Racers

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-GL-

Active member
I know a lot of you guys hate racers and for good reasons. I have always hated on racers too, ive always thought they were just assholes and got on my nerves for some reason. I feel as though a lot of people also feel this way and especially on this site. I also disliked racers and the whole ski racing sport because i just never saw the freedom and expression within the sport. Well the reason im going on about this is last night i was dragged to a family friends house by my parents. At the dinner table my family and two other couples had a pretty long conversation about skiing. Of course right when the topic came up i was excited to talk about it and prove how much better i thought freeskiing was than racing. One of the couples were an avid racing family and the dad had been racing ever since he was a little kid. As he was talking he started to explain the feeling of carving and how when he was little and he first like carves a turn and explained like becoming one with the ski or something like that and how he was from then on forevr in love with skiing. When he said this i started to think about how my love for freeskiing. Maybe that feeling he gets or racers get when they carve a turn is just like the feeling of hitting a jump, sliding a rail or dropping a cliff we all love as freeskiers. Maybe im talking out of my ass, but i think even though a ton of racers are just straight up douchebags we should give them a chance because maybe they just appreciate the sport of skiing in a different way than us and get that sense of freedom throughout racing.
hope this does not offend anyone just putting it out there to be disscussed as peacefully as possible, and if you can bring up a legitimate point against this that would be great and well appreciated
 
I hate how fucking arrogant some of them are, they give off an air of thinking that they are better than you because they race and it pretty irritating.
 
I don't hate racers. Some of my best friends race. And i'll watch them race and stuff.

Yeah, some are assholes, but for the most part they just like to ski
 
Bombing as fast as you can and carving is soo awesome, but yeah i'd agree i thought a lot of racers were douches until i met this guy on the lift at a slopestyle comp. He was one of the coolest dads i had met and he told me how his son was 11 and loved skiing park, but his race coach hated all the park rats and didn't want him skiing park and told him not to enter this contest, but his dad told his son to do whatever he wants with skiing. Then his dad told me how much cooler the freeskiing guys are because they just have fun and there are no rules, and he said how he hated a lot of the kids on the race team because they're all from extremely rich towns and how he thought that he didn't want his son to end up acting like all these stuck up kids. He said all this, but in a much less serious way and was just hilarious and didn't care that he was swearing every other sentence, coolest dad i've met
 
sorry if i offended anyone saying that most newschoolers hated racers shouldnt of stereotyped all newschoolers as racer-haters, but glad to hear a lot of diverse and interesting responses keep them coming
 
One of my favourite people to ski with is a super competitive racer. He is chill though and loves to do freestyle and have fun though and does not act all stuck up. There is however some people I know who race who are absolute d bags about it, they think since they have been in a program since they were five they are better skiers than everyone. My first six years of skiing I did racing and left because it was way to regimented, the only days I had fun skiing were the free days where we got to go shred anywhere. Some racers are cool and others a dicks, as for me racing I don't think I could do it.
 
nah fuck that racers suck. what is the fun of being told where to turn.. and doing it in a spandex suit.. seems pretty gay to me.
 
im sure there are plenty of racers who are chill and can do much more than race, but ive yet to meet any. at my home hill, every racer ive met that only races is a douchebag. That being said, i know that somewhere on earth there must be people who are legit at racing, as well as at park/big mountain, who arent complete douchebags and are just stoked on everything involving skiing.
 
I am former race (just stopped this year after 15 years), and the thrill you get from racing is the same kind of thrill you can get from hitting a sick jump. There is so much adrenaline that goes into racing. Going 50+ mph on an icy trail is exhilarating beyond belief. Il admit the gear is rather interesting and awkward looking, but if you have ever raced or know racers, there is a certain style to it.

Il attempt to address the racer-freestyle dislike in a one short sentence. Racers and Freestylers both want to control the mountain. Its that simple. Both think they own the mountain and act extremely cocky due to this fact.

Its very juvenile, but its how skiing society has made it. Racers view freestylers as skiers who cant carve a turn, and freestylers view racers as stuck-up assholes who dont know how to have fun.
 
Dude, you can't just generalize all racers as jock-type tools, I know a few racers that are also some of the best freeskiers at our local hill, they enjoy both types of skiing.

Also who cares if you can't "express yourself" by racing, you can still haul ass down a huge mountain and have a blast!
 
i think you might of misinterpreted what i meant to say in this thread. I said i used to think that but my views have changed and learned that racers just have fun skiing in a different way.
 
Shit, I'm friends with a bunch of racers. We're all on this site because we're love to ski, and so do they, but in a different way. Though some are dicks, most are actually pretty cool.
 
i've seen a lot of douche racers, but the few racers i know/have met are all really sick. plus it seems that they can get good at park sooooooo fast, especially jumps. they're just used to going for it and not really giving a fuck.
 
a lot of the racers i know feel like their the shit because their sport is "organized" and freestyle is not (which is good) they dont give your sport the time of day and think if you ski park, that you suck at all mountain.

this one kid in ski club last year thought that i sucked and just bombed runs and didnt know how to turn (extremely round edges) and besicly said i suck at anything other then park, so then i asked him if he wanted to take a tree run and hit some small cliffs (~10 ft). and he says real skiers dont do that shit, its stupid, dangerous, and its not skiing. i was about to punch him in the face....
 
Although freestyle skiers may (generally) not like racers, we have to give them respect. Their sport came way before ours did, and racing is WAY more popular than freeskiing, and the size of the market is considerably larger. Although we may think they are douches ect, we are still the underdog here.

Racing is still skiing - just a different aspect.

Besides, who doesn't like to race their buddies on the hill anyway? Lift pylon slalom is the shit!
 
I agree with your point that we should not judge simply by how much spandex someone wears, and I don't; but have you never experienced feeling completely connected to the ski? Almost as if it's a part of you? If not, I believe your boots are way to big for you and you should go to a custom boot fitter
 
i myself race aswell as ski park and "big mountain", if u can call it that, I love skiing all types of skiing and can have a blast doing anything on skis. The perk of racing is that there is a school team so it allows me to ski every single day something that i wouldnt get to do without the school team. plus i just love racing
 
when i used to race, we were pretty arrogant a lot of times because we knew that no one else on the hill could keep up with us, so we really could get away with anything. we also thought park rats were dumb cause they didnt know how to really ski and they were so concerned with how they looked and stuff like that. but now that im doing mostly back country, i see that both sides are equally at fault and judgmental, and everyone who is skiing is having fun, just doing what they like to do.
 
yeah the racers at my home mountain always bomb ass through the park and destroy every lip on every rail. Other than that, I respect racers.
 
its skiing... fuck all of this FREE skiing.. RACE skiing. double dick up the ass skiing. you are a SKIER and your ski or ride your skisi used to race. and i loved it.. i skied park that whole time.. my coach loved skiing every thing. our team would not do gates if there was pow so we could shred... the reason i am a good skier today is because of racing. there are douchbag assholes every where you go no matter there gear style of riding or age sex what have you. go enjoy some snow. respect others for dedication and skill..you may not have to like it. but racers training there whole life for shot at the top. is as impressive as a triple cork.

but people in this day and age have to define themselves, its not what you stand for or enjoy, its making sure every one knows what you loath and hate(that's more a life thing not skiing)

have fun..... i love jumps... that second or two.. you know what i am talking about. hauling ass. the way your mind works.. your body.. control. your skis are your body. powder... some how your body goes into another gear. .. rails.... skill... dicking around on skis...

every one needs to just enjoy skiing.. no matter what that means to you... stop wasting your energy hating on some one who is trying to do the same thing

respect everyone. fear nobody.
 
Like Warren Miller once said - "everyone that made it to the bottom with a smile on their face, we're the same"

there are jerkoff racers just like there are jerkoff park rats or any other type of skier.
 
most racers are chill guys just looking for some fun. but there are also douchebags like every other sport. I used to race and have met douche bags and chill guys. I now mainly ski trees and big mountain and I find that racing helped it a lot. I do shit fast as fuck and not afraid of doing drops at highspeeds because I have done downhill races with 65 ft jumps going like 70mph. It's crazy and now that I look back downhillers should wear full face helmets and neck braces like mountain bikers.
 
i know a lot of racers, from instructing and some go to my school. every single one is rich.not all of them are douchey, but theres a lot that are. some racers i know are actually very friendly.

i just pay no mind to racers on the hill, i dont give a fuck about racing so why would i bother racers?

lol private clubs
 
you're a fucking idiot. you're probably the same type of person who hates racers, because they wear spandex. try going 85+ MPH through turns, hitting jumps that take you 40 feet. anybody that hates racing is retarded.

 
all the racers at my mtn are really cocky as are most of the ones i met. but last summer at MHSSC i met 4 of the coolest racers ever! far from the rich cocky assholes every one makes them out to be. my opinion of racers has changed.
 
thanks guys, really helped me learn to accept everyone and its just skiing is skiing and no one should be judged or stereotyped as assholes or anything just because of the sport they partake in. Overall thanks for all the opinions and i respect them all
 
Some racers are assholes, get over it

Some park skiers are assholes, get over it

end stereotypes like that

Racing is an incredibly hard sport and many famous free skiers started out as racers. Racing will make you a much better all around skier and racing itself is badass. Those guys haul and are very talented athletes.
 
it's not the sport, it's certain people and social boundaries. generalizing isn't good, i know plenty of chill racers.
 
i will agree that lots of racers are stuck up douches, but one of my favorite people to ski with is a amazing racer. He also enjoys free style but isnt nearly as serious about it. Usually we just end up hitting pow in some slackcountry together and its the best thing ever.
 
some people hate racers, some people hate freestyle skiers. everybody hates competitive mogul skiers. and, really, thats all that matters.
 
my race helmet.

fuck tha po'lice

IMG_2834.jpg


 
Some of them just annoy me with the way they act like their shit don't stink and I reckon a degree of that comes from their often very old-school coaches. They act like they own the mountain, often pulling high-speed runs through crowded intermediate areas.

Some of the 'snowsport academy' kids at my local hill are total brats. Does your heart good to haul ass past them on a pair of big flappy twintips when the snow gets a bit soft.

Some of them are chill though. There can be stuck up assholes in the park too, I don't think it's at all fair to generalize all racers as 'not cool'. And I can definitely appreciate the thrill of laying down some highspeed large-radius turns with your knees just about down to the snow.
 
I love racing, with that said I hate racers who take racing so seriously that it is no longer fun...actually I hate park skiers who do that too...I think you see my point here.

 
ya this. there are kids at my mountain that race and started park this season and can already 9 and cork 7 but cant do shit on rails. they are so much less scared of stuff than the average park skier. some are major tools though and always hit the park but dont hit one feature
 
The age long debate.

To the OP that's great you can now appreciate the different types of skiing. It would be good for a lot of the kids on here to have the same experience talking to some one like that. But it won't happy.

Most of the "I hate racer" kids on here are in that mind set because they have never raced themselves and they have either some kind of jealous mindset or have had a negative experience with a racer. As I always do in this kind of thread I will reiterate that there are some douche bags that are racers but they time kids get to about 18 and are still racing most of the douche bags will not still be racing. The kids that start to take racing seriously are usually all around good skiers and have the ability to hit jumps because they are comfortable in all sorts of skiing and balance. It really shows the age demographic with the 'fuck racing' kids being the younger kids and the older people having a better out look on them.

It's the same in everything appreciate their love for a different discipline, have a good attitude towards them and most of the time it will be reciprocated.

(Good bye my karma it was nice seeing you.)
 
racing is sick and scary as fuck i got mad respect for those guys. still love to hop on my old gs skis and carve the shit out of groomers, most fun in the world.
 
I used to race and I am glad that I did because I feel more confident rippin around at high speeds or skiing trees. Racing has helped me become a well rounded skier and I now have progressed tremendously in park riding. Yes some racers are douchebags, but just rip by them and do something steezy and they will probably think it's cool and maybe try it out themselves. Spark notes: Racing helps become a good skier and most racers are chill.
 
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