"Few Words" and Tanner Hall

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faux_real

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It's hard not to think of Tanner when you watch "Few Words" and see how Candide came back after his injury from Big Bertha 2. He quit competing in the park and pipe and switched to big mountain comps, (where the expectations were low) and focused the rest of his energy on filming in the backcountry. Tanner seems to be taking the opposite approach, doubling down on halfpipe and raising the stakes as much as possible (by setting his sights on the olympics and taking shit to all of the younger pipe jocks). Too bad no one could talk Tanner into going the Candide route. I guess that's just not his style--he likes to talk shit and be in the spotlight.
 
idk tanner has already sort of done that, he used to be pure park back in the day and was easily the best for years, then steadily moved toward the BC and alaska and shut up a lot of doubters. the fact that he's now coming back toward contests is FUCKING GNARLY.. most skiers sort of earn their stripes in the park and street rails and then move on to powder and stop trying to keep up with flippy spinnies so much. the fact that tanner's coming back from making the park to bc transition and is now going back to rock hard pipe walls and learning new doubles is insane.

both those dudes are just so next level
 
I respect Tanner fronting up to pipe these days, it'd be incredibly hard. But I also think he knows he doesn't have what it takes to be up there in big mtn stuff. I mean he makes pillows and trees look fun but I haven't seen his on anything big and gnarly. If he gets to the Olympics for pipe though it'll be one hell of a story to tell
 


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Start at 2:50, watch until the end (actually just watch the whole thing if you haven't seen it before).

If you don't think this is big and gnarly then you don't know what it takes to step up to lines like that.

Its very, very easy to underestimate how gnarly big mountain lines actually are.

 
tanner has been recovering for the last three years and the past two seasons just skied pow, and after his ankles he did the same thing, Tanner always competed more then Candide in major N. American comps to begin with, you are over thinking the situation and making no sense
 
true, i guess the candide route wasn't enough for him. what worries me is exactly what you point out. going back 100% into pipe skiing at his age is insane. i'd like to believe the doug bishop argument, but i just don't think his mental game and experience can offset his age...you need to be young and limber to keep up with the tricks and not get hurt.

also, i'm not being fair to tanner by reducing him to his pipe skiing. he's got the mentor thing going with henrik and phil. that keeps him relevant, even if he leverages it a little too hard at times (e.g., Freestyle CH).
 
you might have a point, but so do i. candide and tanner both faced career-threatening injuries and had to rethink their careers in light of them. tanner may have faced more of them. he may have already tried out some of the things candide did. but nevertheless, it's interesting comparing what tanner hall is doing now to what candide did. two different temperaments, two different approaches. it could end up explaining why one of these legends has more longevity than the other (although i hope they both keep doing what they're doing for years to come).
 
hmm..check back to tanners last couple videos over the few years..retallack, massive, believe..they're pretty backcountry focused
 
yeah.. it'll be interesting to see what they each do now (and i cant wait to see few words)

but really, even being relevant in the pro skiing world for 10 years is completely nuts. just crazy
 
Give it time. If he is successful at this Olympic bid then awesome! (Never count Tanner out) but if not then he can turn his attention 100% to BC stuff and it will be sweet too.
 
sorry but you clearly don't know "big and gnarly" is. yes those lines are sick, he skis them insanely well, probably better than just about anyone else possibly could. but they are not 'big and gnarly". i would describe them as "playful and fun". not taking anything away from him at all but big and gnarly lines are those on which a fall would lead to severe injury/death. watch some of Hoji's segments for some "big and gnarly" lines then get back to me
 
alright dude, i do ski pow but you cant tell me there's not a difference between from the start to about 2:35 (fun and playful) and from 6:35 on (big and gnarly). and anyways, skiing powder in itself is not going to big and gnarly, you've got a lot of forgiveness in the soft snow and show me one video where someones skiing big lines while getting legit faceshots. while big mountain stuff is untracked that doesn't mean it "pow"

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nothing, I think it's sick, but there would be thousands ot people who ski pow and big lines as well or better than Tanner however he's still going to be in the top few in pipe when he cranks up the competing again. He knows this, and I'm sure a big part of his enjoyment comes from success so his focus on pipe can't be all that surprising.
 
To be honest I think that Candide was taking a bit of a break by going into the BC/ powder scene. I was talking to him after one of his premiere's and he said that he was definitely thinking about getting back into park which you can see in few words, he does hit a couple park type jumps, so I feel that he will make somewhat of a move back into it, but I guess we shall see.
 
They are big gnarly pillow lines and Tanner slays them but they are not comparable to some of the big mountain lines others are slaying in Alaska or the terrain that skiers are tackling on the FWT. That's the point and you patronising someone who points that out makes YOU look like the one who doesn't know what they're talking about.
 
Does it even really matter?

I give Tanner major credit for coming back from major career-ending injuries and still aspiring to be as good as he was before. I don't think he ever aspired to be or knew he would be as good as the best big mountain skiers. And that's fine. He enjoys skiing. He can still ski really well. Better than I can or will ever be able to (and I never broke my ankles or knees).

He doesn't spend all of his time doing AK Lines or BC booters or in the Pipe. but for someone who has been through the injuries that he has, he is still really good at all of those disciplines.
 
it's fairly limited and does not have any longetivity to it. And who gives a fuck about pipe?
 
The pillow segment in Believe is amazing skiing, and Tanner can hold his own in big mountain, but he is not at the level of Candide in terms of winning the FWT in his first season competing (insane feat, probably never happen again). Also if you watch Few Words, you will see some new impressive stuff Candide shot in the Selkirks... high speed, big air, technical lines. He skis REALLY fast too, was blown away by it.
 
haa...uhh what?...check dream factory out or better yet mark abma's 8 minutes of footy on freeskiers sight and tell me he's not getting legit faceshots...in some lines everytime his skis move he's in the white room
 
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