The inspiration for setting a new standard for soaring into the air came to Simon Dumont in January, some six stories above the snow.
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Simon Dumont, competing in Superpipe Men's Elimination at the Winter X Games in Aspen last year.
An elite freeskier, Dumont was at a contest in Aspen, riding a 30-foot ramp constructed of sculptured snow, when he began soaring close to what is considered a world record, 32.5 feet above a quarterpipe, set by the snowboarder Terje Haakonsen in Norway in 2007. But while attempting to claim the mark for skiing, Dumont crashed, injured his left shoulder and was forced to abandon his quest temporarily.
“I realized this was within my sights, and it can be done,” Dumont, 21, said by phone last week from a contest in Sweden. “So that’s what the game plan is in Maine.”
On Tuesday, Dumont will again try to set a record, this time on a specially built quarterpipe at Sunday River, a ski resort near his hometown of Bethel, Me. By going higher than anyone has before, Dumont hopes to make a statement for his sport, and himself.
Since 2004, Dumont has won an X Games medal each year in the halfpipe, including two gold medals (2004, 2005). With a soaring style, he has become a fan favorite.
“I think it’s significant that it’s Simon,” said Peter Olenick, a fellow freeskiing competitor, about an attempt to establish a new benchmark for big air. “He’s been going bigger than everybody in every halfpipe competition.”
At the X Games in January, Dumont’s high-flying ways landed him at the center of a judging controversy. He boosted an unprecedented 21 feet above the halfpipe during his final run, but wound up second to Tanner Hall, a more technical skier. Spectators standing in the snow along the halfpipe responded by booing and tossing snowballs at Hall.
In the aftermath, some said Dumont had sacrificed technical proficiency. Last week, Dumont bristled at a suggestion he could have altered his run to appeal to judges.
“I will never dial down my amplitude,” he said. “That’s why people come to watch halfpipe.”
The appeal of soaring aerials is undeniable. But it puts Dumont in peril. A notorious wipeout from March 2005 has become a YouTube sensation.
While launching from a jump in Park City, Utah, he fell 100 feet to an icy landing, scattering his poles and skis. The result: Dumont fractured his pelvis in three places and ruptured his spleen, a memory he has tried to banish as he prepares to pursue the record at Sunday River.
On Thursday, four snowcats and a crew of 10 began construction on a ramp that will be 90 feet wide and 30 feet high, with a three-foot vertical extension.
“It’s a monster,” said Jack Fleming, project manager for the ramp, which has been funded by Red Bull, one of Dumont’s sponsors. “It’s up above the treetops.”
Dumont’s height will be measured by a 46-foot tower and triangulated cameras, then submitted to Guinness for certification.
To reach 33 feet or higher, Dumont will need to travel almost 50 miles per hour down an in-ramp. At the apex of his flight, he will be seven stories above the snow.
“It’s hit or miss,” Dumont said. “With the quarterpipe, every angle has to be right. The wind has to be right. The snow conditions, so you can have the speed.”
With so many variables, and such a large ramp, a miss could be catastrophic.
“I’ll be honest — I’m still a little worried after that crash,” he said about his injury in January. “It still plays into my head. But I know, What’s 3 more feet when you’re going 30?”
A few more feet, and a new record, could mean greater recognition for a sport that is only a decade old.
It would be symbolic if Dumont broke a record held by a snowboarder. Influenced by snowboarding tricks, and made possible by the introduction of twin-tip skis during the 1990s, the freeskiing movement has invigorated skiing, but has remained somewhat in the shadow of snowboarding and other skiing events.
With snowboarding already in the Olympics, and skiercross — a racing discipline that evolved at the X Games — set to debut at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, freeskiers wonder, why not us?
For Dumont, a notoriously competitive person, recognition is paramount.
“He’s a middle child,” said Barbara Dumont, Simon’s mother. “Middle children always feel like they’re not recognized for much. He takes that middle child piece to an extreme.”
At an age when many people are considering how to start a career, Dumont is considering his legacy.
“The real big thing for me in my ski career is to hopefully leave being known as an icon or at least helping grow our sport,” he said.
Meanwhile, returning to Sunday River will be a homecoming for Dumont, who now lives in Colorado, and perhaps a chance to make peace.
As a teenager, Dumont chafed as the resort stifled him and his sport by banning inverted aerials — tricks he needed to remain competitive as a professional. He often did them anyway, leading to clashes with the ski patrol.
“He felt they were a roadblock to achieving what his vision was,” Barbara Dumont said.
But with Sunday River sold to new owners last year, Dumont has been welcomed back to make a run at a record.
With a big ramp, a big air and a big chip on his shoulder, Simon Dumont will attempt to make history.
