How to be a professional skier : some advice i got from the godfather

[jackj]

aight boys, here's the "how to go pro" thread to end all how to go pro threads. met mike douglas a few weeks ago at an event at the banff film festival called "So You Want To Ski In The Movies". it ended up being really quiet, like half of the people there knew each other & some of the attendees were literally already pro skiers, so I got to spend like an hour and a half talking to mike (and others - simon hillis, stan rey, alexi godbout). mike gave me some advice that I haven't seen before on newschoolers, probably obvious to some of you but given how many "how to get sponsored" posts I see its obviously not obvious to some folks. anyways.

1. find out who the local photographers & filmmakers are. most big ski places have professional ski photographers living and working there, a lot have way more than one. reach out to them on instagram and offer to ski for their shoots - i'm told that, more often than not, even if you're relatively unknown, they'll give you a chance. be good to work with and there's a recurring opportunity to ski professionally right there.

2. ask if you can make an edit for the local shops to play on their in-store TVs (if that's a thing they do where you are - it certainly is in Banff). if you're decent they'll probably say yes and might even throw gear your way. works for local generic ski stores and apparently also for dedicated brand outlets.

3. this one isn't from mike but my own personal experience, get to know the marketing/communications managers at your ski hill. they can feature your edits, and if it's a big hill and they produce their own ads, that's an opportunity to ski for them right there.

4. find out who the good/professional skiers are at your hill and ask if you can ski with them. this isn't racing or some shit - freeskiers (usually) don't have huge egos, are chill people, and will often say yes. a good way to get good fast is by skiing with people better than you, cause it challenges you to get up to their level.

so there's some uncommon, useful advice from the godfather of freeskiing himself, that'll actually help you go pro beyond just "get good."

**This thread was edited on Nov 18th 2019 at 8:30:18pm

 

[270on420out]

so there's some uncommon, useful advice from the godfather of freeskiing himself, that'll actually help you go pro beyond just "get good."

**This thread was edited on Nov 18th 2019 at 8:30:18pm

Good thread, good advice, but at the end of the day being an exceptionally good skier is the most necessary step to becoming a pro. Being able to market yourself properly is half the battle but having above average skills is essential.

And I feel like a lot of kids have an unrealistic idea of what being a pro is actually like. You’re not mr. bigshot badass. You’re just some normal ass dude (or girl) who is well known among the community for your skiing. You’re also putting your mind, body, and bank account under enormous stress. You will not get rich from skiing. The only people getting money for skiing are the top 1% who are extremely marketable skiers such as Olympic/X-games athletes. Your favorite skier probably spends their winter pouring their entire mind, body, and soul into what they do. Or maybe they’re lucky and just have a natural talent for skiing and fame is simply a byproduct of their riding. You’re still going to have to work extremely hard to get to either level.

So maybe you’ve read all this and you’re still thinking “I still want to be a pro”. That’s great. You have an intense passion for this sport. It’s not impossible to become a pro skier, especially now in an era where shit like instagram can be utilized. But understand what you’re signing up for. You could seriously fuck yourself up, you could die, you can go broke, you could lose relationships with friends/family/significant others, etc.

Ask yourself: Do I really want to be a “pro” skier, or do I just want to be really good at skiing?

 

[jackj]

And I feel like a lot of kids have an unrealistic idea of what being a pro is actually like. You’re not mr. bigshot badass. You’re just some normal ass dude (or girl) who is well known among the community for your skiing.

Yeah, another thing people forget. I personally have a goal of going "pro" but by that I mostly mean I just want to have a sponsor or two to cut down on gear costs, and ultimately be able to make edits & other content that people enjoy. I dont actually plan to make a career of of it, just want to do it as some mildly-compensated fun.

That's actually something else Mike mentioned - ski because you enjoy it. If you're trying to get rich and famous, you're setting yourself up to be disappointed. If you're out having a good time making content & putting yourself out there as a skier, you're successful regardless of if you ever actually make it as a professional.

**This post was edited on Nov 18th 2019 at 9:37:28pm

 

[TRVP_ANGEL]

Good thread, good advice, but at the end of the day being an exceptionally good skier is the most necessary step to becoming a pro. Being able to market yourself properly is half the battle but having above average skills is essential.

And I feel like a lot of kids have an unrealistic idea of what being a pro is actually like. You’re not mr. bigshot badass. You’re just some normal ass dude (or girl) who is well known among the community for your skiing. You’re also putting your mind, body, and bank account under enormous stress. You will not get rich from skiing. The only people getting money for skiing are the top 1% who are extremely marketable skiers such as Olympic/X-games athletes. Your favorite skier probably spends their winter pouring their entire mind, body, and soul into what they do. Or maybe they’re lucky and just have a natural talent for skiing and fame is simply a byproduct of their riding. You’re still going to have to work extremely hard to get to either level.

So maybe you’ve read all this and you’re still thinking “I still want to be a pro”. That’s great. You have an intense passion for this sport. It’s not impossible to become a pro skier, especially now in an era where shit like instagram can be utilized. But understand what you’re signing up for. You could seriously fuck yourself up, you could die, you can go broke, you could lose relationships with friends/family/significant others, etc.

Ask yourself: Do I really want to be a “pro” skier, or do I just want to be really good at skiing?

Bro exactly this, people tend to idolize that lifestyle because you can only see people at the top. If there was a way for everyone to see that for every top 1%er living the dream, they see 30 more struggling ski bums trying to go pro and what their life is like, people would probably not go down that path.

 

[skiguy04]

Gotta enjoy skiing really hard first

 

[skiitsbetter]

It's not bad advice. Somewhere between steps 1 and 2, skiing with the local photog or local pro you'll discover if you really have what it takes to become pro. It's easy to watch a movie and say "I could do that", but going shot for shot in the same conditions might be eye opening. I, like everyone dreamed of being pro, it wasn't until I skied with vastly superior skiers that I discovered that that wasn't anything close to realistic. At the end of the day, the pro and the photographer's job is to be a whore for the gear companies, so taking a few runs with a kid who asked on Instagram should almost be a requirement of the job, as annoying as it may seem...