Who on NS appreciates ski racing?

1990

Active member
Let's see how much my Karma will drop:

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That is me by the way.
 
Ya your karma totally deserves to drop because your a well rounded skier who likes racing, oh wait.

Also, i really enjoy racing
 
+K
Too many kids on here hate racing just because they're immature 13 yr old little shit heads...sure there are a lot of dick bag racers but there are also a lot of dick bag skiers that ride nothing but park
Racing is very difficult and requires a lot of skill..significantly more than skiers who do nothing but lap the park hitting rails all day
How can you not appreciate a badass racers like Bode? Guy does what he wants when he wants and still dominates
Sick pic btw
 
Hey n00b, nice outerwear. What is that, XXS? And nice Volkl race carves aswell. How many tips they got?

jk. Sick pic
 
It's a sick shot.

I used to race GS, I'd still enter some every now and then but its not worth it to me to throw down the money on race skis.

I'm also loving watching the olympic racing so I'm pretty stoked on racing right now.
 
I'm getting into racing. I joined my high school team to get up to the hill and get a discount pass but I actually really enjoy it. It gives you a whole different perspective on skiing. I still ski park about 80% of the time and love park also
 
I used to race, and I loved it, then I got too old for the race program at my mountain, did 1 year in the J2 J1 circuit, and didn't feel the same camaraderie as at my old mountain, mainly because it was a weekend program. Then I just decided to ski the mountain.

I love them both for different reason.
 
I hate ski racing with a passion, it's not because im just a shit head follower on ns, it's because i had to race for 7 years, and i can not fucking stand it.
 
it definitely takes some balls

i do it when i get bored but this being MI its not as much fun as it could be

I just wanna go fast!
 
I race in college, and I love doing it but I hate how on race days you have to sit around on your ass and not do anything until it's your turn to race. Either that or slip the course or gate keep.
 
i personally dont like to watch racing and you couldnt pay me to wear a speed suit, but i respect the athelets that race, they are really great skiers, and it must be scary as hell to go that fast.
 
After a day of Giant Slalom with 8-12 runs your arms are pretty beat up and hurting. The Suits have padding in SL and GS. Downhill and Super G Suits are not padded. Doesn't really matter much cause your arms will get hurt anyways..

You don't feel pain hitting a gate while you ski though.
 
down hill yes, slalom+gs+super g= not realy, the skis you ride are designed for the speed, so they're not very wobbley, and chattery at high speeds. i was clocked at 110 kph at a super g and my skis were barely wobling. i have never done a down hill but i think that would be scary as balls.

thanks to racing, i a well behind the park+backcountry ability of majority of ns my age. if you were spotted in the park, even a non-training day, 100 push ups, and my parents never took me to mountains because they said i went to enough with racing. with racing we only went to Nakiska Calgary (No Park, or pow, all groomers. literaly) we once went to lake louise for a mountain camp, there was a foot and a half of fresh, and guess what we had to pack down the race run.

btw. i raced against my own will, my parents forced me, because i was "good at it" even though the highest ive place is 10th at ONE Race
 
I'm a big fan, don't do it myself but i watch it when its on. You can't dis one aspect of skiing just cuz you prefer another. I'd rather hit the back country myself but i can appreciate why people get into racing.
 
The one thing I dislike about racing is when your coach makes you miss out on a powder day to train. This has happened to me on two occasions.
 
i agree with you "moses"... i hate ski racing, and its not becuase i dont respect it. but i personally was forced to race for like 6 years and i couldnt stand it. we werent ever allowed to do anything else but ski icy groomers. and i remember on the big powder days where there would be too much snow to race....... we would do dry land training.

 
Plus K to your OP. Skiing is so diverse, I've never really understood all the hate between genres. I raced all through high school and college, I loved it, but that was a long time ago. It gave me the platform on which I've been able to excel at free riding. Let me say this, I am glad I could carve a GS turn when I was skiing Alaskan faces, thats for sure. I liked racing, but it doesn't hold a candle in my heart to powder skiing. I also LOVE park skiing too, because it is just so exhilerating. But I definitely am embarrassed by how many of my fellow park riders can't really ski, and are riding the park over and over again on POW days. What? I've always strove to be THE most rounded skier I can be. Life is too short to be narrow minded.
 
I see where some of the race hating are coming from. Skiing groomers on a pow day really sucks. I'm glad I found a team that is all about fun. I met my best friend over the team, we skip training if there is powder (my trainer rides bentchetlers and loves pow skiing), we watch ski movies in the afternoon and we all get drunk together on occasion haha.

Still I love racing just for the pureness of it. Just you against the clock...

This doesn't mean I don't love powder, park or jumping in general.

For me skiing is skiing, no matter if you are skiing gates or if you are skiing a gnarly face or a streetrail.

Oh and NS I am amazed by the stoke and tolerance in this thread!
 
i appreciate it for its difficulty and commitment, but i generally dont like racers. 90% of the racers ive met are cocky douches that hate on kids in the park.
 
Dude i acredit evrything i have acomplished to what i learned in ski racing. Learning how to ski park and knowing how to ski are two totaly different things. I know soo many kids who can throw down better on rails than me or can throw some crazy azz shit off a table but cant keep up when we are skiing bigmountain/powder. Racing helped me with ballance, carving, knowing how to get out of tight shit fast(slalom). I have only stoped racing in the last two years i mean i dont miss it but the skills i was taught about i am often found using in the park, pipe(espesialy pumping like in downhill),all mountain, and big mountain.

Here is a big ass thank you and a round of aplause to ski racing!!!!!!!!!!!! btw Go Bodey!!!
 
i race myself; even tough it's just recreational and i don't wear any spandex, but it's just fun to go fast and carve up ice; i even dare to say i enjoy a good race session as much as i enjoy a park session ....
 
10/10 for you. Great pic. Hope your result was as impressive as your line on that gate.

FTW - It doesn't matter how much you love something. If you're in an intensive, competitive program, there is a good chance that you are going to burn out on it. Same thing is happening in freeride programs. You may love park, but if your coach makes you ski park every day you are on the hill, you will probably get sick of it eventually. It's amazing how much changing it up does for your skiing and your attitude. One day trade your skis in for some tellies, or just ditch the park and go adventure skiing in the steepest tightest trees you can find. If you have a chance to go ski some gates, do it. See if you can improve on your time. You may actually have fun and it will definitely help you out in the park.

Above comments are directed toward race haters, not OP.
 
Certainly nothing wrong with racing. Did a bit at University and my brother is racing for his school.

Always nice to be able to do something different and go rip some gates, bit of Skier X is always fun as well. Gives the variety and allows you (well at least me) to enjoy all aspects of skiing.

The Olympics racing hasn't been bad either, Skier X was the most intense but the downhill, Super G etc so far haven't been to bad either.

Cool shot too!
 
racing is sick, and i have no problem with the sport itself, ive never raced but ive always wanted to go down the course (but whenever i ask they tell me to go away)

i dont really like the racers themselves though. i know a few cool ones (a few girls and these two guys who just like to smoke weed and go fast) but it seems like all of the other racers ive ever met are the hugest, elitest assholes in the world. even when i try to be really nice or anything they are just total dicks.

whatever OP, im sure youre a chill guy. and thats a sick fucking picture.
 
I raced for a couple of years.... Still help out coaching the D team at races, etc.

the way i look at is Skiing = FUN!

racing is part of skiing.

Pow is part of skiing.

Park is part of skiing (although ide rather go rape gates)

trees are part of skiing

groomers (if their steep enough;) are part of skiing.

Bumps are part of skiing.

skiing is just plain fun!

i just love skiing in general..

(weak attempt at quote)

"there is just something about strapping on those slippery sticks and traversing across a hill and making a turn that gives you freedom"

( just got myself really psyched to go skiing tomorrow :)
 
I appreciate it. I race every weekend, but i dont take it all that seriously. i wish i was better at it but i dont have the time or money to put into it. but USCSA all the way!!!
 
A ton of pros have racing backgrounds... draw your own conclusions. It does bother me when racers always seem to take the best parts of my local hill (notice I say hill) for "practice" when I'm out skiing, and they always seem to think they are entitled to go straight to the front of the lift line, but other than that I don't have a problem with them. There are just as many douche bag park skiers (if not more) as there are racers. That said, carving on race skis= epic.
 
this is pretty much how I feel. I raced for 6 years mostly to get out of school(and to look at chicks in GS suits). I am very happy to have these core skiing skills in my pocket today, but I've never gotten up stoked to race and I still hold a bit of a grudge against them.

People with too much racing in their system are much more uptight about the sport of skiing in general. I should be careful about stereotyping too much, because humans are individuals, but I'm gonna do it anyways...

Things that annoy me about racers are:

-That I've seen so many burn out and loose the enjoyment to ski. Whether it's ending a day way early or quitting skiing all together: I've seen both.

-They put too much emphasis on tuning skis. I'm lucky if my edge isn't blown out. Could give a fuck about beveled edges, or even scraping wax. that shit protects my bases which are bound to get effed in the places I take them. I tune my own shit when necessary.

-They generally wait for ideal conditions. For example, they are more apt to sit at home while I ski in early season pow. True grit freeskiers will ski on grass and rocks in the rain to get the goods!

-Are more conservative skiers outside of gates.

-still have ridgid style

-My biggest grip is that the dominance of a strict racing mentality in the ski industry helped keep skiing bounded for so many years. Racers have defined courses/boundries/ropes. they like rules. when I was a kid (80's to mid 90's), the saying went, "if you are in the air, you are out of control." the freestylers broke loose in the 60's, but were eventually reeled back in by FIS. it wasn't until after snowboarding broke loose that freeskiers were able to get proper support from the industry. before that, racing was considered the epitome of our sport.

I must admit that I've enjoyed watching the Olymipc racing events. And I like Bode because he does have a 'by any means necessary' mentality.

The more 'gaycers' ski the rest of the mountain and grow away from rigid racer syle, the more I like them.
 
hmm I'd say the reason I dislike racing is because you pretty much spend the entire day waiting and icing up a run for one chance to ski down it. Does'nt seem fun at all
 
ski racing is soo sick. its nasty to watch prosm and alot of my friends at burke still race or used to race and theyre sick at freestyle, i just hate the fucking racers who think they can tuck through the park and hit rail lips and ruin jumps
 
I've always had a huge respect for racing, especially as a former racer. This past winter break I went to Beaver Creak and got to check out the run 'Birds of Prey' which is where a world cup downhill race takes place every year and holy shit. I could never ever ever ever imagine tucking that thing. So steep. So icy. So scary.
 
Racing is loads of fun, especially when its some friendly competition. I have recently started doing some ski cross racing, time of my life, as much as i love hittin park and pow i dont know that i will ever get the same rush from racing down a skier X course.
 
ski racing is amazing it's probably the best way to actually become a well- rounded skier.

i'm planning on entering a beginner racing course as a way to get into skiercross, i saw some at the olympics it is SO COOL
 
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