Nine Queens 2011

casual

casual

Active member
After reading through a few threads devoted to this years Nine Queens—and more so after watching the footy—I'm honestly blown away by the amount of hate still being leveled at women freeskiers.
I'm not going to leap into some rant about genetics, societal roles, or even suggest that women's skiing is on par with men's, but I will say that I was personally blown away by what went down on that setup. To my dismay, I saw a bunch of people claim the jump to be 40ft....well, that's total bullshit. The jump measured over 19 meters, or roughly 60ft. 60ft. is not a "little jump", and the consequences for casing were absolutely monumental. Furthermore, in the day 3 and 4 edit, many of the girls, Maude comes to mind immediately, were sending it way deep; easily eclipsing 80ft.
On top of the jump being nothing to sneeze at, the variety of tricks being stomped was really impressive. I find it an awful hypocritical stance to constantly berate the male robot comp jocks for spinning dub 12's, and clamor for slow smooth spins, and then to turn around and complain about the girls doing that very thing. I understand that it's not a direct comparison for obvious reasons, but from a purely aesthetic/spectator vantage, several of the blunt 3's and cork 5's looked 10x better than what I've come to expect out of premier slope contests.
From what I understand, nearly every competitor threw and landed a NEW trick that week—a feat that is really damn impressive when you consider how rare that same thing has been on the men's side of the sport. Not only were new rotations and axis(es?) being juggled, but I have to say that I've seen very few men's big-air comps that featured such an array of grabs...Mutes, high mutes, japans, safetys, high safetys, blunts, shiftys, and on and on. On top of that, the tricks—for the most part—were being thrown incredibly stylishly, with near perfect landings. Honestly, if you haven't seen the footage, go watch it...I'm not some major gal's skiing advocate or yes man (quite the contrary in fact), but shit was going down for real.
Needless to say, seeing the first two female switch 10's pop off was a huge step forward, and while both Kaya and Maria could stand to clean them up, Maria's in particular was well grabbed and promise that the trick will undoubtedly become a staple in slope runs next comp season.
I don't know why I felt so compelled to make this thread, but I suppose it was just to call for a bit of support for the ladies who are truly and honestly investing their lives and hearts into this sport that we all love. Ladies, I was made a believer, and the smiles on all of your faces were as "core" and "progressive" as any I've seen on the guys. Please keep pushing and help do your part to make landmark sessions/comps like this one the norm rather than the exception.
Lastly, props to Nico for hosting such a class-act event and really understanding that all the girls need to get shit popping is the proper event and blue skies. Congrats gals, and keep slaying despite what bitter, resentful, emasculated, insecure males have to say about it.
Peep the footage and see for yourself...if you can't see some progression and improvement in this comp, you're an idiot, and probably a sexist piece of shit.
http://http://youtu.be/I7zkj70XNWE

http://http://youtu.be/Bc669GIaybs

I'd really appreciate embed help you guys...since things have changed I can't figure it out.
 
ya seems jess has been mia for the later half of this season, i mean jess pretty much sums up progression in female slope skiers

and i agree 100% with this thread, i mean it kind of makes sense that girls are behind progression wise, look at the "grandfathers" of newschool skiing... can you name a female that was amoung the core bunch of guys..?
 
good point about the "grandfathers" of newschool skiing... to my knowledge i don't think there was a female among them.. maybe though?
And to the OP- this is a great thread. thanks for giving the lady skiers support and with an honest opinion. These kind of actions are only going to encourage females to get better and keep stepping it up. Seeing kaya and maria through sw10's was so awesome!
 
Out of your whole page i only really disagree with this. I know plenty of kids who go out and do a new trick every week probably, its call progression, i wish girls would get motivated and not just stomp a new trick because of this contest.

Your other arguments are alright, not sound but im so over arguing about nine queens, they did more than i expect and it turned out good everyone is quite positive about it.

if that jump was 60ft it much have been pretty flat, they weren't in the air very long, they seemed to be throwing 7s decently hard and the 10s barely got around and they were spinning slow. The shots from the nuckle really show the true size of the jump, the other ones make it look big because of how its built, i still think they could have made it bigger, i guess there is always next year.

/ninequeens discussion for me
 
did i see battersby do a grab? in my opinion, she's one of the most stylish womens' skiers out there, especially on rails. the only gripe i HAD with her was her lack of grabs in spins, which would make them smoother, more tech, and boost her comp. results. i'm glad to see she's stepping it up.

to think about progression of womens' skiing, you really have to think back to the days when Sarah Burke was really the sole woman pushing the sport. in the film Push, we saw Sarah killing it not only in the park, but in the backcountry, hitting the same jumps men hit. Sarah was the driving force in womens' freeskiing, she talked about all the injuries she had and we saw some of the brutal crashes she took. Sarah threw the first 10, the first attempted 12, and i'm sure holds several other firsts. she got there, and these girls will get there as well.

as time goes on, and more competitions like this are held, and womens' skiing gains the support from the community, women will progress. it's a matter of time. all this hate only inhibits progression.
 
Sarah Burke has been around the scene since pretty much the beginning. She was competiting against the guys, throwing 1080's since like 2000.
 
After reading your first post, I wanted to write this..beat me to it. haha

but yeah sarah is so legit... she's been killing it for years and still winning comps...

Some footy of her and other girls..

 
there is no way you can say sarah burke there from the beginning

the canadian air force, Mike Douglas, JF Cusson, Vincent Dorion and JP Auclair

sarah burke would of been like 10 when they started the newschool movement...

 
Finally something we both can agree on. I love riding with girls. They seem always soo stoked to try new things and when they fall, they get back up with a smile and go at it again. Its awesome. Chill with the hate, people.
 
Yes I agree. The only girl who I can think of that was around was Sarah Burke, I believe that she was featured in Balance, Level 1s first movie.
 
i agree with casual. it's true, this seemed to be a huge step in women's freesking, enough hate, they're stepping it way up, let's admire that.
 
both way corks, i think i saw. she's got so much style, and that dub was so fucking smooth. her rodeo 5 high mute was my favorite trick in that edit. so sick.
 
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