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July, 2025

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The Younger Generation is failing skiing.

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207
Posts: 8969 - Karma: 3,852
This is just my two cents/a warning about the upcoming epidemic as freestyle skiing grows more and more mainstream.

Ten years ago, you were either born skiing, or if you were going to pick up a winter sport in your teens, become a snowboarder. There was undoubtedly a lack of "coolness" in the freestyle skiing sport. The only people doing it were dudes who had been on skis since they were fetuses and ventured into the terrain park, there weren't people just becoming park skiers out of the blue. With the X Games and extensive media coverage of skiing in todays world, for teens, picking up skis and becoming a freestyle skier is equally as attractive as becoming a snowboarder. What has me in distress is those 13 year olds who are picking up a pair of twin tips to be like Bobby Brown do not learn how to ski first. I've seen it all too much, these kids learn how to make it down the bunny trail and call it good as long as they can ski to the park. From then on only their 270's on matter, not their bowleggedness or pizza-style skiing to the park matters. It's a disgrace. To add insult to injury, I see these kids hiking a jump in the park on a pow day in the east coast, a rarity. While they should be taking advantage of the faceshots, they're in their true park rat form hiking a shitty jump so they can do they stupid penciled 360s on their undersized skis.

I have no clue what's it like out west but I'm assuming this is lesser of a problem as more people tend to start skiing early on there, but this new group of 13 year old wannabee's is destroying this sport, and our reputation as skiers.

Kids, learn to ski the mountain above adequately and then go to the park, you're creating a bad image for yourself and frankly are doing it wrong.
13 years ago
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kdes6
Posts: 93 - Karma: 67
damn skippy gotta love that pow pow the lil rats can hike all day ill hike pow lines
13 years ago
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PeppermillReno
Posts: 4884 - Karma: -717
You have convinced me my opinion has changed for east coasters. You can rip park and pizza and its cool.

Actually, I remember growing up people telling me I wasn't that good and sucked (so someones dad or something when I'd go skiing.) I never could really tell what I wasn't doing right when I'd hear this since it seemed like I was as good as anyone my age I saw and wasn't slow. That sort of has ingrained me to never be a shitty skiier.

I had a powder day today and the snow was pretty heavy. Basically it was heavy enough that other peoples trails could throw you off. I was really really disappointed in myself that I couldn't charge like I wanted to and had to ease up to stay in control. Really pissed me off when I'd get out of control soon as I was going fast.

I guess I am just a perfectionist.
13 years ago
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Z-Juice
Posts: 3151 - Karma: 1,504
Who the hell cares? There is no "right" way to learn and grow as a skier.
13 years ago
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-MK-
Posts: 3253 - Karma: 5,347
You spin faster than most people at Eaglecrest

And yes this thread is perfect, I will admit I am young (13) but I don't do park. I will occasionally but pow is my favorite skiing form. On the west coast most kids are good, or at least at my mountain.
13 years ago
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SNOWPARKCHlLE
Posts: 2047 - Karma: 6,727
this is one the worst shit i ever seen !!
and without poles even worst
13 years ago
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22739 - Karma: 77,027
What is so bad about this?

I mean this guy sure he didn't sit around taking ski lessons for 13 years before being 'qualified' to enter the terrain park.

However, I was a ski instructor for a few years before I got into this newschool shit, and the people that really learn to ski are the ones that have fun with it and get a ton of laps in.

I never ran my classes in the way that some people did - sitting there doing drills all day long and standing in the middle of the hill talking about the perfect technique... that is absolute horseshit if you ask me.

If you take a kid, show him the park, and show him that skiing is fun - then he'll want to shred around. Even if at first it is just to get into and out of the park, and to stay standing between rails/jumps - you gain all kinds of experience as you just keep skiing.

Even look at that video, he has a couple of places where he's experimenting with ducking into the trees and sliding across the to pof a banked trail next to a tree. There's so much technique that you're actually learning while you do that - and no skier is going to not jump in and out of the trees at SOME point.

I guarantee you that if you looked at this dude in 2-4 years from now he'd be mega comfortable on his feet, playing all over in the trees and having a huge base of skill.

The MOST important thing that contributes to skiers continuing to learn is if they're having fun.

WHen you look at a kid and say "No kid, you can't go in the park - skiing isn't about fun its about LEARNING PROPER TECHNIQUE" you basically are just making skiing back into what we all hated about it before the newschool movement.
13 years ago
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coldcuts69
Posts: 3718 - Karma: 1,889
/thread
13 years ago
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_Garagely_
Posts: 1948 - Karma: 3,261
Oh man, I can't agree with you more OP. This is a HUGE problem at my local mountain. Sometimes I feel like my bro and I are the only ones who can really ski.
13 years ago
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Literature
Posts: 13673 - Karma: 3,087
Basic park etiquette doesn't have much to do with technique. It's a lot easier for someone to learn not to sit on a landing than learn good skiing form.

Gapers who don't know what they're doing certainly have a harder time if it's a strange feature that they've wandered into, but I'd argue that skilled folks cause issues too--mostly by figuring that their skill level allows them to give less following distance or they get frustrated and cut off/send things without regard for the safety of others. I know that second part has applied for me.

My main beef is with the elitism that skiing holds. I grew up competing moguls. I coach now on our local freestyle team. Every weekend I work with my kids on their form, because I agree with you--form and technique are very important if you want to make your skiing better. If you're in control, you're a safer member of the community riding the hill.

But the opportunities to make those things happen are expensive. Lessons aren't free, and not everyone can spend the money to be on a freestyle team or race team or formal technical coaching. Holding everyone to some standard before they drop in, like Bishop said, will only limit the number of people that join us. I'm not worried about skier retention, but I would like to see an acknowledgment that it's fun that we're after, not status or props or skiing well by some textbook definition outlined on manuscripts down in ski school.

I don't know what it is that brings out the aggression in actions sports, but there's no need to make this an exclusive thing where we hate on the people getting going. In my time working in a park, I found that people were generally very receptive to kind, constructive criticism of what they were doing wrong with regards to park etiquette. You're right--technique does matter. But the elitist, localish ownership of parks where it becomes ok to yell at people and treat them poorly doesn't help, and I'd rather hang out with the gapers having fun than the skilled people being assholes.
13 years ago
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kvan
Posts: 3086 - Karma: 1,232
I was literally coming here to post this same exact vid. Perfect example of how you should learn the basic fundamentals of skiing before venturing into a park.

Not only is it a threat for yourself but for other people on the hill as well.
13 years ago
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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
I also would like to point out the irony in the fact that a lot of the people who are fond of the OPs statement are probably opposed to FIS regulations and restrictions on skiers in ski events.
13 years ago
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Nuno812
Posts: 432 - Karma: 1,794
just cause your local shit hole 200' vert mountain has kids in the park who cant really charge the rest of the "mountain" you are gonna shit on them? I grew up skiing everything but park. Didnt venture into the park with serious interest til I was 19. Yes, having a basis/being well rounded will help you progress more safely, and likely keep the experience safer for everyone in the park. But get off your fuckin high horse and let these kids hike that rail and pay them no mind. Atleast they are hitting the features, and trying to get better/having fun. Its obnoxious fucks who have the blatant 'i am better than you' attitude (regardless of skill) that piss me off. But live and let live. So what I can't 2 pretz 2 every feature? or I am throwing 1s when kids nearly half my age are throwing rodeo 7s?

Be happy you are on the hill. Spread the stoke. stop hating on people. there will always be greater and lesser people. and lastly, pay no mind to what someone wears. if they cant hit anything and are all sagad/jibberish/full tilt'ed out, just be proud that you can kill it in your old beat to shit gear. It dosnt matter what you wear, or what brought you here. if you are on the mountain and you arent a dick to people then you are good in my book.
13 years ago
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skicast
Posts: 15 - Karma: 21
I agree
13 years ago
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miroz
Posts: 10333 - Karma: 3,948
David Steele going hammer up in this bitch. Quoting for emphasis.

This thread is stupid. I feel sorry for OP and others in this thread that who let this shit get your blood pressure up.
13 years ago
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22739 - Karma: 77,027
Yeah, I'm in full agreement that unsafe behaviour should not be tolerated, and that those who are sitting on landings and going off the side of huge jumps should be educated. Its terrible when someone doesn't understand the basics of staying safe.

Just like with cliffs or out of bounds ropes. Beginners should respect the basic rules of the mountain that wont' cause injury to themselves or others.

Mr. Kiesel - you're mixing the two points together though. The OP is hating on people that only hike one box on a pow day, and stating that they are not 'real' skiers due to narrow-mindedness.

If they understand perfect park etiquette, yet have not learned the basic skills of skiing and are unable to enjoy powder - then there is no problem.

If they don't understand that sitting down to have a sandwich on the landing of a 65' jump is a bad idea then we should definitely go out of our way to make sure they don't do that again. Of course, I've seen lots of fantastic skiers who could shred powder/turns/gates better than any of us have absolutely no idea of park etiquette.

13 years ago
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Drail
Posts: 14045 - Karma: 10,324
So I am jumping into this this thread late (sorry - I was off skiing the past few days and haven't been on the internet!) and haven't read anything past page two so far.

I am hearing a lot of people in this thread talking about how new skiers are just going into the park and not learning how to ski first... followed by mentioning that they aren't going out and getting their pow on when it snows.

As one who grew up skiing on the east coast pre terrain parks to now being a west coast skier who spends most of his time touring, I've seen this sport grow from being killed by snowboarding to what it is today. You know what the interesting thing is? Nothing has actually changed in the fundamentals of skiing.

Say you have a kid who is new to the sport and jumps right into the park without proper skiing technique. Well, he's not going to be able to ski powder worth shit either, so I don't understand who you think he should be skiing outside of the park on a pow day, he'll just side slip a chute and ruin it for anyone else behind him. I see people who have terrible technique skiing the mountain all the time out here. Just because you are new to the sport and can't ski 'properly' doesn't mean you only want to ski park. Hell, I am at a ski hill these days that doesn't even have a terrain park, but we have plenty of new skiers getting their stoke on.

My girlfriend is learning how to ski this year (switching from snowboarding) and luckily she is being patient enough to learn proper technique and control as she works her way from groomers to the trees to technical terrain... but it is taking a lot of time and patience, and I could see how the average person who is new to the sport (and doesn't have a huge pool of GOOD skiers to learn from) wouldn't have a fraction of the patience to learn proper technique before wanting to drop into some sweet terrain the see the pros ski on the television.

Learning how to ski takes a lot of time. It's a lot harder to become a good skier than it is a snowboarder, if you aren't a dedicated skier who is out there 3+ days a week you aren't going to get into skiing shape and your learning curve is going to be very, very slow without paying for lessons and what not. I agree with Bishop when he talks about the problem about elitism. Just because someone wants to pick up skiing and have fun the odd weekend, doesn't mean they have blinders on like a lot of people on this site. They don't care about pushing the limits, they don't care about this that or the other, all they care about is having fun and getting a couple nice pictures for their non skier friends to check out and tell stories about.



13 years ago
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Thadius.Castle
Posts: 1436 - Karma: 252
Joey as someone who has skied for thirteen years, I wasn't aware that you had skied 7+ years? But I agree, people just pick right up heading into the park. Some people can do it, and some can't. I think it's just a huge hit or miss.
13 years ago
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pussy_puncher
Posts: 194 - Karma: 69
I have been skiing since i was 2 but i really dont think it matters. People will do whatever they want. Skiing is just fun
13 years ago
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steezyjibber
Posts: 15967 - Karma: 11,027
dude what the fuck... not only was that edit pretty good, but their bag of tricks was impressive. cork 7'er at the end was tight. why the hate? they were better than a lot of people in the park, including myself.
13 years ago
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-emile-
Posts: 6613 - Karma: 8,596
I hope to god you're trolling.........
13 years ago
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jksl
Posts: 12727 - Karma: 856
a google search isn't expensive. it's 2012, you can learn things on the internet, imagine that!

it's just kids are too preoccupied trying to be cool to learn the basics, and just like you "literature" i also skied moguls and recently held a coaching job. i know how it all goes. i got sick of telling kids to stay forward on their 3s as they insisted they wanted to do corks or rodeos.

and willem, there's a big difference from basic technique and restricting tricks people can do, what they can wear, and who they can be sponsored by.

but whatever, skiing is FREE and FUN so who cares about anything! keep your weight on your heels kids, those full tilts will fix your shin bang problems!!!!!!!!

i'm an elitist apparently.
13 years ago
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HamFaceGirl
Posts: 5242 - Karma: 2,683
I don't see what the problem is here
13 years ago
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Literature
Posts: 13673 - Karma: 3,087
Amen.
13 years ago
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nCrow
Posts: 1333 - Karma: 9,396
.
13 years ago
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KingTaco
Posts: 2510 - Karma: 2,830
ive had this conversation a lot with my friends over the last few years and ive drawn a slightly different conclusion. the more actual skiing ability someone has, the more steeze they have in the park. if someone who hasnt mastered the mountain wants to throw a shitty k-fed and look ugly as fuck, thats their problem not mine. i find it funny
13 years ago
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TheHERDSkiing
Posts: 75 - Karma: 259
Completely agree.. This is a perfect example of riding a bike vs riding bmx. Sure you can "learn" how to ride a bike in the skate park, but do you really think you will learn fundamentals & progress to be very good just from the skatepark? Heck no... same thing with skiing, if park is the only thing you want to do, learn to ride first.
People get to impatient nowadays to get "good" or "cool" at something that they will skip the beginning steps even though in the long run it wouldn't help them a bit!
Anywho, just my 2 cents, I don't know why I thought of bike vs bmx but hey, it works haha.
13 years ago
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asfdfads
Posts: 1010 - Karma: 279

stop looking so cool, and little kids wont want to ski park

problem solved?

13 years ago
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d.mcknight
Posts: 778 - Karma: 1,539
Lansfield you crazy mo fo, you ruined skiing for me because your a big bastard.
13 years ago
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JUP*
Posts: 728 - Karma: 200
I agree with this to a point because I was a skier then a snowboarder then I came back to skiing because I saw all the sickness that was happening in the free skiing world. You could say that I am on of those kids but I still love all aspects of skiing besides fucking fagot racers that stand in front of everything. As I was saying I think I got my style of skiing from this and I don't think that that is a bad thing and also everyone has got to start somewhere it's not like one day u suck nuts then the next ur throwing doubles. I guess I'm trying to say give the younger generation a chance.
13 years ago
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Squeenerd
Posts: 731 - Karma: 186
Someone needs to get this kid some poles, an instructor, and pants that will fit over his boots
13 years ago
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Anathema
Posts: 21048 - Karma: 5,062

why bother knowing how to do anything when you can act or look like you know how to do something.

13 years ago
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1Steeze2
Posts: 36 - Karma: 18
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1ACcb2NVlZs sorry can't embed on iPad... But here in whistler the kids aren't a bunch of gapers (usually). That edit was not much because they can do much better.
13 years ago
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BigBadWolf
Posts: 2000 - Karma: 432
Fuck im guilty of this haha. It is my second year on skis but i dont do what the op describes. I know how to ski powder and i absolutely love it. I think the people you ski with have a huge influence. They taught me everything i know in a very short period, and im thankful i dont look like some of the kids in the vid haha
13 years ago
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450out.
Posts: 596 - Karma: 517
I may need this in my sig.

Also, I might not be great at park, poor as fuck, and still skiing on 159s because I can't get anything better, but I can actually ski worth a damn. I say start the 13 yr olds on little racing skis, let them cruise around for a season or two, and then let them into the park.
13 years ago
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phsk8
Posts: 85 - Karma: 9
To ski park well you don't need to be an all mountain skier - why waste your time if your not interested in that? Ski how you want and stop worrying about other people so much.
13 years ago
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PJS.
Posts: 11943 - Karma: 900
ding ding motherfucking ding.
13 years ago
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MillPiddy
Posts: 218 - Karma: 668
haha. i love giving kids shit for tiny skis. Also as far as im concerned if you cant lay down some wicked rail road tracks then you got no right to be in the park. All i need are some sweet carves, a cool buzz and im good
13 years ago
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Relish_man
Posts: 5386 - Karma: 551
Reminds me of IF3 a couple years ago, when they were screening a more documentary-type movie, after about 20mins of BC they turn to park and some guys sitting next to me yelled "FINALLY, SOME REAL SKIING". I've never wanted to punch a guy in the face more than at that precise moment, for real.
13 years ago
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panojibber.
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 683
Skiing is such a ludicrous sport, why take it so seriously?
I mean, really. If you take this shit seriously then you're just lying to yourself. Its beyond silly.
13 years ago
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CrotchKiller
Posts: 9037 - Karma: 6,944
bullshit. Tell that to Candide
13 years ago
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TOUCHE
Posts: 1183 - Karma: 162
I certainly agree with what you were saying on the whole, but that doesn't necessarily mean no one else can learn and develop a love for the sport just because they didn't have wealthy parents who took them skiing as a kid.
13 years ago
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BK
Posts: 2353 - Karma: 1,124
gapers will gape others will not. even with good skiers there is a marked style difference, more power to the people who carve, nollie, murk, bomb and butter down the slopes with g-forces like tommy moe, shuffles like hornbeck and a stance like delorme, the real bosses tail presses shine harder than normal riders 450s off.
13 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52783 - Karma: 175,273
Again...

and people call me a douche when I call somebody 12 or make a joke about something they've posted. Hell generally I'm not even serious.


What's it to you? You have a valid point about people not learning to ski, I know some freestyle programs that make kids race for a year first to get better at actually skiing.

Other than that who cares? It's fun to hike a jump with your friends and learn new tricks. That pow day might make the landing soft enough that they can grow some balls and try new tricks.

Instead of bitching, be happy that you have more runs in the virgin pow instead of having more people to track it out.


Seriously, who gives a fuck? Op, worry about yourself and let the kids have their fun.
13 years ago
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uosdwiSrjewoH
Posts: 4220 - Karma: 122
ug, yet another thing very much not worth worrying about
13 years ago
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
How about this: free skiing is catching on and inspiring people to ski park, and those with the means buy the good gear. As the realest and best skiers on the mountain, it's our first generations duty to shame the young ins into leaning how to ski the rest of the hill.
13 years ago
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inactive
Posts: 4772 - Karma: 97
i wouldn't say elitist, more just someone who's surprisingly bitter for getting paid to ski

also michelle has the worst case of slackjaw known to mankind
13 years ago
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Lemuel
Posts: 14544 - Karma: 11,165
I agree for the most part. But I will ski in the park on a pow day, you mad Joey? It's east coast, that's the only time the park isn't ice and you can try whatever. I don't spend even half the day in there, but I do spend a good chunk of pow days in the park because it's incredibly fun.

And I have first hand experience with friends who ski park that can barely make it down the hill, it's embarrassing.

13 years ago
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Zim
Posts: 17 - Karma: 15
sounds like a bit of jealousy. as a life time skier with sub par park skill i sometimes feel it when there are kids banging dub corks and shit and snow plowing away.
13 years ago
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Pipe_Munky
Posts: 10888 - Karma: 2,185
i used to think this way until i realized that it really doesn't matter.

think about it, how does some kid that can only ski park really affect you? are you afraid people will look at you the same way they do him?

at the end of the day, these kids are picking up skis and supporting the ski manufacturers and not picking up a snowboard. the more skiers on the planet the better it is for everyone.
13 years ago
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