Rails to Riches

ah duuuuude, so sick... everyone was absolutely killing it. hard to tell what the top 3 shoulda been, props to everyone. that was dope...
 
I would normally never bitch about contest results and I'm sure everyone had a sick session, but Will did obviously get robbed. He should have probably won (LJ killed it too so I dunno) but to not even place! Thats ridiculous.
 
SERIOUSLY. skiing is a judged sport. the only thing a rider can do is ski the best they can for as long as they can. the rest is up to the judges. i think that Compton, Will, Jack, Dale, LJ, Sean, Brogan, and everyone else in finals had a rediculous session and skied really well, not to mention had a blast. everyone should be proud of the way they skied and the results are what they are. you can ask "what if" or "how come" or "he should have" all day, but when it comes down to it. it just doesn't matter. Rails to Riches is still the best rail jam on the east coast and as far as spectatiang goes, really portrayed skiing positivly to the croud. just as much if not more cheers were made for the skiers as the snowboarders.
 
I definitely respect that...to a point. While skiing, and judging it, are essentially subjective...judges should still be held accountable. It's great that all of the riders are friends and are stoked on each other's success, but at the end of the day it's a competition.

I wasn't there, but I watched the edits same as anyone else and heard the thoughts of those that were there (you being one of them correct?). In my opinion, Will was doing probably the most tech tricks out of anyone, and doing them with style. I don't know what the criteria was for the judges...so maybe the riders were being judged on things other than what appeared pretty obvious from an edit? In any case, I'm glad that there is a movement to unify judging across contests. There needs to be consistent judging as skiing continues to grow.

As far as the "at the end of the day, it doesn't matter" sentiment...it's really just not valid. We're not talking about friends lapping a park...we're talking about kids who are vying for invites to other contests, attempting to recoup expenses from traveling/skiing, raise their profile to attract sponsors, using contest results to leverage current sponsors into forking over more dough...etc.

I'm sure Will would be humble as shit, and never say one way or another whether he got "robbed". That's cool and I respect him for it. But come on, either I completely missed something (edit was just really favorable to Will perhaps?) or the judging was abyssmal.
 
this is what my lazy ass post saying will got 'robbed' should have said. I agree.
 
I was front and center and think that Will Wesson threw the best tricks of the night... and I am usually the first one to pounce on "Whack" judging...

...but I would NEVER want to be the one judging a 3-feature rail jam with 10 snowboarders and 10 skiers going at ONCE on all features, not to mention one where the talent pool is SO deep.

It's one thing to watch a slopestyle and say that the judges blew it, but here you really can't say that.

So, respect to everyone in the finals -- your tricks were noticed and appreciated, if not to the tune of $4G's!!
 
lets not complain anymore...it is what it is, granted will threw down, as did compton and some other killas, but it is what it is.

dope tricks were thrown and a dope time was had by all....thanks killington for another dope time
 
Again...this is what I'm talking about. It's not about "complaining" as in "Oh no! My fav skier lost!! Waaaaaahhh!"

How could essentially everyone have seen a contest the same way, yet the judging is completely out of touch with that? This is about reaching some level of quality control (consistency) in terms of judging contests.

I wasn't there...for all I know, Will was wildly inconsistent or only got a few hits in, resulting in a podium snub. That would be understandable, but no one has alluded to this at this point.

I'm not looking to stir controversy, or least of all, to take away from any of the other riders. Without question, everyone stepped up and killed it. I'm just expressing my frustration with what I see as a pattern of inconsistent judging in contests.

It's easy to adopt that stance of "fuck it, everyone had fun, everybody is bros, it doesn't matter who won etc.", but at the end of the day we are talking about competition.
 
If it was all about fun...contests wouldn't exist. Why would they? If by "all about fun" you mean that some people just genuinely enjoy competing...well than, yes. Maybe for some riders contests are just a means to an end, as in consistently good contest results equal more sponsor support/freedom. In either case, whether a particular rider just loves to compete or they view competition as an opportunity to pursue fun elsewhere, you can't just throw the "It's all fun!" rhetoric around when talking about competition.

Summary of all my posts in this thread: Judging should be consistent and fair with judging criteria made clear to riders pre-comp. If the concept of winning and losing seems 100% trivial to you and you post "It's all about fun" you either a.) Don't compete or b.) Lose a lot.

No hate on my part, I'm just tired of people taking the "I'm above competition, results don't matter" stance. Just remember, winning contests opens doors and creates opportunities for skiers.
 
yeah, i think there's more people on here saying how good will was then actually congratulating the winners. From the video, which OBVIOUSLY couldnt capture all of everyone's best tricks, everyone skiied fucking ill and deserves props.
 


The Killington edit. Also, if that doesn't work then just go to ridekillington.com and check it out. I'll try to get it hosted up here sometime soon too.
 
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