Skiing needs the WCT...

M

Matty_C

Active member
Ok, so I know there are probably a million threads talking about how comp skiing needs to be reformed, but I don't remember anyone ever drawing the parallel with surfing.

The ASP WCT has like 12 events throughout the season, during which the competitors have to ride just about every type of wave possible. There will be event with some smaller, imperfect waves which encourage aerial manouvres, also known as newschool surfing, and events like the billabong pro at Teahupo'o and pipeline which test the surfers skill on big fast waves and tuberiding.

In other words, all aspects of surfing are tested during the season to determine the best overall surfer, namely slater for the recent memory.

Surely skiing needs to go the same way, which would get people like pollard, sage and pep back into comps rather than being skeptical about them. I guess you could have a world tour incorporating a few pipe events like X, USFSO, etc, a few big airs, like JOI, USFSO, some BC comps like K2 back 9 and some big mountain events like the verbier xtreme of, better, swatch big mountain pro.

If this were to happen, we could really determine whothe best skier in the world is and it would be great fun to follow...

What does anyone think, and who would win...

My picks would be

Sage

Bushfield

Pollard

Pep

Abma

EH

Candide

one of those
 
that would be sick, they should at least do something like that that incorporates different aspect of the lifestyle with an overall ranking throughout the season. totally dope
 
teh nature of competition causes standardization and imitation (sw 10 fest) rather than unique progression.

fuck comps. they are neccessary for the sport to progress in the park arena i guess, but let pollard and y and pep film.
 
ive never thought of it like that but i think thats a good idea. i think candide, pollard and pep would do sick in something like that
 
I think the format for the 'CT (aka ASP) is really legit. It works really really well. They have talked about limiting the amount of times someone can win the championships, but thats a horrible plan. If they're the best, let them stay that way until someone can beat them (See: Slaters 8 wins, punctuated by Derek Ho, Occy, Sunny Garcia, CJ Hobgood, and Andy Irons.)

As far as skiing, I think it would work. They would need to vary the courses per mountain so that literally all areas can be tested. In the larger ski community, there would be a debate whether to include racing, big mountain, and park in the same tours (clearly, racing is a different thing. But BM and park would be interesting to include in the same!). There are clearly crossover athletes, I would like to see what would happen there.

I also really like the entry format. The surfer has to amass enough wins and points to qualify for the CT. Once in, they stick in and keep ammassing points until they're in the top. Technically, there are thousands of surfers on the tour, but only so many can go on. That kind of sucks, because the main barrier is an amature surfer's sponsors not being able to foot the bill for travel costs.

There are also wildcard entries determined by the smaller and frequently not-associated contests. That show on MTV a while ago, Surf Girls, offered a wild card slot to the winner, for example. Also, sponsors throw wildcard contests, which is like the SuperUnknown. They let randos surf and prove themselves, then sponsor their wildcard slot into the tour.

I think that entry format would work out for skiing, especially because the interest in skiers/skiing in general is HUGE.

The judging criteria for the ASP is constant, which works. Plus, the criteria is the basis, if not the exact same, for most other contests,a llowing for an even playing field.

Good suggestion. I'm eager to see other responses.
 
nahh, all skiing needs is a good way to judge comps, like more points for bigger spins, or longer airs, longer grabs, or combos and stuff.
 
I think its a brilliant idea. Right now there aren't many competitions that test peoples ability to ski. I think the ct should be mimicked but also expanded on.

everything from heli, to sled bc, to bc jumps, park, park rails, urban rails and have halfpipe in there too. it would be sick. SICK SICK SICK
 
the WCT is certainly a great comp format. it might not work with skiing though because of the multiple codes(slopestyle, halfpipe etc.)
 
this is a great idea but how will it work. are you going to lead a protest and get all pro skiers to quit spin to win comps and cause major ski companies to organize such events. its a great idea but you would have to have a lot of influence for it to work
 
It wouldn't change anything. It's still a competition, with a winner. There's nothing stopping pep or pollard from entering slopestyle comps, pipe comps, and big mountain comps. They don't because they don't care about winning any of them - why would competing for the title of "best overall skier" be any different?

On a different note - I can't make any claims that "skiing wouldn't be where it was today without comps", but they certainly helped. It didn't go from day one right to switch cork 10 octo comp. It went from hucked 720 to hucked 1080, to switch spins, to corks, better grabs, people throwin zeros, etc. The whole complaining about "switch 10 fest" I think was just retarted. It was a phase. Tanner won how many fucking comps with switch rodeo 7s? But guess what, eventually, that didn't fly anymore, and the game changed. If you look at any US Open big air, the level definitely has always moved up.

People step up at comps, and that's a good thing. Was TJs switch 14 with a long ass grab spin to win? You bet it was, and it was fucking sick. If it was ugly and he landed like shit, it wouldn't have won. Look at rail comps - it's retarted what kids do at them now compared to 3 years ago, and that's good.

Comps are comps, they always will be, it's just one part of skiing.
 
Its amazing how a thread like this can generate such well though out responses and good ideas... and then some moron has to make a comment like this. contributing absolutely nothing to the thread at all. You my friend, are an ass.

As far as the idea goes: I think it would be a great way to progress the sport. And if you think about it... its kind of the way the sport is going to begin with... just in an unorganized fasion. A lot of guys start off in the park, making a name for themselves in comps and such... getting a little filming done. Then they start moving more into the BC and mini golf lines to flesh out their later film segments and then eventually follow the likes of Mike Douglas and Vincint Dorion and "retire" if you will to almost exclusively BC skiing. So it would make perfect sense to organize this into a season long series. Where there are park pipe and BC events all over the world. I think that if it were to happen though it would be park pipe and mini golf lines and not so much big mountain. I feel like the people that ski big mountain [Hugo... Gordy Phiffier(i know i butchered the spelling) and the ilk] really wouldnt be able to compete in a park/pipe setting, and conversely id love to see some park rat on a first discent somewhere deep in AK... it just wouldnt happen. But for the most part all of the big names in park skiing right now... could hold their own in a mini golf setting and people like pollard who make their name in mini golf lines start out in park. So it would be a great way for people who normally wouldnt compete together or even at all to compete on all fronts. Not only that, but it would push every one to be more well rounded skiers so they can compete for the honors of overall title and not just winning any one individual even through the year. All you would need to do then is bring in skiers to be judges... and you would have a pretty sweet deal.
 
me and the aussiepimp been saying this shit for sooo long now

i had a huge thread running on this a while back, cant seem to find it now though

i couldnt agree with you anymore buddy...if this sport is truly going to progress, and have some sort of structure whereby the best guys are on show and getting paid the dues they deserve, as well as existing for an eternity, a world tour and secondary tour with a points ranking system must occur in the short term.

i could talk about this all day but i just thought id throw my support behind what your saying for now
 
ya, maybe i might, even though i'm still at uni, and i'd have absolutely no influence with anyone responsible for running shit.

i don't care about it that much, i just thought it would be a nice idea. cheers for your input though man.
 
a supercompany would have to sponsor it. maybe if all the small companies got together they coudl all throw dough in.
 
The level is not there yet for BC minigolf comps, look at the K2 back 9 one. Look at how awkward and forced most of the tricks were. There were minor exceptions like Andy's zero to switch rodeo which was retarded. Overall most tricks thrown were ugly and not landed. Maybe in a couple years the level will be up enough to warrant another comp like that, but not right now.
 
you don't need to have all kinds of influence. You have enough influence to get people in here talking about it. Keep this thread going and more people will talk about it. Enough industry watch these forums now that someones bound to see it. Keep the ideas coming people.. Something good is bound to come of it.
 
yes.

if it were a format like this, i'd put my money on Jon. no human could compete with his robot consistency in all conditions.
 
maybe, idk tho, jon is more of a big air kinda guy. doesn't do so much pipe any more, bu yr right he rips big mtn
 
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