The right direction of skiing

zaser

zaser

Member
i think it's a perfect moment to start a thread like this. with all of the controversial topics lately about things like double flips, no poles, competitions, you name it. i want to hear what you guys want the future of skiing to be like.

this is my opinion on what i want the future of skiing to be:



skiing, and where people belong:



pipe skiers

eg: simon dumont



mainstream comp skiers (some same as pipe, basically x-games skiers, people boasting those company logos way over their head to make $$$)

eg: jon olsson



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THICK BOLD UNCROSSABLE LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

video segment skiers

eg: tanner hall (arguably a comp skier, i feel he's more of a video segment skier these days)

street/rail jam kids

eg: ahmet dadali

*note*: pipe skiers and mainstream comp skiers can still have video segments, i just don't think they should be mixed with the other side of the line. or if they are, it should be in a team video, not a "crew" video.

videos:

team videos

eg: 1242, including amateur and flow riders would be ideal

collective of similar riders

eg: any of iberg's movies, tanner's movies

amateur videos

eg: anyone trying to make something of themselves

the wrongs in skiing right now:

- in order to make it in skiing, you have to be a hybrid of the 4 categories

- fucked up movies with no consistency

- too focused on marketing the extreme (won't change, it would be a stupid decision for the companies that are advertising)

- the whole "you have to have a perfect image to make it in skiing" thing. (i have a coach, i train everyday, i'm not a party animal to the public eye, my personality is censored)

- lack of truthfulness to yourself from the general population

- there are a lot more but i'm too lazy to think of all of them

WHAT'RE YOUR THOUGHTS!

 
why does everyone think that skiing needs to take a certain direction. I think that everone should do what they want (thats why its called "free"style skiing, because your free to do whatever you want). If you don't like your poles, don't use them. you might think thats stupid, but who gives a fuck what you think.

People, stop talking about the wright and wrong direction of skiing, because theres no such thing.
 
^ you can.... www.wagnerskis.com

also on this topic... I think this tread is stupid....

Its like your trying to ask where skiing should go, but then at the same time telling everyone what types of skiers should do what? The best and worst thing about our sport is that everyone can do whatever they want. Skiing.... and I mean skiing the entire term means something different to each person, but thats what makes the sport great. You can do whatever you want and be successful with it.... think about that for a second... YES you can. There are people making money off this sport in many different directions, you don't need to be a certain thing, or certain image.... you just have to find the right direction for your own self and the right companies that support you.
 
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THICK BOLD UNCROSSABLE LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Explain to me the point of that. Limitations is what fucks with skiing.

 
There is some guy living in a shed in the middle of nowhere in alaska, everyday he hikes some mountain and shreds like hell the whole way down, he makes his own skis from driftwood, and he brews his own beer during the off season.

That guy, that guy, is the right direction of skiing.
 


TEAM VIDEOS WILL SHOWCASE FULL SEGMENTS FROM PEOPLE LIKE, SEAN DECKER, JOSH BIBBY, SEAN LOGAN, IAN PROVO... kids who are wayyy sicker than the competiton riders in segments right now.

team videos will give younger kids who dont do as many comps a chance to survive. Skiing is so wound up about pipe where if you DONT train pipe every second day, or learn the newest gayest double, your fucked, cause you wont win competitions >>>> get paid less by sponsers >>>> not be in the videos/

atomic, i cant beleive im saying this, atomic has taken the RIGHT DIRECTION in skiing, in making a team video. Now we will be able to see parts from everyone on their team, rather then just see the select 2 parts that atomic can afford to pay to get riders in, which will benefit atomic, the riders under atomic, and the general public! HOLY SHIT! it even benefits filmers because now another filmer can be hired! It's a win win for anyone/anything in the industry.

It's amazing how snowboarding actual has a balance between, segment riders, comp riders, rail/jib movies.

I love how snowboarding is set up.... notice how if snowboarding didnt have any team videos, how it would look? well it would look alot like skiing, where they cram 18 riders into a 60 minute movie with alot of tricks on the same photoshoot features, and theres random 1 minute parts of riders.

If, Nomis-Stepchild, Technine, Isenseven, Grenade, Special Blend can make team movies where everyone has a solid segment on the team, WHY CANT SKIING? money? i sure hope thats not an excuse, if your telling me that rossi or volkl, dynastar, k2 dont have as much money as technine or grenade to make a movie, something is wrong in your head.

They all just have old farts at the top saying well, oviously our team riders who compete every weekend are better than are other ones, we will throw them into poorboyz montage of every rider in the universe, and the people who dont have the results will have to wait until they get them, because they must not be as good if they dont have the results!

Skiing, wake the fuck up. Thank you jordan judd for doing something PROGRESSIVE with a ski company that has a shitload of money.
 
ps. if you think skiing has the be the "pefect image" and they cant make fun of other skiers for doign something hideous and gay.. DUMONTS FRONT TO FRONTFULL.

enjoi doesnt give a fuck when there riders make fun of other pros, why should ns delete everypost that challenges someones style? why is skiing trying to protect itself so much? lame.

watch this clip, this guy skates for enjoi, makes a bunch of money, and is making fun of all the vert ramp riders, is funny as shit, and if this vid was posted by a kid on ns, it would be taken down in a second. Or the company who he rides for would be up with their panties in a knot.

please watch. its funny.
 
The thing that I love best about skiing is that there is no direction. Thats what i love about it.
 


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sorry. this is the link embedding doesnt work.

if this video was in skiing, making fun of "vert pipe riders aka halfpipe skiers" saying that 12 iron crosses look gay, because thats what they are, ns police, or freeskier, or the team the pro rode on when he postd the video would be deleted immed.
 
i see nothing wrong with it... why cant you just go out and fucking enjoy yourself... god damn go ski and shut up...
 
Just go skiing and love it, dont be trying to push it in any direction just let it happen. I really dont like how people get these ideas of which way is the right way for skiing too go.
 
i do go out and enjoy myself, all the time? dont you ever feel bad for the kids who kill it and get no recognition, making no money, barely making a living? or get tired of watching shitty movies? i do.
 
yea dude, i'll just become the head ceo of like, 4 major ski companies, make sure that shit gets in order, and also at the same time, make sure every ski company puts more effort into video segments then sponsering competition riders.

well, its a good think im young and realize that it would be immpossible, instead of stupid and old like you.
 
You guys have to realize that being open does not mean trying to shut out any form of criticism with the argument "stop complaining. ski for yourself." That sort of attitude is fine for anyone who feels that way, don't get me wrong! If all you want to do is go to hill every other weekend and shred with your friends, by all means, do so. Skiing is tons of fun and does make a great hobby.

But as in any sport there are those who love skiing to the point where they want to something other than just cruise around, and people express this love in different ways. Some kids will join a freestyle club at they're mountain and start competing, while for others this option is completely unthinkinkable. The beauty of sports like skateboarding, and to a slightly lesser extent, snowboarding, is that options other than getting your parents to start paying a freestyle coach are available. A lot of kid are not completely happy paying thousands of dollars a season on the cost of equipment and passes, let alone the cost of joining a freestyle team.

In skiing at present, if a sixteen year old kid says to himself: "Okay. I love skiing more than anything else in the world, and want to pursue it to the fullest extent that I can," he does have a number of options.

First of all, he can go to every local competition in the hopes that a local rep might spot him skiing half as well as he would on any given day outside of competition. If he chooses this option, then he will have to perform the most generic, soul-destroying tricks ad nauseum in order to get the results he needs to get noticed by any rep.

His second option is to join a freestyle club and get instructed by a person who has been freestyle skiing no longer than any of his "students" and whose only realy function is to dicipline the future Simon Dumonts and Sammy Carlsons to practice what will get them ahead in competition.

That's it. Those are the options that a young aspiring pro skier has.

What if you don't enjoy competions, but love skiing with your friends more than anything you could possibly think of? Well, there is always the option of putting a video part together. In skateboarding, there is a clear division between the top competition (vert, etc.) and video part skaters. Video part skaters film with the company that supports them. Don't you all see the beauty of that?

TEAM VIDEOS MEAN THAT THE RIDER IS FILMING WITH THE COMPANY THAT IS SUPPORTING THEM FINANCIALLY

In filming with the company that will potentially sign the sixteen year-old flow rider's pay-check should he ride well means that there is no middle-man. If a rider performs well on camera, the company gets an entertaining video, therefore the rider is compensated accordingly. There is no need to squable over competition results or enter any competitions at all! If the rider does the tricks they want, and does them well, then their sponsor is promoted via a direct contribution that the rider has made to the team video. That is how a sponsorship should work.

The state of the industry at present doesn't allow for such a smooth exchange of resources because companies rely too heavily on what other ski companies are doing, not what skiers are doing. Companies don't have the courage to divert from the norm of the industry. If the industry says that the winner of the US Open is the only good skier there is, than that is who the companies will want. Ski companies do not trust themselves or their own skiers enough to let them help each other be successful. Think about it: a pro skier needs a company to provide equipment and to pay his salary, and a ski company needs skiers to promote their product. By working together to make something that will promote both the rider and the company, and that fellow skiers will most definitely enjoy, the ski company/skier can be entirely self-sufficient.

It's all about trust. Once ski companies realize that they can trust themselves and their riders, then we'll have an industry worth being involved with. It just takes some people that have the balls not to say "ski for yourself," but instead "ski for skiing's sake."

 
Welp,

You missed the point chief. Look up DIY and maybe you'll figure it out.

Doing it yourself has nothing to do with starting some company, it has to do with the fact that since the layout of our sport is fundamentally democratic, and given the way the internet lets us all share what we like, it means go ride the way you want and share the way you ride, and then people will share the way they ride, and we all can determine what the sport is together. Instead of just listening to what skiing is from someone who gets paied for it.

"The right direction" of skiing is the way that you're skiing, that simon dumont is skiing, that I am skiing, that the kid that rents skis once every four years is skiing.

The right direction of skiing is whichever way anyone wants it to go.
 
Sucks that every night you go to sleep you pray that the big names in skiing start making your personality and your style ok to have in the sport.

I got sick of waiting around for someone to tell me what was ok, someday you'll figure out that you can just do what you want and not wait around people to tell you its right.
 
I cant wait to see atomics team video, that beign said, it's weird for other filming prod like the guyz at theory 3 who were getting decent sponsors from them and filmed pretty much all the riders in north america.

II really liked how oakley hired PBP to make a team video since tehy were used to work with them.

I,m not bashing on atomic, I,m just trying to figure out wich way of making a team video would be the best.
 
I feel like the emphasis on comps is much stronger than video parts, which suppresses skiing's growth. A comp skier is looking to please sponsors, judges and bro's that actually care about comps. And that means the "faster, higher, bigger" mentality wins every time.

The core kids, who care about style and originality are obviously unsatisfied by comps, because they appeal to hucking and just generally aggro riding. This section of the ski world has not yet realized what is actually entertaining to watch. And so, we end up with ski robots doing front 270's out of every urban rail and endless tweaked grabs. And time lapses, and night shots of cities, and jumpy shots and pans.

Now, to move way off topic. Skiing needs two things: creativity and taste.

Creativity is easy to figure out. But we need true creativity. Which means thinking of tricks for yourself (hand drags don't count fuck), and actually having the nerve to do them in front of your skier bros, even if they make fun. I know blahblahblah this has all been said a lot.

Taste means thinking about what you're wearing and doing. Is there a purpose to 270 pretzel that rail? It's already been done a million times. Sure, go ahead and do it for personal achievement. But shit, don't film it because it's been done too much. And your clothes. Are you wearing those because a pro had them? Ever think of not looking like a clone? Be yourself, and don't tell me "yourself" is dictated by whatever's hot in 08.

To put an end to this very disappointing post, skiing needs more hate. It keeps wack style and taste in line. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iouA-9Ez8a8 (just imagine if Tanner pulled out a Freeskier and started doing the same thing).

 
what happens in the pro world comes a distant second to what happens in my world, as long as i enjoy myself then im happy

i like the way that skiing is being pulled in all sorts of directions, it makes the sport more unique
 
I think you have misunderstood.

You say "do it yourself" in a dismissive way, and that is in fact part of the problem. People voicing their opinions is how people "do it theirselves." Being honest about what makes you unhappy in the ski industry is exactly what has to happen for any change to be made. There are a lot of little fish around who can do little more then to ski and to talk. Someone has to notice something is wrong before anything can change.

It's not a matter of wishing the industry would approve of you, it's a matter of making the industry.

But if you have nothing to say, that's definitely cool too.
 
something that 99.99% of the sport doesn't and probably never will realize. everyone's all stop the hate this stop the hate that. fuck that, if we allowed every single concept in skiing it would turn into a gong show. people get away with way too much shit these days.

an example of some good, needed hate:

PRO'S...THE JUMPS YOU GUYS BUILD ONTO HANDRAILS ARE TOO BIG, AND YET YOU NEVER GET CALLED OUT FOR IT. DON'T PRETEND YOU CAN 270 PRETZEL A 60 FOOT DOWN RAIL IF YOUR JUMP IS BIG ENOUGH TO BACKFLIP ONTO THE RAIL.

the mentality of our sport right now seems to be the whole "nobody will notice" thing. the fact that we let everything slide so easily makes it so the pros can sneak away with putting very unlegit tricks in their video parts. watch tanner in pop yer bottlez or wski106 and then pop in a level 1 or poorboyz movie, you will notice the jumps are massive! (in the level 1 movie)

*note*: there is nothing wrong with having a decent sized jump onto a handrail if it's not being used for: pro video parts!!!! (lol), serious am video parts, promotional videos, or anything else where the basis on the trick being legit or not comes into play.



 
Agreed!

You know what I also hate? How "pro" skiers can get away with filming a video part in 4 days at a spring shoot. That is embarassing. If you wanna do comps all winter thats fine but dont film a part. Because I will skip it. They are boring and uninteresting, especially when you hit the same jump ten times with the same angle and the same lighting. Oh and the same trick as last year. It is also annoying when there are some skiers who would kill for the support you have so they could do their trips to the east for street and then west for BC hits.

 
forget what other people are doin while skiing, do what you like doing. who cares if you teach 5 year olds on weekends,ski pipe/park whenever you're not teaching, are on the school race team and do big mountain pow when you get the chance, for me its just about skiing not about what catagorie of skiing i am
 
The only way to accomplish what you're suggesting, which is to change the industry that supports our sport, is to simply vote with your money.

I hear kids in this thread talk about video segments, or outerwear.

If you dont like the stuff coming out, stop buying it. Thats the best way to get your point across.

If people are sick of simple video segments that are not impressive, stop buying videos from people who pull that on their viewers. If you don't like outwear, stop buying it every season.

I mean really there is no other route. Because even if a company sees this thread full of us all complaining, if sales are still up then they are going to assume we dont represent the bulk of skiing.

Maybe I didn't get the thread at first, but even so, from what it seems like the best route to accomplishing what everyone wants to do is to focus on yourself first, and what we all can do to influence the sport. Then from that, if we all do that, the sport will listen.
 
I was too lazy to read the other posts, but who are you to classify people and tell them where to go? fack off just go skiing.
 
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