That zero spin

crawley

crawley

Member
So... in the first olympics ever for real skiing (on real mountains), Kim Lamarre shuts up NS forever by throwing a zero over a 100(?) footer with a grab. Sage wins sb slope with the best looking grabs on his tricks even though Mark throws down a run that wins every other slope contest in the history of snowboarding. So before the real contest even starts I have to ask:

1. did the olympics save slopestyle? Kind of shitting on Terje(my 1/2 hero with Candide) and Iberg if they did, but maybe we just watched it happen.

2. can NS ever hate on girls skiing ever again after Kim Lamarre probably threw the trick I would vote for in best trick for the entirety of girls/guys ski/snowboard slope.

3. does Kim have the biggest balls of anybody ever? looks like she weighs 90 lbs and just zeroed a hundred footer when some other girls had almost literally been broken in half on a slow course.

Hosestly after these past couple of days I've never felt better about Henrik's chances. Nick Goepper must be shitting himself seeing that style actually counts at this contest.
 
Im pumped that theyre actually counting style so that the jumps wont just become a huck and tuck contest(hopefully)
 
I will not disagree, I'm impressed that Style is being taken into account so heavily. This is good. However, its not just one tiny little judging microcosm that Terje, Iberg, Myself and others question about the Olympics - its everything else that comes with it.

What you did see what Slopestyle all of a sudden rammed into the same box that Moguls and Aerials are in. There is potentially a lot of downsides that come from this happening, which if you go deeper into the arguments you'll see a lot more of. There are an immense amount of rules and scrutiny that can come with being such a 'certified' sport, and a real lack of freedom of enjoyment/expression that can accompany that.

Having said that - yes, its pretty darn rad that the 3rd place person in Women's slope won with a zero. I have waited for this moment for my entire time involved in skiing, and I'm pretty fucking blown away that the Olympics are when it happened.

All I can say is that its still an open debate, as its only the long term that will truly tell what the big organization's influence will be within the sport.

 
my response to the SB judging in another thread:

"Stale's run was head and shoulders above everybody else especially with his rail game- but that's just how it fit my eye, if you saw it different I can't argue, that's subjectivity."

Regardless I think it is sick that stylish grabs won out over the technicality that Stale and Mark had.
 
I wasn't suggesting the Olympics were alright. I was, however, clearly suggesting that slopestyle was fucked. That every major comp including x games was a total joke and that style didn't matter, that tucked up dubs and triples with no grabs or shitty ones always trumped proper skiing.

I guess I'm not asking if the Olympics are ok, there are still major problems.

I'm asking if the Olympics will finally make slopestyle a legitimate competition of style, not aerials like it has been for years.
 
I don't think the olympics will change slopestyle to much, as downhill, moguls, ariels etc are so regulated but that's because the runs are so straight forward. You do this then you do that blah blah, with slopestyle there's no one stopping you from doing what you want. Also how can they really regulate it? I don't know to much about moguls but i know they did something with downhill where your skis had to be over 186 with a turning radius of 20 or something (correct me if i'm wrong) But the whole the gold medal winner will get all the credit and the losers will get nothing, that might be true to your average gaper at home who will know who won and not who has the best film segments, but us on NS will always be in the know and the medal winner doesn't really matter to "us". Concurrently SB halfpipe has been in the game for a while and nothing in that sport has changed apart from hyping shaun white so all in all, i don't think the games will change the sport to much.

But please give your arguments as i would like to see both sides.

Good day
 
Wasn't it the same kind of conditions (FIS, IOC, over regulation, etc) that brought about guys like Schmidt, Plake, Morrison, McConkey, JF, JP, etc? Look at how they revolutionized the sport.

I have no idea where else skiing can go from where we are right now, but that's not to say there aren't some young guys just waiting to change the way we look at skiing all over again.
 
There's nothing I love to watch more than a style machine such as b dog, doll, or delorme, but in contests the problem is it is subjective. This brings issues into play because some judges like some skiers' styles over others. what trick someone did and how clean they landed it are pretty much wholly objective, so I think style shouldn't take precedence in contests.
 
A lot of things can happen that can 'ruin' the 'freedom of expression' in competitive park skiing.

If someone were to die doing a triple cork in competition on live national television, it could very well be the end of current park/pipe era. It would be the excuse needed for FIS to try and take over completely and make regulations all over the place. Dumbing down public parks in a big way and making it so you need to join a team to use training facilities if you want to hit a park anywhere close to the likes of Keystone, Park City, Breck, Whistler, etc... Capping tricks to triple (or double?) corks, with a max spin cap of 1440 or so.

On top of that: Sage winning gold over triples with his style doesn't really sit right with me. As soon as you have a certain style with easier tricks win over another style with harder tricks you just changed the whole game. If Sage's style is considered preferable over McMorris's style, after a few events everyone is going to shift their riding to emulate that. People will figure out what grab's will give you the most style points and just start doing those, and next thing you know slopestyle is EXACTLY like aerials. Capped tricks, a defined style, and most likely course regulation. I don't think slopestyle will ever get to the point where there will only be one course, but I could see the jumps angles and sizes become regulated, similar to how an aerials jump is always the exact same dimensions for every event.
 
Can someone make it into a .gif or something?

You've gotten me all hyped up and youtube wont let me play the video.
 
There it is. There is the dumbest post of all time on NS. Drail you win a prize. Biggest fucking idiot of all time.

If that "certain style" was so easy to emulate, you are right. In the same sense, why doesn't everyone just copy nick goeppers run to win x or other slope contests. Spoiler: it's because it isn't that easy. Same reason Mark or whoever will never get a crail that looks that good. Like a 1620 is no big deal by the way. Same reason Tom or Russ or Jossi can't just "copy" Henrik as you make it sound so damn easy. You sound like you wish this sport was aerials. Not like you are worried about it being aerials. Aerials has nothing to do with style, which is why you are a fucking moron. Fuck you Drail. Sorry bro
 
Good point and well put. I would definitely agree that this contest specifically put the idea of style on a stage in front of all of us. If it happens in Mens as well, we will all face the idea of what a competition looks like with style judged high and whether or not we will all accept it.

This specific slopestyle led the way.

I like it.
 
The regulations happen slowly. It would be countries not agreeing on what a 'fair rail' is in a contest, so all of a sudden only X, Y and Z type rails are allowed in slopestyle. Then, people start arguing on what the best style of jump is, and it gets to the point where jumps can only be 68 degree takeoffs, 8' high with no more than 6' of stepdown and a landing that is X metres long. Every jump becomes similar. This goes on for a while, soon the number of hits, the types of rails, the style of jumps are all heavily regulated.

Then it spreads to the terrain parks. Because there is Olympic standards on what a training course is supposed to be, every terrain park starts to have an "olympic certified" slopestyle course. Their insurance companies start to like the idea of the Olympic standards, and then start forcing them to stick only within Olympics training ground guidelines.

After that the qualifications show up. There's marshalls on the Olympics slopestyle training courses, and if you haven't passed the proper water ramp certification for your corked spins, you're given a warning once for performing unlicensed tricks before being kicked out. Everyone must be a member of the club, and outsiders can't join in without taking the proper courses starting at age 6 with heavy coaching and focusing on winning.

Sure that sounds very conspiracy theorist, but this has already happened to freestyle skiing once before. Aerials was nothing more than a kicky big air contest, ballet was more like flatland BMX than ice dancing and Moguls was a fucking hot dogging-ass free for all where anything went. Every single one of those sports was rammed into a tiny little spot with massive regulations designed around conformity for the games and safety.

I certainly hope that this doesn't happen again. However I'm slightly dubious due to the fact that its already happened once. Maybe times are different now, but rarely are we as different from our forefathers than we give them credit for. These things sneak up on us slowly - so slowly we don't really realize its happening until its too late.

As for the podium or done - well that definitely will happen. Hell, if you're not pretty and you podium you don't even get the same hookups as if you're the all-american quarterback type. Look back at athletes that get massive endorsement deals... they're all pretty. We at NS will remember those who don't podium, but only if we keep an extremely viable other circut in place for them. The sponsors that come in for the Olympics - even the ones that sponsor the Olympic teams - evaporate the second the games are done. Its big business and they don't give a fuck about anything other than betting to try and get someone on the podium.

The chance beyond the Olympic podium only remains if we stay true to our roots, and stay true to the people who didn't support the Olympics, didn't partake and didn't get anything out of it. We have to keep the soul of the sport alive, because once every four years isn't enough attention to keep something running.

I'll never figure out why people think that the Olympics is going to blow our sport up beyond comprehension, when ski jumping, aerials, curling, biathlon, luge and a million other sports aren't national pass times just because they made it into the Olympics.
 
Exactly. But what we have to realize is that it isn't realistic to avoid them. Someone is going to get maimed attempting an epic trick on a massive booter, and then, just like that, the sport will change. Or something similar. When some 18 year old's back gets crushed on a difficult rail, then rails will start to be regulated. We can't avoid it. The only thing we can do is keep the competitions like Dew Tour fun and interesting, to keep the playing field filled with bright people who are trying new things.

Freesking WILL CHANGE. It won't be the same in a decade, but I'm confident that it will still be fun and interesting and filled with awesome people. Maybe these people won't be the Chinese kids throwing Quints (it'll happen), but they will still be the guys putting out sweet edits and keeping the fun alive. Just because figure skating became a drone on the olympic stage doesn't mean that somewhere in the world, some 16-year-old guy and his girlfriend won't be having fun spinning around together on the ice, trying new things.

-G7
 
Just because it's hard doesn't mean it can't/won't happen. Come back to this in 15 or 20 years and we'll see who's post is actually dumb.
 
Kim's zero was sick - and don't get me wrong, she's one of my favorite skiers to watch ski - but she wouldn't have podiumed without the disaster 270 on. THAT was what set her apart in the judges eyes.
 
touche. I hope you are wrong. And I apologize for calling you dumb. I'm just stoked that proper grabs appear to count for a lot. And the comment about Kim's disaster was spot on- without it she doesn't medal.

Also I don't think this is a thread hating on Goepper's style. I give him credit- he has realized that technicality has counted for much, much more than unique grabs or whatever "style" is as much of NS defines it. I'm actually pretty interested to see if his run looks different as a result.
 
ironically the person who won snowboard slope who everyone is claiming was all abou style did a 1620. not that it was not stylie but spin to win will always prevail no matter what. You can say all the shit you want about style beiing important, but i dont see them rotations slowing down in competitons
 
I really like that judges this year in both x games big air and sochi seem to be judging more based on style/smoothness/execution over technicality/spin-to-win. I think this is really what MEN'S skiing needs, as the whole spin-to-win fad has been winning all the major comps for far too long. However, as unpopular as my opinion may be, I think that women's slope/pipe really needs to be judged on technicality and progression. The likes of Kaya Turski and Devin Logan have been throwing the same damn runs down in comps for years and winning medals left and right. Jesus, sure it's smooth, but Kaya literally won X Games with a switch 7 when Maggie Voisin, who's 15, did a switch 10. Until judges start rewarding progression in women's skiing, we'll be seeing 5's and 7's winning gold medals forever. And it's not impossible for women to be doing dubs; Lisa Zimmermann did a dub 12 at age 16 and someone else, I'm blanking on who, did a dub flat at COC or Momentum a year or two before that. And sure, that zero spin was dope, but ultimately, she won a fucking olympic medal with a flat 3, a 5, and a zero spin. The ladies of freeskiing need to step the fuck up and represent because we all know it's possible for them to be doing big, technical jump tricks, but they just don't do them. /end rant
tl;dr: Style is great and all, but women's skiing needs progression more than anything else right now and the judges are fuckin' up for not seeing that and the athletes are fuckin' up for not stepping up and sending it, because we all know they can.
 
You, at the start of this thread: "Nick Goepper must be shitting himself seeing that style actually counts at this contest."

If that's not hating, I don't know what is.
 
Everyone is making it a big deal not because of how hard it is but because she has big enough balls (not literally) to go out and do a switch zero spin not just in a comp but possibly the biggest comp ever for women's freeskiing. This is being blown up, somewhat rightfully so, mainly in part to Kim Lamarre going out and pretty much saying 'I don't give a fuck, this is what I'm going to do'
 
She should've done a 1260, I can do a zero Spin, and I'll give it to her that I've never done off the jump that big, but I really still don't see why it's a big deal.
 
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