Who's the oldest park rat?

It is crazy to think about how much this sport has progressed over the past 15 years. I remember trying to spin on my straight skis in middle school and it being to dam hard. That pic is epic and I wish I had that available to me when I grew up.
On another note I think one of the biggest problems with skiers and boarders today is all the hate and forgetting where this sport came from and that is about personal progression and having fun for 99% of us. I just laugh when you see some kids being punks in the park who are good park rats but complete douches in high school thinking they are the shit. This sport wouldn't be where it is today without people giving advise on how to do tricks and I hate when a newb post "need help with _____" and the first 20 comments are search bar or hating on the op. I think there are a lot of new park rats out there that forget how and why this sport has progressed to where it is now
 
so you were the first skier ever, on the planet, to do a grap when spinning? thats a mighty bold statement sir. Im in my late 30's and was skiing alot back then. there were quite a few skiers pushing their tricks because of the snowboard influence. im just kinda amazed anyone would claim what you claimed.
 
Thanks, and huge props to the guy in yellow in the vid that underwhere posted. He's killin it. He has way more skillz and sack than I do. I loved watching that.
 
Aw dam beat me me too it! Such a nice guy and not old hahahaha. His beard makes him look old but hes not old at all. HE liiterally is one of the nicest guys ever and is ALWAYS out there for sure.
 
In 1994 there weren't many guys on snowboards throwing spinning grabs. I was dared by a snowboard friend to do a grab in spring of 93. The next season I learned how do it in a 3. There was no vid of anyone throwing one at that time. If there was, I never saw it. The first time I ever saw anyone else do it was 4 years later when Jonny Moseley did it at the Nagano Olympics, 1998. He threw a mute grab 3 on one run and then tried to throw what I was throwing but missed the grab. It was still sick. The freestyle world made a huge deal of it, because nobody had ever seen it before and he was the only one in the comp that tried it. At that time what he threw was called an Iron Cross Heli and he was trying to grab the leading tail. He won the Gold Medal.

Anyway, I was pretty proud of my new trick at the time. Yeah, it's a pretty big claim. Like I said; if anyone can show a vid or photo of someone who did it before 1994 I would truly be stoked for them.
 
exactly, watching the dew tour the other day the commentator was saying how mosley threw the first ever mute grab in 98'. even if a few guys did it before hand, that was when it really all started which makes mr. huck's picture all the more incredible.
sure there's a chance of someone else doing it before him, but regardless the man is fuckin' pioneer.
 
Stoked for all the old guys still shredding out there. I can't wait to our generation is like 40 years old to see what we wear/ski like
 
so now we're all claiming JM invented the trick (other than you of course)? sigh. I think Julien Regnier would be sad you forgot that he also landed a 360 mute at the 1998 nagano olympics. And i dont know what youre talking about saying he was trying to grab leading tail?



1293938536360-mute-98-olym006.jpg
 
My apologies to Regnier. As to your last comment, he skied more than one run. His gold medal run he threw dub twister spread on the top and mute 3 on the bottom. I think the pic you are posting was actually from the semis, because he is wearing a different hat than he did in the finals. He threw a sicker mute in an earlier heat than he did in the finals. In and earlier heat he also threw an iron cross where he went for a leading tail grab. I can't find the video, but you can facebook him and ask him. I think he threw it off the top jump and may have been planning on throwing to different grab variations in his final run. I remember watching it, and mock bitching to my wife that he stole my trick. I was expecting him to throw the same thing in the finals, because the announcers were calling it an Iron Cross Heli. They didn't even use the term mute.

Here is the link to the vid of the Gold Medal run, sorry no clicky:

Also, I want to learn more about the 52 year old Steve that LAME posted about. I truly need to buy that guy a few rounds. 2 on and 4 off at 52? That guy wins hands down.
 
I dont see what your argument is? Like ski.the.east said 1998 is four years later than Mr.Hucks photo. If anything your arguing against your self now
 
yeah hes in ottawa, skiing at one of our small hills. broke his back or neck skiing. ive never met him but ive heard about him through friends that know him. he runs a freestyle program too. i heard when he broke his neck that he was out skiing with a neckbrace on 3 days after or something like that. pretty crazy
 
Sorry for the double post but i have to give mad respect to you. Thats legit as hell. Id claim that too if i were you, id be so damn proud of myself.
 
I'm really stoked to see what this thread is turning into. I remember my friends daring me to do grabs in 95' and 96.' There were some inline guys whose names I can't remember who actually landed switch on skis off "snowboard park" jumps that were pretty respectable size. And yes this is WAY before twin tips.

I guess the moral here is that the guys in that photo, Mosley, Julian and a grip of other people were skiing how they wanted to then and continue to do so.

Also, I never knew about Regnier throwing the same trick as Mosley in the 98' Olympics - nor did I know he was an Olympian too. This certainly adds to my respect for him.
 
You are adding years to Jamie's life! He is one of the best rail skiers I ve seen!
I m 30 and will be hitting Breck park lane in one month, not great at park but I have fun!

 
I am 37 & ski park at local hill to stay in shape for my trips out west & to have fun. I prefer rails now cause falling on big jumps does take bit longer to heal from. Just wish some of the younger kids would learn how to actually ski also besides slaying park. Some of the local kids tried to follow us older guys into a mogul run & could'nt make it 1/4 way down, kinda sad.

 
it's not that great to wait for like 5 mnutes at the bottom cause the younger park kids arent keeping up in the bumps sketchy pow
 
dude what Mr. hick said is righteous! mad respect
but getting back to the main topic, there is a park staff at my hill who started skiing park at like 2 years previously (he is now 44). so this guy started skiing park when he was 42, on teli skis (started doing that when he was only like 30 something)
now he does huge 3's on the 50 foot step down, and one time i was at the top with him, he said "my wife is down there watching what should i try?"me : "fuckit man just go for a 7!!!!!"him "jeez idunno"me :yeah man you got it
so he drops in, stomps the shit out of his 7 first try.
so yeah i think that this 44 year old teliskier is the oldest park rat
 
ok...I live in PC. I ski quite a bit of park. Im now old and broken after a lifechanging accident 5 years ago. Ive been busy skiing pow all year but I'll be back in the park come monday. I started skiing park in '02. I dont spin on stuff much bigger than 40 feet any more and still enjoy rails but no longer fuck with kinked rails.

44 years old and peaches dad for you locals

 
there is this guy thats like 43 who skis and can do rails and stuff and 2 out and shit and backflips. hes crazy ditches his family everyweekend to shred park and blazes too!
 
What is that yellow suit you got on? In 94 I was 19 and had a killer one piece with colored knees. i'm not sure i think it was by Colmar. at that time doing what you did was so baller and so fare ahead - i thought i was the king cause could do a spreed on the little rollers. i'm 36 in 2 weeks and looking to start my on kid up on skis - JP is 2½ now and the wife is bringing me a daughter come April 1. they are bound to be park and pow rats
 
oh yeah forgot about him! dude is the illest got a hill to make a good park again, got them to build big jumps, and kills it.
 
if your under 30 and think your old for a park rat your just a pussy, if your under 40 and a park rat, its not impressive, you gotta be 40+ to really be old for a park rat, and 50+ to be an old park rat. there are too many people in skiing and other sports in their 30's and 40's showing up kids in their 20's. jp's in his mid 30's and had one of the sickest segments ever, showing up 20 something year olds on urban. and look at all the guys in skateboarding and snowboarding that are 30-50 and killing it crazy hard. skiings just too young right now. in 10-20 years when we are all over 30, and all todays best park skiers are over 30, skiings gonna get so much cooler, when they are doing it 100% for fun instead of all the 20 somethings trying to show everyone up, "training" and getting as techy as possible.
 
i think you can hang out in the park after 20, but dont dress like the asshole 17yr olds in Tshirts bought at Additionelle.

otherwise its okay

im 21, am not very good in the park, but still like to hit boxes and simple rails
 
Very nice!

Way back in high school (1992) my best friend and his brother were snowboarders and at lunch we'd go to their house and watch 'Critical Condition' by Fall Line Films (1991). In it there's one shot of a skier jumping with both poles in one hand and with the other grabbing mute. The whole movie is on youtube so I should try and find it. I thought it was sooo bad when I first saw it. I definitely tried it to various results at out local mountain while poaching the snowboard park.

I'm 34 and still ride park. i live in the midwest so it's simply the most fun place to ski. When I'm out west I spend much less time in the park, if any.

I look at it like this, if someone grows up playing baseball, football, etc. no one expects them to lose interest solely because they're older. I grew up skiing and skateboarding so i'm just not going to be happy sitting on the couch watching "ball".
 
Found it! Mute grab circa 1991. Check out 7:30.
=related

Someone should embed this with their computer skillz
 
No! You're just hot, you rip and you're on TV. Some things get better with age.

Thanks all for the love. There are some great posts in this thread about people still rippin park in their 40 and 50's. That his huge. Just remember that your life doesn't end when you see that first gray hair. Saw the post about the 1991 grabs. I'll def check out the youtube vid.

And to powerslide. It would take me awhile to dig that yellow suit out of the attic, but I am pretty sure that it was CB. They were really popular in the 70's, then disappeared for awhile. They came back for awhile and then went fully out of business some time around 2008. That was actually not a true one piece. The pants combo'd with a vest and there was a jacket that went over it. So basically the pants were like a one piece without sleeves, and the jacket was a regular jacket.

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It's funny that all the guys who were trying grabs back about this time all assumed that you had to put your poles in one hand to get a good grab.
 
Wait a minute here!

Could this be the birth of the "poles vs. no poles" debate??

People have been dealing with this hot and sensitive issue for longer than we ever realized. Damn the grabs and not sucking while you age - this is about whether we should have poles, poles in one hand or poles at all!! haha!

BTW, is 31 too old to land your first rodeo? ;)
 
Im 30 .... I still yomp through the park..... it's mad fun, and it will never stop being fun... even doing straight airs with a massive cosack twister twister spread at the age of 70 is still gonna be mad fun...
Stupid thread is stupid....
Just think about the introduction to the Sun Valley Segment of Eye Trip.....
 
aside from the jerk off who is sad and confused, this thread is kick ass. Im older than most on here and just now starting to attempt park skiing. shit is fun as hell, and I soooo wish the parks, camps etc were around when I was young. I might have ran away to the mountains at 15 instead of NYC.
I really hope to be shredding park and pow well into my 50s.
and I so agree that newschool skiing is too young right now and will be way cooler as the sport matures. you cats that are in your mid 30s and up, I salute you. keep it up. I think most of us support you, even if there are some little tools on this board. rock on
 
Sorry for dub-post, but with age - you simply get stronger in the mind, more experienced.... and have lots more money! and more confidence...
I wouldn't go back to being 20 for anything! I enjoy the fruits of a long hard education, and much global travelling and many adventures - most of which i have been paid lots of money to do... I get to go to work on Helicopters and drive fast cars...
and I get to ski wherever I want, pretty much whenever I want - Co one weekend, Utah the next, PNW the next, even the occasional Heli Trip to AK..... East Coast never cos it's shit.... ;-)
Chasing pow....
I think that settles the age debate.... OP would you swap your life for mine?

 
word. I wouldnt want to be 20 again either man. so much more settled, comfortable, and confident. this man speaks truth, young ins... listen up
 
Thanks buddy - my advice to the yoof's though is, when you're 20 - 30 seems a helluva long way off - but trust me it isn't!
However, What you do when your 20, will shape the life you live when you are 30.... it sucks at the time, school and all that shit, but Believe me when i say - it is worth it.....
Work hard, play hard - then no matter what, you'll always be able to ski park / pow / whatever and wherever when you become a real grown up!
 
This. And I'll continue to ride park. Drail or whatever's comment legit made me feel old and I'm not even old haha.
Just turned 21, kids don't know what the meaning of old is!
 
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