Skiing, and The Best Segment of This Year...

This is one of the biggest reasons why I find the sport so incredibly enjoyable, and freeing... it doesn't resemble the rest of life at all. There doesn't need to be the greed, wealth, and mass conciousness. That's exactly what I'm trying to get away from when I go skiing... all the complications and problems that exist in society. So I guess I'm saying I wouldn't use that analogy.

I agree that this general trend I'm arguing against has accompanied the "growth" of freeskiing, and I agree that that same growth has led to more choice and better products and the like, but I don't think it's NECESSARY to accept the bad to get the good. Freeskiing can move without all this bickering about what we want it to take.
 
I guess I was thinking this problem isn't solely related to skiing.....Nevermind.

I was trying to say that it is inherent, in the way in which our society is based, for things to be how I mentioned previously. There are no exceptions...even religion is that way.....I also said what you get out of skiing, or "why you find it so incredibly enjoying" is entirely subjective. People do the same things for different reasons, etc...

Although you find the act of skiing enjoyable, I was just pointing to the fact that Skiing, as a sport, faces the same problems as say...football, or snowboarding, or yoga...sure you can do those things as a release or an escape. Regardless, it's still a comodity to be consumed...that's why I said your view is romantic in so far as it doesn't account for the all other factors...Though I agree with you...it just isn't practical.....You're also right when you say there doesn't "need" to be greed, etc. etc...but there IS....Show me any sport, any aspect of our society, that hasn't been overun, or about to be overn, by them....it sucks, doesn't it - it's the downfall of capitalism...it's not empathetic to anything...it's the 'silent hand' pulling us down.

....My only point was that, like any sport, and like life - it's going to be overun by the way things are....i.e. greedy, etc...unless you can TURN YOUR CONTEMPT INTO ACTION.....My question is, again, What can we do? If anything...

Finally, I don't think anything, let alone freeskiing, can move without having both the 'sour and the sweet.'

we can work together on this...or we can fight back and forth until everyone ignores this post and it falls by the wayside just like my last thread....perhaps we're too similar to ever get along...
 
PYB WHAT?!?!?!?! That movie sucked. It further the point that JD is getting across. Every kid at Vail, Mammoth and other mountians with terrian park doesn't care about the sport, Its becoming a sport that focuses on the lifestlye. When people ask me if I jib I say no because there is no sport called jibbing, If there is fill me in, because if it cool then I will hop on that bandwagon with 95% of ther other douchebags on this site. Skiing at its root is getting lost in the mountians, skiing with no cares in the world. I think that the best way to describe it is finding that perfect wave on the north shore. The type of thing that will get burned into your mind forever, an intance that everytime that you think of it it makes up smile no matter how bad everyhtings is in the moment. I know that getting lost for a few day in a backcountry hut is one hundred time better than landing a trick for the first time. But What the Hell Do I know?
 
PYB WHAT?!?!?!?! That movie sucked. It further the point that JD is getting across. Every kid at Vail, Mammoth and other mountians with terrian park doesn't care about the sport, Its becoming a sport that focuses on the lifestlye. When people ask me if I jib I say no because there is no sport called jibbing, If there is fill me in, because if it cool then I will hop on that bandwagon with 95% of ther other douchebags on this site. Skiing at its root is getting lost in the mountians, skiing with no cares in the world. I think that the best way to describe it is finding that perfect wave on the north shore. The type of thing that will get burned into your mind forever, an intance that everytime that you think of it it makes up smile no matter how bad everyhtings is in the moment. I know that getting lost for a few day in a backcountry hut is one hundred time better than landing a trick for the first time. But What the Hell Do I know?
 
Disclamer: Im all wacked out on painkillers and reading the discussion in this thread seemed pointless. I did read JD_Mays first post tho. I dont expect many people to read this, so it realy wont do any good because this is the internet and were all retarded for being on here and not just going out and skiing.

Id like to first state that I do not see skiing in any sort of danger. People seem to get all worked up on the internet about skiing. I rarely see this tanscend to the hill. It could be that im just blind to this and I choose not to see it or that I just dont care. But none the less I dont think its anything to worry about. Skiing will be fine. That said, here we go.

The WORST thing going for skiing rite now is exactly this, newschoolers.com. People logging onto a wedpage and arguing/disecting/analyzing a sport that is realy truy about freedom and expression. You cannot tell an artist how to paint a picture just the same way you cant tell a skier how to ski. Its all about personal preferance and choice. Untill people realise that, what we have created here (ns.com) is a potental downfall of the sport, it will continue to be the same. In no way am I saying that we need to get rid of this website, infact I think it has a huge potental and in the most part it is doing good for the sport. However people need to take it (ns.com) alot less seriously. All too often I see people arguing weather this brand is better than that, or if that was a cork 7 or a d-spin 7 (it was probably a cork, not many people do d-spins, and for that matter why bother even calling somthing a d-spin, its still a off axis 7 aka a cork...whatever) or whos video segment was better. The problem with this is its all subjective, its your own opinion that matters and nobody elses.

I do not find this to be a problem on the hill. Mindyou where I ski (Whistelr) most people have a very positive attitude towards skiing, however this may not be the case in other areas due to small mountain syndrom (haha).

So to sum it all up its just skiing. I think Jib_this's sig says it best, so to quote me "ive said it for years...skiings gay nobody gets into skiing to be cool...we all just did it growing up and its easier to stick with what you know than switch to snowboarding and start fresh. skiings lame, get over it." -cj

Loose the "E-attitudes" and have fun.

-love cj
 
how about this most of us dont hav the 30 bucks to get a movie til xmas cause we aint rich as fuck. Ill let u kno when i get some money to get a movie and then ill rate but even still i hav hav the cash to spend 300bucks and watch em like half this site.
 
Itjihad,

If you'll read my comments, I have said throughout that I know that different people will ski for different reasons, and that I know that those different things may indeed be capable of producing the same effect that I'm going for...

But I find that skiing is different from other sports, activities... from anything else, really. It's unique. I've taken part seriously in a couple of other sports; football, and hockey. I love hockey, I'm one of the biggest hockey fans you're likely to find anywhere. But skiing has an aspect to it that's just completely different from anything else in life. The feeling of complete detachment, complete freedom and just a connection with the surroundings and with whoever might be skiing with you. It might sound romantic, but that's only because I lack the facility to adequately describe it in english... but I'm sure at least some of you know the feeling I'm talking about. It's not tied in with the ideas of capitalism, consumerism, commodificatioin... the intangible quality of feeling that makes skiing so much better than everything else is also utterly removed, separate from everything else. In some way, I suppose, you could say that it is in fact the tying in of the worldly ideas and attitudes you're talking about with those romantic notions I've been lauding, the pollution of the pure feeling of freeskiing, that I'm opposing here. I just don't feel it needs to be that way, and I don't think the addition and expansion of the "newschool" segment of the sport necessitates it, as there's certainly no intrinsic connection between the two. Can't we just leave the rest of society's harmful tendencies behind when we get to the hill?

As for what we can do, perhaps it begins with concious effort to do just that: leave the negative behind, and focus on enjoying the sport itself. Maybe that's a difficult separation to make considering where we're at now, maybe some people will have trouble doing it. But the more people try, and hopefully succeed, the easier it will be in future, until it's just a natural tendency to think of skiing in the terms I'm proposing instead of those that seem to be bringing it down.
 
First off, good post.

Second, send me all your painkillers. Right now.

I agree that arguing over tricks, segments, etc. is worthless and the general hate attitude on the site is not productive (of course it doesn't really do much counter productivity either) in any way. However, I think there's a bigger issue here than that e-bickering, which btw, is reserved to NS.com, and not the mountain, because most of people on this site don't have the fucking balls to actually talk shit in person. I think that's why you don't see it transcend to the mountain, and for once, thank god there are so many pussies, cause I'd hate it if there was this bullshit going on on the mountain itself.

Anyways,I think this issues is related to the industry of skiing. Yes, skiing, like art, is subjective. No argument there, but the fear I smell in this conversation (all of us who have responded) is of the hype that is being created and the popularization of the sport as a trend, rather than as something people enjoy purely for it's nature (i.e. riding down a mountain). Believe it or not, there are people who snowboard just because it's the cool thing to do and when you have rich gaper kids buying the newest, pimpest shit available, you in turn get companies that want to exploit that (not wrong, just the way business is). It's a cycle of crap, based on profit and popularity rather then skiing itself. Like I said in my other post--if that's what people want, go right ahead. But I don't think that's what the sport was about, is about, or should be about. But obviously, that's just me....

NS.com is in no way hurting skiing. To use your own reasoning: this is the Internet, right? So if it's so weak and lame that we're on here in the first place discussing this, I highly doubt that the conversations that we both dislike (the bickering over tricks, etc.) on the site will have any drastically negative effects on the skiing community. No one with a brain is going to stop skiing because of NS. The industry itself only profits from exposure from NS.

Four: "Small mountain syndrome"

Hahahhaahaaha solid gold, man. That was hilarious.

-Jack
 
CJ, I tend to agree, but I've seen some troubling signs of the problems of NS.com migrating to the hill among some, though not, thankfully, the people I choose to ride with.
 
Hmm, I guess I am kind of contradicting my self, it is in the end just the interenet. It just bothers me that i see so many people getting shut down or hated on for their own beliefs and possibly loosing faith in the sport. I know its not such a huge issue simply more of an annoyance. Oh well, if i could be, id be skiing rite now anyways and not on here but thatnks to a broken heel last year, that wont be happening any time soon. And for now, this is the only connection i have to the sport i love so dearly.
 
i think what you think of best segments depends on what kind of skiing you enjoy....im sure all that big mountian skiin is really fun but i live in the midwest so my fav. segments usually involve lots of creative rails and good flow segments in the park
 
and i agree with teh first post....id like to see more of their trips and things that happend outside of the skiing...which is cool about Up.1
 
i do not agree with this. it is a good thread but i dont think you can tell anyone if they are having fun or not. i mean, i doo everything and i like it all. if i didnt enjoy park or w/e i would not do it. i love skiing back country, i love doing rails, i love the flow of the pipe. i would drop a cliff then the next run go hit a park jump. i hope thats how it is for everyone. the same goes for movies. this season i think that the best seggies are peps in war and cory v in sh6. i dont know how you can tell people if they are having fun or not.
 
Totally mised the point. Not only am I not saying that park isn't enjoyable, I'm not telling people if they're having fun or not. Reread the post. What I'm saying is, if you're spending all your time worried about "progression" or making everything look a particular way (style) then you're sacrificing a lot of the fun of the sport for the sake of trying to look cool. It seems to me that the people who focus on that are missing out on what really makes this sport great.

I guess there's a possibility that there are some people who have never experienced what I'm talking about and don't understand the concept, and in that case I guess I'm not likely to convince them of anything, really.
 
ok but still, maybe some kids enjoy that. obviously they see that there are other people who look at it as pointless... so they arent doing it for them. mabe some kids that ski soem little hill in jersey dont have anything but to keep putting more steeze or more spins on,and mabe thats fun for them. its all relative i guess. i got your points tho.
 
Yep... Thats what its all about brother. Its all about having positive vibes.

I'd like to see someone disagree..
 
Obviously there are kids who like doing things for the sole purpose of making themselves look cool, and increase their self esteem when they can look at a vid of their smooth 450 on and say "damn, I'm good, look how steezed that was and check out how sick my new oakley pants look", and then turn around and think they're superior to some kid doing spread eagles over the 20 foot table... obviously that's "fun" and attrractive to some people, otherwise they wouldn't do it. But it doesn't matter how crappy your resort is, if you're looking at skiing that way, you're totally missing the point and you're not getting out of the sport what you could be.
 
J.D.

"It seems to me that the people who focus on [the business aspect/progression] are missing out on what really makes this sport great."

All previous conversations aside - I agree....It's pointless to make this a larger/philosophical issue online.....Trust me though, I know exactly how you feel. I skied 130 days last season....many of which were Mondays or Tuesdays, during a white out, by myself, alone atop one of the last great vestiges of our society....the mountains.

i think, maybe, we are progressing, as a people, towards something like you mentioned....some higher state of conciousness, postive action, etc...I don't know....Websites like these make that so hard to think about....I knew there was a reason I've only posted 20 times in six years.

peace -

give a shout if you are ever up in summit county..
 
And it's totally possible to ski at a shitty hill and just have fun without all the BS, I'm sure of it. It might not be as good as if you lived in SLC, but you can still pull it off, can't you? Watch EST, they seem to have that kind of a good vibe for the most part, or so it appears, and that's all EC park. Maybe it's just boredom with crappy features and no vertical that produces this, I don't know... but I don't see why it has to be so. If someone is that bored that they have to resort to that kind of BS, I don't know why they're in this sport.
 
Alright... and I'm with you on the websites thing, it's never as clear to think about as when you're up there. Sometimes this place is enough to taint that "higher state of conciousness", as you put it... but not for long. Not as long as pow days exist.

pc, will do
 
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