Someone explain a "big mountain" competition to me.

[CheesusChrist]

Just heard Harlaut is competing in Big Mountain. I've been skiing for long, and even though my post count is low, I've followed Newschoolers for a while. But I've never heard of a big mountain competition. I thought it was just a category for segments/skis/type of skiing.

 

[galardogod]

Its a competition in a swedish Jerk circle in wich the man with the biggest dick is declared the winner (hence the name big mountain)

 

[SkiBum.]

They put rails in powder and you take a heli to lap them

 

[CheesusChrist]

The only Big Mounatin I know jams "Baby I Love Your Way"

 

[CheesusChrist]

They put rails in powder and you take a heli to lap them

thats some SSX shit

 

[shredschralp]

its a comp where instead of manicured jumps you jump off rocks and ski and shit. Skip to 4:10 for ski men division.

 

[shredschralp]

^^^the last run in that video is filthy

 

[S.J.W]

There's a few types of big mountain comps. There's comps which combine jumps and big mountain and then there's just big mountain where you hit whatever is in front of you with no man made features.

Usually big mountain competitions are judged on their exposure/risk, technicality, flow, speed and their landings.

 

[skier58284]

Ski off a lot of big cliffs to win. Look up FWT (Freeride World Tour). That's the highest level big mountain competition.

 

[k3ndall.g]

Big mountain is judged on 5 things.

1. Line Choice-the line you descend down the venue, airs and cliffs help build up your line score

2. Technique-this entails things like making round turns, keeping your hands up, not being in the back seat...etc

3. Control-things like back slaps, putting a hand down, or any major bobble will cost you in the control category. to obtain a good control score you just have to have a good, clean, run

4. Fluidity-this is basically just how fluid you are down the venue. minimum hesitation, and maintaining good speed are what the judges look for in this category.

5. Style and Energy-judges want to see skiing energetically down the venue making the whole run exiting and fun to watch. tricks also help in this category

The head judge awards the riders line score, and then all three judges give their scores for the other four categories. The scores in these four categories aren't allowed to be more than 3 points above the line score.

Here's an example of a big mountain venue:

And here's an example of a run someone might do on that same venue (skip to 1:16:

 

[infedel_one]

shut your mouth troll. with that icon i'd expect nothing less though

 

[CheesusChrist]

So basically like X-Games real ski backcountry but more technically judged, and live. I just couldn't figure out how it would work as a live competition.

 

[shredschralp]

So basically like X-Games real ski backcountry but more technically judged, and live. I just couldn't figure out how it would work as a live competition.

Kinda, there usually aren't man made jumps.

 

[RubberSoul]

So basically like X-Games real ski backcountry but more technically judged, and live. I just couldn't figure out how it would work as a live competition.

no. it's a competition based around the lines and drops you ski on a given face. think of a big mtn segment where dudes are trying to ski big steep faces with multiple cliff bands, getting rad as possible. a big mtn comp in the purest sense has no man made anything, just an area to find the dopest lines on and send cliffs

 

[CheesusChrist]

no. it's a competition based around the lines and drops you ski on a given face. think of a big mtn segment where dudes are trying to ski big steep faces with multiple cliff bands, getting rad as possible. a big mtn comp in the purest sense has no man made anything, just an area to find the dopest lines on and send cliffs

Ah I got you. Are they judged on what they throw off cliffs/knolls/etc. too?

 

[CheesusChrist]

Ah I got you. Are they judged on what they throw off cliffs/knolls/etc. too?

OR just there line choice, technique, and fluidity?

 

[LIL_WAT]

Tanner Hall has a good way of explaining it

 

[LIL_WAT]

 

[Aerozol]

Ah I got you. Are they judged on what they throw off cliffs/knolls/etc. too?

A big mountain comp takes place in all conditions (within reason/ the judges can see something), so you might be hitting gnarly shit in snow conditions you wouldn't even want to be out in usually, let alone do a trick on. At the top level you might have to anyway though.

The other thing is that backslapping a landing or just putting a hand down loses you points no matter how big it is, and considering you're skiing onto unfamiliar snow, on (usually) an unfamiliar slope, it's hard to put it all together.

Add to that that judges are looking for exposure, which basically means how likely you are to die if you fall. So picking a steep line and some drops above a no-fall cliff is good for points, but probably not a good idea to huck a trick...

 

[KillerPow]

if you stomp a trick off a huge cliff ofc it will be good for your score, but look at Reine Barkered - he just straight up charges down Verbier and wins the last stop at FWT.. It really depends on the rest of your run, better to have an overall fluid and technical run than some boring safe line with a huge backflip in the end

[video]http://dai.ly/x1kea7t[/video] (Reine's Run at Verbier)

 

[HSmith]

Well there is this big mountain. and they have a competition on it

 

[CheesusChrist]

This is too awesome. It's skiing on nature and shit which I dig. Some may say "real" skiing.

They should throw some bc-like booters and some log jibs around and make that a comp too. That would be sick.

 

[RubberSoul]

OR just there line choice, technique, and fluidity?

it's mostly those but airs and tricks definitely go into the other category (style and energy or something? i forget)... i can't imagine someone could score well without sending some shit unless they were doing something completely insane otherwise

look some stuff up on youtube but make sure it's a sick stop on the freeride world tour (FWT) cause big mtn skiing is one of those sports like hockey where it's insanely boring to watch unless it's the top guys and then it's great (as long as you have some appreciation for how gnarly the skiing is)

 

[theorolfs]

Big mountain is judged on 5 things.

1. Line Choice-the line you descend down the venue, airs and cliffs help build up your line score

2. Technique-this entails things like making round turns, keeping your hands up, not being in the back seat...etc

3. Control-things like back slaps, putting a hand down, or any major bobble will cost you in the control category. to obtain a good control score you just have to have a good, clean, run

4. Fluidity-this is basically just how fluid you are down the venue. minimum hesitation, and maintaining good speed are what the judges look for in this category.

5. Style and Energy-judges want to see skiing energetically down the venue making the whole run exiting and fun to watch. tricks also help in this category

The head judge awards the riders line score, and then all three judges give their scores for the other four categories. The scores in these four categories aren't allowed to be more than 3 points above the line score.

Here's an example of a big mountain venue:

And here's an example of a run someone might do on that same venue (skip to 1:16:

Actually fluidity and control are in the same category, there is one more category which focused on creativity, that is for JFT and IFSA events. In the Subaru free ride series, Judging is more focused on overall impression.

 

[jpastor]

Not trying to be rude here but, how in the hell did you not understand what a big mountain comp was if you knew what a big mountain segment,ski, and type of ski. If you have seen any of Shane McConkeys, Sean Pettit, Tanner Hall, Seth Morrison edit than you should understand how a big mtn comp is run.

 

[SEABURN]

How has no on mentioned FWT?

this is the major leagues of big mountain skiing: [video]https://vimeo.com/22262281[/video]

 

[CheesusChrist]

Not trying to be rude here but, how in the hell did you not understand what a big mountain comp was if you knew what a big mountain segment,ski, and type of ski. If you have seen any of Shane McConkeys, Sean Pettit, Tanner Hall, Seth Morrison edit than you should understand how a big mtn comp is run.

Obviously knew what big mountain is. Couldn't picture how it's judged.

 

[GrahamGould]

Not trying to be rude here but, how in the hell did you not understand what a big mountain comp was if you knew what a big mountain segment,ski, and type of ski. If you have seen any of Shane McConkeys, Sean Pettit, Tanner Hall, Seth Morrison edit than you should understand how a big mtn comp is run.

Its understandable, I mean they aren't exactly the same thing. Competition lines are chosen in a much different way, because you have to think about the point value of everything your doing as apposed to choosing a line based on how cool it looks. A lot of times the flow of the line you ski in competition is a little choppier (not bad, but more so than in filming) because the skier is trying to get every feature possible on the way down. In filming, there is usually no more than 2 or 3 airs in a line, which allows people to ski so much faster, and flow through the line flawlessly. Also, filming is done in remote locations, almost always in the backcountry, accessed by helis, sleds, and skins. contests are always in much more accessible places.

If all you know about big mountain is what you have seen in ski movies, then it is completely understandable for a big mountain comp to seem unrealistic.