Park rats in 30 years

Im 31 and still a park rat. I ski the whole mountain but nothing compares to hitting park jumps. My goal is to still be able to cork 7 at the age of 40.

I think grandpa parks are going to be a thing (in addition to baby parks which we already have), like big mellow features. Rails not too high but nice and long, step up and over style jumps. Features that are still fun but much less consequence than like a close out rail or real stairs.

I'm 34 and was poaching lines in the 'snowboard park' back when skiers weren't allowed so guess I've been skiing park for about twenty years. You know who else is the same age as me and, undoubtedly, has skied park for longer (and certainly far harder and better than me); Candide Thovex. So here's some inspiration for what you can do when you're middle aged park rat https://www.facebook.com/CandideThovex/videos/10154085690118204/
On the other hand park skiing is a high impact and consequence sport so I can easily see analogies with contact sports, like rugby. I played rugby at university and continued to play afterwards at a reasonably high, but non professional, level. As players got older time demands (work, marriage, kids, etc...) trimmed out some players but injury was the most common reason for hanging up your rugby boots permanently (or moving to touch rugby at least); can see the same thing happening for skiing park. My last crash was four and half years ago at Momentum and I dislocated my knee then; patellar tendon, ACL, MCL, LCL meniscus, etc... we're all torn. Today was my first day back on the mountain (Nordkette, Innsbruck) after five operations to put my knee back together; I went to the park, had a look and then skied on by. Maybe I'll throw the odd 3, hit a few rails and possibly even the odd underflips I used to love when Its feels safe and comfortable, but my days of working on dubs are well in the past.

___ASP___Im 31 and still a park rat. I ski the whole mountain but nothing compares to hitting park jumps. My goal is to still be able to cork 7 at the age of 40.

Respect. Ecspecially since I'm horrible at jumps. I aspire to continue lacing up some rail tricks passing thru the park into my 30s though. Gotta have some pre-determined swag going up to the single moms in the bar later.

This was me really-not-that-long-ago-at-all. Now I'm a crusty xx-year-old who enjoys walking uphill with ski on my feet, and climbing up things.

im 33 and grew up watching THall and CR, JP, JF and Pep and others. i remember getting the first salomon twin tip 1080 skis yellow skis and then had the rossi pow air skis and landed my first backflip when i was 15-16 i think. thats way before skiing park was where it was today. we used to cut hand rails from the local schools and stick em in some snow. i got to live the CO life and got to meet and became good friends with some pro skiers that i looked up to and stuff. now with all the injuries i had i still like to slide hand rails and do swaps and stuff and hit jumps here and their. but i rather take fresh sunny pow days over a sunny day in the park any day. idk park fun and stuff but older you get, the more you wanna shred outside of the park and explore lines you never thought was their. hiking and then skiing down and the enjoyment you get of earning your line is something everyone should least experience one day.

Giallella12So I rode up the chair with an older guy today and he was saying how he use to shred and hit some jumps back when he was in his teens (Probably was a jerry) and now he just focuses and his turns and not falling . I would say the average age for park riders now is 15-25ish so with the park life continuously evolving what do you think our generation of park riders are gonna be like skiing in 30 years?

My goal is to teach my kid to ski and ride park. I want to be able to throw 3s and hit rails easily when im 40 years old but I will have to see because I am already having knee and sometimes back problems at the age of 17.

The guy that owned the tramp/gymnastics place in my old town want to say he was like 59-58 he could still back flip on skis and on the tramp he wanted to be able to do 60 flips in a row
Last time I was there it was like 40 something and would start with a dub front to his back and go From there no bounce in between

im 29 and i was a park rat back in 1998. Got serious in freestyle in 2000 and lost the park rat title a year later. What kept me wanting to ride park was wondering what a cork 7 would feel like. I saw it ski movies and got hurt trying it on a few occasions. That dream was accomplished in 2012.
So on my experience a park rat doesnt stay for long. Either they give up because its too hard or they double down and acquire the skill.

I still wanna ride park and develop it for many years to come. However, my passion is big mountain skiing now. My new goal is to be able to 360 in fresh pow and stick a backflip every year!

I'm 30 and grew up skiing park bc it was a super small hill and park was about all it was good for. At around 20 I started realizing natural hits > park hits. I take a couple of laps in the park to hit tables, but the risk/reward just isn't there for me to hit rails anymore.

Now, I'd much rather be the dude dropping a cliff or a cornice and throw a 3 off a natural hit than trying to perfect a 7 on a perfectly groomed feature in a park

Part of the issue as we age, we look back on all the damage we've done to our bodies. Torn ACL's, concussions, dislocated shoulders, stitches, broken bones etc.

At a certain point you just don't bounce back from injuries like you used to, compound that with the fact that you may have a mortgage, a wife, or kids, and suddenly stomping that triple misty flip isn't as important as being able to work and support yourself and your family. It's always in the back of your head that one bad injury could put you out of work for a few months leading to some financial difficulty at best.

With that said natural hits start to look a lot more juicy, straight lining that chute that filled in nicely this season and may not next year is always going to tempt us to the point that we'll actually do it.

I certainly haven't lost my zest for skiing, but a 3 hour session of hiking a rail, just doesn't do it for me anymore.

I'll sit down now, my knees hurt.

StaticI think grandpa parks are going to be a thing (in addition to baby parks which we already have), like big mellow features. Rails not too high but nice and long, step up and over style jumps. Features that are still fun but much less consequence than like a close out rail or real stairs.

dude...i hope youre right! that sounds amazing haha

___ASP___Im 31 and still a park rat. I ski the whole mountain but nothing compares to hitting park jumps. My goal is to still be able to cork 7 at the age of 40.

props dude. this is really cool if you accomplish this goal then you truly are a legend

Bring in the OG's.

I'll be hitting jumps till my knees go. 23 and still going strong.