers in the park surrounded by an endless mob of snowboarders. Believe it or not, there was actually a time when NS connected the majority of park skiers in North America. Shit, we even knew each other by our real names and not just screen names...

Fuck we're old...

Speaking of parks, do you guys remember when all the major resorts almost closed all their Terrain Parks for good after a string of accidents? I dont remember exactly when but it got pretty serious, I think that is when they started focusing on separate park passes for the big jumps.
 
13966290:SuspiciousFish said:
Speaking of parks, do you guys remember when all the major resorts almost closed all their Terrain Parks for good after a string of accidents? I dont remember exactly when but it got pretty serious, I think that is when they started focusing on separate park passes for the big jumps.

They permanently closed the park at MT. Baker because someone overshot the biggest jump to flat.

There was also the ban on inverted tricks for a while
 
13966289:SuspiciousFish said:
Oh man, I remember that shot now. So sick how he looks at the camera. On a somber note, you inspired me to watch CR's segment from Seven Sunny Days. It always gets to me how he recovered then passed away in another accident. I have his signed 4frnt poster from when I talked to him right as he was working on the CRJ prototype, its in my closet and I check it out from time to time.

Never got to meet him, but his segment in Seven Sunny Days was what introduced me to him, and I always thought it was the most inspiring story in all of sports. Was a heavy day when I learned of his death.

Watching Sarah Burke ski again made me sad too. I can remember getting super choked up during the XGames candle lit halfpipe tribute to her. She was a fucking legend, one of the only girls who could hold her own with the guys at that time.

SSD is packed to the gills with legends who made skiing what it is today
 
13966292:DirtYStylE said:
They permanently closed the park at MT. Baker because someone overshot the biggest jump to flat.

There was also the ban on inverted tricks for a while

there is still a ban on inverts at my home mountain unless you have "certification" it's wack af
 
13965234:SuspiciousFish said:
2005-2007 was a significant cultural change for skiing. Previously professional skiing often had a 'punk rock' attitude with partying etc. The most notable example of this is cringe worthy into to Jonny Moseley Mad Trix which was over the top but indicative of the attitude of the time. In 2005 Tanner Hall had his infamous crash on Chads Gap which took him out of skiing progression for years. Then in 2007 Eric Pollard, Andry Mahre, and Pep Fujas came out with Idea which in one movie changed skiing's punk rock culture to that of a more soulful creative endeavour.

Teddybear Crisis was the peak of this era, which was my favorite time.

Also, Idea was the precursor to ski movies/edits being released online. The validation of the Nimbus crew's first movie, Idea, set them up the following winter for the first large-scale online release of ski edits - Hunting Yeti and En Route. IMO they were the first to do this well and showed the traditional DVD release business model was eventually going to be outdated to make way for digital releases.
 
13966713:artrud23 said:
Also, Idea was the precursor to ski movies/edits being released online. The validation of the Nimbus crew's first movie, Idea, set them up the following winter for the first large-scale online release of ski edits - Hunting Yeti and En Route. IMO they were the first to do this well and showed the traditional DVD release business model was eventually going to be outdated to make way for digital releases.

This. Idea was not only revolutionary because of all of the no poles skiing, but also because it was a huge deviation from the mainstream ski movie model. At that time all of the other movies had bigger and bigger budgets every year, whereas Idea was super cheaply made, which definitely paved the way for all of the online content today.
 
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