Why I've become a Hater

I agree with you and OP, the Olympics can do some serious damage to what freeskiing is supposed to be.

But what is the point of not watching the Olympics? Boycotting isn't going to do anything, its not like you are going to buy the sponsor's products. There are some really talented core freeskiers in the Olympics and it would be a shame to not watch them throw down.
 
In North America, you are probably correct. But in Europe and Asia, racing and piste skiing still dominate everything. Freeskiing is at 9-10% globally because the rest of the world has it at 0.5-1%. The advertising that exists in Europe and Asia is 90-95% dominated by race images and/or people in wearing sunglasses without a hat/helmet skiing on a groomer. It's pathetic. The exposure that the Olympics could bring could to freeski could be a real benefit. I honestly have no idea if the Olympics will help, but if the possibility exists to make more people aware of freeskiing then I'm all for it.

 
It's not like skiing is the only Olympic sport that doesnt have any money in it. I spent some time at the Media Summit at Canyons Resort this fall and saw a lot of winter athletes from various disciplines come through the doors and it isn't just the skiers scraping by. How do you think the US Nordic jumping team feels.

On a different note, I don't think you can really blame anyone but the athletes or film companies for their lack of paychecks. It's pretty wild so many people put their health at risk and choose a frantic (and expensive) travel schedule for, in many cases, free gear.
 
Ill prob end up watching slope n pipe, it will be to hard not too, haha...I support my homies who are going, just not the olympics....
 
I just flipped through SKI and last month's Powder which were both on the coffee table in front of me. The only ad promoting piste skiing was for deer valley. All of the other ads from Anon to Helly to Salomon to whistler were all either from BC booters, powder, or big mountain. 10% of the market but how much of the marketing?

It's the same for racers. How much of the market buys GS/SL/DH/SG/whatever skis and how much of the advertising in the market is of racers when actually the company is selling there brand through bad ass racer. Lindsney Vonn sells a shitload of skis for head, but what percentage of them do you think are race stocks? Even the gopro ad in SKI is chuck patterson crushing AK. It's not a family groomer cruise.

The marketing will always be dominated by racers and freeskiers, more specifically the top level film and competition professionals. Even though the lion's share of the market will always be groomer skiing weekend warriors and vacationers, who buys ski product promoting the green circle lifestyle? People want to feel extreme. Seth's k2 ad not only sells whatever his promodel is these days, but the entire brand.

 
MaryO with the truth!

Skiing is an expensive sport and this is coming from a perspective of a 15 year-old kid. I know for DAMN sure I'm not going to survive on skiing for the rest of my life, yet I want to leave a mark on skiing. I'm thankful that my dad (who spends his free time in the winter as a ski instructor, and he's inspired me to do that in my lifetime) let me grow up with skiing, and I even got a job during this past summer to support my wants for skiing.

Of course everyone isn't going to see the style side of freeskiing because all they want to see is triples and flips on and off rails, because THAT'S WHAT NBC, THE IOC, FIS, AND[/i] USSA WANT PEOPLE TO THINK ABOUT SKIING INSTEAD OF WHAT A LOT OF US IN THIS THREAD THINK OF FREESKIING!

That's my $.02, feel free to agree or disagree with my opinion.
 
I totally agree with you. The 3 main image pillars of skiing are freeski, race, and touring. Advertising around and/or based on these image drivers influences the weekend warrior. In North America, as you noted, freeski is the main image driver, but in the rest of the world it is not. If the Olympics can help in some way help change that for the rest of the world, then I am all for it.
 
Damn. Imlach tellin it like it is. It takes balls to post something like this on NS, because dumb ass 12 year olds are gonna comment. "That's just your opinion man" WTF is that? Is this what NS has come to?
 
You know what I'm saying. If you complain because you spent your cash on that, that's your own fault. Not the industry
 
Hahahaha now wouldn't that be something, I can see it now, JahSpriggs with the 26" brown for gold
 
Those sons of bitches.....

Also, just as a side note, please don't try to enter the conversation without reading the previous pages. There has been some stupid shit said, but there's also extremely well thought out posts both for and against what I've said in the OP.

I fucking love this shit. There's nothing better than having people passionate about something butt heads and voice their opinions. AMERICA.

 
Holy shit. How did I miss this when I flipped through the mags. Vonn legitimately sells groomer skis.

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I was at a warren miller premiere in FLORIDA last night and there were at least a hundred people there and they were all stoked to see crazy skiers and snowboarders

I agree that the public would be interested in ski movies
 
I think we all know what the real problem is with the distribution of money in this sport. Quite simply, there will always be a limited pie, and a ridiculously large proportion of that pie is being distributed to Newschoolers moderators. It leaves little for anyone else.

I mean, I know the status quo benefits me personally, but it's kind of embarrassing and needs to stop.
 
Totally agree with this, I took things a little far sure but the way I see it, the other 'far' side is the Olympics. And I don't exactly care for the Olympics. Competitive skiing is never ever going to go away and has a strong part of skiing, but the thing that's bothered me the most about the Olympics is that seems every icon in skiing that does get on the tv, or on local news and shit are people preaching how the Olympics has been the dream of freestyle skiing for years. And they're not saying that humbly as an individual either, They say it like all of us think that the Olympics is the future, that it will be the best thing ever. They make it seem like all that matters/is happening in skiing right now is the Olympics...

Olympics is a dream yeah yeah yeah. We all know what dreams are, but quite frankly that dream translates into a lot more dough going into one single individual, for about a minute of fame on the slope course or pipe. It's not lasting like a film segment is.

People are saying that the regular ass folks want to see triples and shit? 80% of them wont be able to tell what the difference between a dub and a trip is anyway. From past experience non-skiers have enjoyed the street segment from All.I.Can, or a segment from the travelling circus far more than a winning run from last year's X-Games.

Also Prime example of a person who's doing things right right now in regards to skiing is E-Dollo. He can find time in his winter to go shred with the stoked kids for the inspired demo tour, and then go perform at the highest skiing level and do a nose bud trip and win big air like nothing happened. And on top of this find time to film one of the most stylish web series out. It's clear that skiing means the most to him, not skiing at the olympics, not winning x games, just damn skiing. And that is awesome.

 
Ohh! I just had an idea. No idea how realistic this is but it's the best I've come up with. What ads do you see on big tv slots that have skiing? GoPro.

They have the money to do it, and they already kind of do. Maybe somebody could arrange some sort of Level 1/PBP/Whatever X GoPro commercial? I'm sure one of the film companies out there would love to do that, and it seems like GoPro would like it too. Possible?
 
I find 2 things about the olympics very sad:

1: budgets are re structured within sponsor companies so that they can support the olympic athletes while all of the other members part of the same sponsor familly see their budgets and allocations cut like crazy. Lets cut on other riders travel budgets, product allocation and other expenses so that rider A can look better for 5 minutes on tv. Its fucking sad.

2: The athletes that get the attention/ advertising money that comes from this event are the good looking or nice story athletes. Most of the advertising deals I have been seeing are given to good looking girls who I never heard of or who have not even contributed anything significant to the sport. But they look pretty so lets give them a fucking car and a commercial. I don't see little street kid stoner Edollo getting any Major deals or advertising. The guy is hands down among the top 5 people of all time who have influenced our sport. No you need to have a sob story or the poster boy looks to catch a glimpse of any of that money and that is not what our sport is about.

All this being said, I still think in the long term the olympics will have helped our industry with a little bit more attention and in time more general money. If twintips become more cool, more kids will buy them and go into the park. This leads to bigger company budgets and bigger/better park accomodations.

I would really want to see what Mr.Bishop or Schmuck has to say about this issue since they are both smack in the middle of the buisness and sport side of things.
 
Because our sport is controlled my old ass fucks who only jerk off to FIS GS stats, and get wet at the idea of World Cup race taking place at their resort.

Terrain parks, and park riding at a fundamental level are just not as important to GMs of resorts as racing is. Fuck our resort added 200 extra feet of dirt just so they could host an FIS racing event. If that money would have been put into the park infrastructure, we could have one of the best terrain parks in the canadian west.

Places like Northstar, Keystone, and Bear are lucky because it takes YEARS of heavy fighting just to get quality parks like that. Every upper manager at every resort hates parks..... even though they have more potential to bring money in then many other parts of the resort ( this is ESPECIALLY true for resorts that just don't have much vert, or BC access).

Now if parks are not a priority at resorts then your never going to get events, or competitions. Then park skiing ( and snowboarding for that matter) will never get promoted. Then more new money will not enter the sport.

Now the same old fucks who control how parks run, are also very close with how money flows to riders. They would rather sponsor some top class GS racer then a jib kid from Boston because they feel that they can sell to a much larger audience with the racer. They don't realize the fact that the one jib skier could sell more skis to the niche market then that GS racer ever could to the general punter populous. They don't understand modern films, or how jib skiing works. So they rely on the same model they know, freestyle skiing. To get money doing that is all about points, and standings. Thus Bobby Brown, or Gus Kenworthy get paid.....while others just live off of Ramen.

You want things to change.....you have to get those old fucks to change their mind at a resort level, then at the sponsorship level.
 
Anyone who's this concerned about the money aspect is in it for all the wrong reasons. Last time I checked the reason we all ski is to forget about all this shit. Just sayin'
 
as someone who is not living from skiing you are right.

Look at it from the perspective of a pro skier who sees his budget being cut or not increased as expected. To him the olympics might mean that he can no longer keep up his lifestyle of skiing for a living and he might need to find a job to get by so he wont be able to ski like he used to.
 
And what happen to those athlete's, after they were bought. Take Maxim arresualt for example his segment for dream factory was unreal, did it make the film. Nope. Not a big enough ski sponsor or outerwear company.

I understand the Olympics is hypocritical considering is sport started out the "fuck fis" But To hear all these sponsor skier who get free equipment and then whine about the lack of money in the industry, is frustrating to read. What I and other ski bums would give to get given free gear so we won't have to worry that for the season. We all bust our asses in the summer to go skiing in the all winter. So that what we should all just do... Go shred and have fun
 
It's already been stated, but the truth is that even with all the exposure possible ski movies will not appeal to the general population. Urban and park are too far from center for laymen to understand or appreciate.

However, for all its shortcomings the Olympics may provide a platform to educate the non-freeskier demographic about our sport. Then, once awareness, understanding, and appreciation are cultivated among a broader swath of the population, marketing ski movies might be more successful.

In other words I agree with you Logan, but we need the Olympics to make it happen.
 
one of the reasons warren miller was so popular was that he had been making movies for 30 to 40 years, before they really took off. many companies now are less than 10 years old
 
Wow I agree with almost all of the OP. One thing that I think is making ski movies infinitely less publicly viewable is the fact that many of them are 100% ski porn. If I'm sitting down with my girlfriend and throw on After Dark, she'll fall asleep. If I throw on blizzard of aahs, she will be entertained and come to understand and appreciate the amount of effort that goes into a 3 second shot. When everything is flashing by it looks easy and monotonous to the untrained eye. I think this video is relevant:

 
this is such a good thread. it's really challenged me to think outside of progression personally and look at where the sport is going.
 
Shut the fuck up bud. That was absolutely brutal to read, because you are absolutely non-intellegent, but you try to sound like you are, fuckin hipster skiers.
 
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So basically what I get out of this is all about money. Ski films these days are all the same shit anyways. A bunch of videos of people doing the same shit over and over again. 90% of the shots are the same thing you see every year with maybe one or 2 "O I've never seen that before" tricks.

If you want to make films that are going to impress the public your going to need to do more then just throw a bunch of skiing together with some dubstep and expect it to sell. Especially when theres like 20plus new movies coming out most of which are free.

I have to say, its pretty nice to just be a normal skier, no sponsors no commitments. I Still didn't work the last 2 winters and wont be working this one, I ski over 100days a year and love it. If all of a sudden there are no more ski movies coming out anymore, it will be a shame but i'll still keep skiing just the way I am now.

Who cares if the Olympics make a few people rich, your only hating because your jealous and the money isn't coming your way. At least that's what it sounds like

 
This is so self-righteous.

I don't want to watch a spin-to-win show down anymore than the rest of NS but all this melodrama about the imminent 'doomsday of freeskiing' Sochi apparently represents is pathetic.

Beyond any doubt, the Olympics will bring unprecedented exposure to freestyle skiing and whilst the repercussions of that might disfavour small indy urban companies, it will probably encourage tens of thousands of kids to take up freeskiing. But I guess it's much more important that a cliquey minority of sponsored film athletes retain their sponsorship and bring in the big bucks to produce their content than getting more people involved in skiing in a positive way.

I love all the ski films and content which get put out each year. They are such an amazing way of connecting with our sport, and the athletes we idolise, they get people stoked to go out and try a new trick or try urban or drop cliffs or whatever. This sanctimonious bitching about the unfair way in which sponsors are favouring the Olympics is rapidly diminishing my respect for some of you guys.

Spencer, Logan, you guys kill it, no doubt. In an ideal world you would have unlimited budgets to produce your stuff, that would be epic. In an ideal world we would all have access to red epics, helicopters and production studios. The Olympics is not taking money away from you, why are you somehow entitled to unlimited funding for what is inescapably a hobby. This attitude of entitlement is doing you all an injustice. At the end of the day skiing is a fucking leisure activity, regardless of how much we all enjoy it.

"So many film skiers are scraping by", oh please. Get a fucking normal job like the rest of us. Skiing is no more your right than that of the millions of ordinary people who get to go maybe once a year if they can afford it. You, more than most, are lucky enough to be able to enjoy skiing, so enjoy it and stop complaining about how hard-done-by you are. I think most people would agree that life and the ski industry have dealt you a pretty good hand.

Maybe you're right, maybe professional skiers should be paid the same as NFL players, you do an equally good job of enjoying yourselves. Life is unfair. Maybe the guys who drive fire-engines and ambulances should be paid more than formula 1 drivers.
 
Logan is the reason why you left Moment is because you got sick of them making money from you skiing on their skis while making very little in return?
 
Completely agree with you Logan and thanks for voicing your opinion! On the ski production note, filmmakers do not get paid enough for their work or the skiers that help create epic segments every year. Its the same in other outdoor industries as well. Old timers who are stuck in their ways and think TV (example Olympics) is the best way to market their product. When in reality, getting people stoked to go out and shred every year by producing banger, cutting edge movies is by far the most appealing and emotionally charged marketing a company could support. In the end, companies will pay top dollar to have an athlete be gay on TV, rather than fulfilling their true passion as a freeskier, using their own creativity to make an amazing ski segment in films. Skiers who ski because its their passion are different than skiers who ski as a business.
 
Not in the least, I love the dudes at Moment and they always paid me very fairly given my "level on the totem pole". The decision to leave and make my own shit was just because I thought I could. None of this has ever about money for me, personally, because I've got a real job that pays well. I'm fired up that if you totaled Cam Riley, Karl Fost, and CLo's salaries you probably wouldn't make up a fraction of what Mirjam Jaeger makes, and that's just not fucking right.
 
When you look at the money that most people spend on skiing, the majority of it is spent on lift tickets, passes, and gas to drive to the resort. And people pay for those things every time they go skiing giving resorts a consistent income. That's where the money in the industry is going. And most resorts aren't using pros as marketing tools (with the exception of Shawn White) because the people that they are marketing to are the parents of the kids. If you look at the pros making a ton of money, that money isn't coming from ski companies, it is coming from corporations that market to a broader audience than just skiers (Red Bull, Monster, GoPro, North Face). They aren't selling skiing, they are selling a way of life. That increases their customer base allowing for more profits to be made.
 
Had to google Mirjam Jaeger never heard of her before. Which is not fucking right at all a girl that many skiers probably have never heard about making more than skiers that are at the top of the game right now, dude fuck that shit.
 
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