Freeskiing Generations

codizzle

Member
If Jonny Moseley and The New Canadian Air Force were Freeskiing Generation 1.0 (1998-2003), help me define the generations since then.

I think Generation 2.0 (2003-2008) was Tanner Hall, Jon Olsson, Candide Thovex, Pep Fujas, Simon Dumont, Dave Crichton, Peter Olenick, Charles Gagnier, TJ Schiller, Mike Wilson, Eric Pollard.

Was Generation 3.0 (2008-???) Tom Wallisch, Henrik Harlaut and Sammy Carlson?

Help me fill in the blanks.
 
THall and Candide are definitely 1.0 coming out of moguls into freeskiing and having XGames medals as well as segments in nschool movies pre-2003. Not moguls but Jon Olson is in the same boat coming over from racing before twin tips were on the market
 
if we're including "extreme skiing" i think it goes back way farther. like i'd say 1.0 was guys like doug coombs, scot schmidt, steve mckinney etc. sending shit on downhill race skis. could make the argument for sylvain saudan too but he was more of a mountaineer/alpinist.

agree with 2008 being a cutoff. idk why just feels like that's when shit started taking off with xgames and stuff, olenick landing dub and then the "kids" kind of took it from there.

i think the current gen started a few years ago with some of the 00s kids like ahall/ferdi/matej starting to show up in film and comps. around when insta clips became the norm, level 1 stopped putting out full lengths, just reads like a big change in freeskiing
 
I think tanner and candide belong in first category cuz they were competing against just those guys and candide had a pro model first .I think Sammy is around same age as Simon but just never quit skiing. Anyways the current era is weird, no poles looks bad. Progress is insane everywhere in the sport. No poles looks bad no poles is bad

topic:codizzle said:
If Jonny Moseley and The New Canadian Air Force were Freeskiing Generation 1.0 (1998-2003), help me define the generations since then.

I think Generation 2.0 (2003-2008) was Tanner Hall, Jon Olsson, Candide Thovex, Pep Fujas, Simon Dumont, Dave Crichton, Peter Olenick, Charles Gagnier, TJ Schiller, Mike Wilson, Eric Pollard.

Was Generation 3.0 (2008-???) Tom Wallisch, Henrik Harlaut and Sammy Carlson?

Help me fill in the blanks.
 
14623533:SummitKevin said:
I think tanner and candide belong in first category cuz they were competing against just those guys and candide had a pro model first .I think Sammy is around same age as Simon but just never quit skiing. Anyways the current era is weird, no poles looks bad. Progress is insane everywhere in the sport. No poles looks bad no poles is bad

Complaining about no poles in 2024 is hilarious, long poles have been the trend for many years now. It’s not 2016
 
i think we’re going to enter into a new era of longevity for skiers, pros and casuals alike. People like henrik and goepper showing no signs of stopping and the overall ability level just keeps increasing. as long as you’re healthy and stoked no reason you can’t keep pushing and progressing
 
14623539:Dlonetti said:
i think we’re going to enter into a new era of longevity for skiers, pros and casuals alike. People like henrik and goepper showing no signs of stopping and the overall ability level just keeps increasing. as long as you’re healthy and stoked no reason you can’t keep pushing and progressing

Can’t forget ageless will wesson

i know people loved stept but that approach to skiing really just burned through skiers, it’s impossible to ski like that for more than a few years
 
14623540:hi_vis360 said:
Can’t forget ageless will wesson

i know people loved stept but that approach to skiing really just burned through skiers, it’s impossible to ski like that for more than a few years

It’s the same thing that happened to skateboarding in the early 00s; I remember every Thrasher and Transworld was just full of pics of dudes in skinny jeans sending it off 20 foot gaps and massive rails. Most of those dudes are just doing slappies on curbs now because they’re all fucked up.
 
14623523:hi_vis360 said:
Gen 3: tall t era, 2008-2014

Gen 4: new wave, 2014-2021

Gen 5: zootspace era, 2021-present

This is probably the most accurate for the more recent ones. Although there's probably sub-generations within each one. Idk every season in freeskiing feels a little different now and there's so many different lanes of skiing that all have their own generations too it's so hard to define. Could also probably say there's been totally separate generations for comp skiers since the olympics changed everything.
 
14623523:hi_vis360 said:
Gen 3: tall t era, 2008-2014

Gen 4: new wave, 2014-2021

Gen 5: zootspace era, 2021-present

gen 6: hyper pop, mega deep fried edits, meme skiing 2024-eternity [tag=256419]@CowboySkibop[/tag]
 
love thinking about this. all kinds of different ways to identify generations. equipment, heroes, media (print, production companies, NS...), ski areas, etc.
 
14623547:nCrow said:
This is probably the most accurate for the more recent ones. Although there's probably sub-generations within each one. Idk every season in freeskiing feels a little different now and there's so many different lanes of skiing that all have their own generations too it's so hard to define. Could also probably say there's been totally separate generations for comp skiers since the olympics changed everything.

There are definitely crews that have always been on their own wave and lots of sub genres. Like there was the whole hesh aesthetic with hot lunch and yoke collection. And STEPT has roots in the tall t era, but movies like mutiny are worlds apart from classic tall t flicks like refresh and EDIAS.

if I had to define each era with one movie it would be:

gen 1: PBP13

gen 2: teddybear crisis

gen 3: refresh

gen 4: the bunch finess

gen 5: obviously zootspace
 
First documented quad that I know of on video was on April 13, 1974, at Whistler Mountain, Steve Corbett skied off a jump and traveled a distance of 170 feet, at a height of 80 feet, turning four revolutions in the air, landed and skied away
 
14623495:cyphers said:
if we're including "extreme skiing" i think it goes back way farther. like i'd say 1.0 was guys like doug coombs, scot schmidt, steve mckinney etc. sending shit on downhill race skis. could make the argument for sylvain saudan too but he was more of a mountaineer/alpinist.

agree with 2008 being a cutoff. idk why just feels like that's when shit started taking off with xgames and stuff, olenick landing dub and then the "kids" kind of took it from there.

i think the current gen started a few years ago with some of the 00s kids like ahall/ferdi/matej starting to show up in film and comps. around when insta clips became the norm, level 1 stopped putting out full lengths, just reads like a big change in freeskiing

IIRC Olenick and Jon's dubs were in the 2005-2006 season and Wilson had done dub 10s before that. 2007 was the first year with a lot of dubs, for example Wester was doing dub 12s and Jossi had sw dub 10s and even did a sw dub 14 that season, I think.
 
Any discussion of generations that doesn’t include Shane and Seth in the generation before grabs for position became a thing seems almost criminal.
 
14623601:OregonDead said:
First documented quad that I know of on video was on April 13, 1974, at Whistler Mountain, Steve Corbett skied off a jump and traveled a distance of 170 feet, at a height of 80 feet, turning four revolutions in the air, landed and skied away

View attachment 680980
 
No.

Plake is a great guy and skiing legend.

But he's not part of the evolution that began with Moseley, JP, JF, Vinni, Mike Douglas, Shane Szocs, Philou, etc.

14623800:iH8pow said:
So we are not adopting Glen Plake into the newschoolers free skiing folklore?
 
I think sick sense and degenerates…mostly degenerates…probably established generation 1’s arrival. Everything Johnny was capturing was fundamentally different and the msp folks picked up on that in time to get some of the same dudes on camera for a larger market the year after state of mind was released. What an amazing time!
 
14623872:BarfyDee said:
I think sick sense and degenerates…mostly degenerates…probably established generation 1’s arrival. Everything Johnny was capturing was fundamentally different and the msp folks picked up on that in time to get some of the same dudes on camera for a larger market the year after state of mind was released. What an amazing time!

agreed
 
I took the liberty of using AI to combine all the suggestions so far into a version 1.1 list. It's not perfect, as it gets some stuff mixed up, but it was good enough for a 1 min job.

Is there Anything that we can add to or remove? I feel there are quite a lot of big things missing here ?

---

Generation 1.0 (1998-2002)

Key Riders: Jonny Moseley, New Canadian Air Force (JF Cusson, Mike Douglas, Vincent Dorion).

Era: Early 2000s, transition from mogul to freestyle skiing.

Key Moments: The first twin-tip skis, and Moseley’s 'Dinner Roll' at the Olympics.

Generation 2.0 (2002-2010)

Key Riders: Tanner Hall, Candide Thovex, JP Auclair, Simon Dumont.

Era: Rise of park skiing and competitions like X Games.

Key Moments: Expansion of freeski media with "Ski Movie," "X Games," and big air/halfpipe domination.

Tall T Era (2010-2015)

Key Riders: Tom Wallisch, Henrik Harlaut, Phil Casabon (B-Dog).

Era: Urban skiing influence, tall clothing styles (Tall Ts), street skiing focus.

Key Moments: Film segments showcasing urban rails, wall rides, and innovative urban features.

New Wave/Zootspace Era (2015-Present)

Key Riders: The Bunch, Keegan Kilbride, Luca Schuler.

Era: Creative, less structured, and stylish skiing, focusing on individual expression.

Key Moments: Emphasis on style over technicality, with more playful skiing and edits highlighting creativity.

**This post was edited on Sep 17th 2024 at 3:12:56pm
 
Gen1 and Gen2 is really just 1998-2003.

14627615:jeppenator said:
I took the liberty of using AI to combine all the suggestions so far into a version 1.1 list. It's not perfect, as it gets some stuff mixed up, but it was good enough for a 1 min job.

Is there Anything that we can add to or remove? I feel there are quite a lot of big things missing here ?

---

Generation 1.0 (1998-2002)

Key Riders: Jonny Moseley, New Canadian Air Force (JF Cusson, Mike Douglas, Vincent Dorion).

Era: Early 2000s, transition from mogul to freestyle skiing.

Key Moments: The first twin-tip skis, and Moseley’s 'Dinner Roll' at the Olympics.

Generation 2.0 (2002-2010)

Key Riders: Tanner Hall, Candide Thovex, JP Auclair, Simon Dumont.

Era: Rise of park skiing and competitions like X Games.

Key Moments: Expansion of freeski media with "Ski Movie," "X Games," and big air/halfpipe domination.

Tall T Era (2010-2015)

Key Riders: Tom Wallisch, Henrik Harlaut, Phil Casabon (B-Dog).

Era: Urban skiing influence, tall clothing styles (Tall Ts), street skiing focus.

Key Moments: Film segments showcasing urban rails, wall rides, and innovative urban features.

New Wave/Zootspace Era (2015-Present)

Key Riders: The Bunch, Keegan Kilbride, Luca Schuler.

Era: Creative, less structured, and stylish skiing, focusing on individual expression.

Key Moments: Emphasis on style over technicality, with more playful skiing and edits highlighting creativity.

**This post was edited on Sep 17th 2024 at 3:12:56pm
 
14627615:jeppenator said:
I took the liberty of using AI to combine all the suggestions so far into a version 1.1 list. It's not perfect, as it gets some stuff mixed up, but it was good enough for a 1 min job.

Is there Anything that we can add to or remove? I feel there are quite a lot of big things missing here ?

---

Generation 1.0 (1998-2002)

Key Riders: Jonny Moseley, New Canadian Air Force (JF Cusson, Mike Douglas, Vincent Dorion).

Era: Early 2000s, transition from mogul to freestyle skiing.

Key Moments: The first twin-tip skis, and Moseley’s 'Dinner Roll' at the Olympics.

Generation 2.0 (2002-2010)

Key Riders: Tanner Hall, Candide Thovex, JP Auclair, Simon Dumont.

Era: Rise of park skiing and competitions like X Games.

Key Moments: Expansion of freeski media with "Ski Movie," "X Games," and big air/halfpipe domination.

Tall T Era (2010-2015)

Key Riders: Tom Wallisch, Henrik Harlaut, Phil Casabon (B-Dog).

Era: Urban skiing influence, tall clothing styles (Tall Ts), street skiing focus.

Key Moments: Film segments showcasing urban rails, wall rides, and innovative urban features.

New Wave/Zootspace Era (2015-Present)

Key Riders: The Bunch, Keegan Kilbride, Luca Schuler.

Era: Creative, less structured, and stylish skiing, focusing on individual expression.

Key Moments: Emphasis on style over technicality, with more playful skiing and edits highlighting creativity.

**This post was edited on Sep 17th 2024 at 3:12:56pm

Luca schuler does not fit in with this at all, put ferdi in there for example
 
There was definitely a major shift that seemed to start after I got into park skiing. I think I slid my first rail around the time Henrik did his NB triple. More people were rocking Tall Ts, big bright jackets (saga), and oakley crowbars. I remember quiksilver used to have some deal with my local mtn where all the rails were red and branded. Production companies were much more relevant then. Level 1 were still making annual films, and I believe mutiny would have dropped around that time or the year before. Dumont might've even still been competing at that time cuz I remember reading about the announcement on here.

Then pretty soon you've got the olympics happening, nike pulling out of skiing, bunch dropping finito and finesse, hg skis, and also a movement away from high def, higher production value videos and toward more alternative approaches to skiing and hitting spots. Regarding social media, I don't wanna beat a dead horse but it's had a massive impact that I don't feel like detailing here.

While I hate the social media landscape, full of ski influencer content, shameless self promotion, and people who project (to me at least) an impression of narcissistic tendencies, I do admit that whatever tf era we're in rn is interesting. 10+ years ago it would've sounded insane that one of the most popular ski videos would be made with no budget from sponsors (zootspace). I think it's dope that people are going out there and making videos regardless of whatever support they may or may not have from companies. And it seems like those videos really resonate with people, often more than higher budget videos.
 
2014 was a huge turning point. The comp scene really started to diverge from the rest of the sport in a big way (Olympics), you could suddenly film and post with an iPhone, new wave became a prevalent style, and halfpipes at most resorts went away around that time.

14627717:Christian_Bale said:
There was definitely a major shift that seemed to start after I got into park skiing. I think I slid my first rail around the time Henrik did his NB triple. More people were rocking Tall Ts, big bright jackets (saga), and oakley crowbars. I remember quiksilver used to have some deal with my local mtn where all the rails were red and branded. Production companies were much more relevant then. Level 1 were still making annual films, and I believe mutiny would have dropped around that time or the year before. Dumont might've even still been competing at that time cuz I remember reading about the announcement on here.

Then pretty soon you've got the olympics happening, nike pulling out of skiing, bunch dropping finito and finesse, hg skis, and also a movement away from high def, higher production value videos and toward more alternative approaches to skiing and hitting spots. Regarding social media, I don't wanna beat a dead horse but it's had a massive impact that I don't feel like detailing here.

While I hate the social media landscape, full of ski influencer content, shameless self promotion, and people who project (to me at least) an impression of narcissistic tendencies, I do admit that whatever tf era we're in rn is interesting. 10+ years ago it would've sounded insane that one of the most popular ski videos would be made with no budget from sponsors (zootspace). I think it's dope that people are going out there and making videos regardless of whatever support they may or may not have from companies. And it seems like those videos really resonate with people, often more than higher budget videos.
 
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