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theabortionator
May, 2025

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Why comp skiers suck to watch ski

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yungmcqueen
Posts: 38 - Karma: 403
I have always been fascinated with this, so after years of pondering this, this is the best explanation I can come up with:

Skiing in my eyes is an art form and a culture. Competition skiing is a sport. It is the difference between an art vs. a science, Classical reasoning vs. romantic reasoning.

Comp skiing can be written down on a piece of paper and understood. How many spins/flips, difficulty of grab, execution.

Style can not be graded on piece of paper.

You can write down a trick that Andri Ragettli does and I could envision exactly how it looks because there is nothing added to it. His tricks look exactly how they sound. It is the simplest version of a trick.

It would require an essay to describe something that Phil Casabon does and it still wouldn't do it justice. He has the ability to add so many details into a simple trick that it is no longer simple, but something complex.

Anyone can go chunce a double cork with a boot grab. All it takes is some athleticism.

Skiing becomes an art when you take a trick that everyone can do and add details that make is distinguishably your own. This is the beauty of skiing.

Art vs Science
Conventional vs Unconventional
A generic pop-song vs A symphony

Neither is evil or bad
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6 years ago
7 5
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lloyd_braun
Posts: 64 - Karma: 488
i disagree, i've taken laps with Alex F. and Torin..... the style and creativity they show rolling through the park is top notch.
6 years ago
7 0
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Kundera
Posts: 323 - Karma: 3,607
6 years ago
36 1
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johnblaze
Posts: 1543 - Karma: 2,842
It's called art. Look it up!
6 years ago
3 0
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NattyNine
Posts: 281 - Karma: 1,600
Kundera


This looks terrible. I'd rather watch comp jocks than this new age trend of looking compleeeetely out of control 100% of the time. Also nothing worse than kids skiing on 174's popping around like they are in gymnastics class.
6 years ago
12 11
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vibecheck
Posts: 3112 - Karma: 15,206
Kundera


^^swerve

Or

Comp

6 years ago
25 0
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TRVP_ANGEL
Posts: 12705 - Karma: 120,040
am i experiencing a deja vu or is this a hard repost
6 years ago
11 0
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BigPurpleSkiSuit
Posts: 9615 - Karma: 71,531
No it isn't
I can't recall any other threads hating on comp skiing and ejaculating over a steely 540



TRVP_ANGELam i experiencing a deja vu or is this a hard repost
6 years ago
4 1
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neleson
Posts: 386 - Karma: 1,091
IDK why people hate on comp so much. Skiing is a culture and it is on part of that culture do you think sports like football (soccer for americans) is only competitions. There are millions of people who just go and play it for the fun of it. Many comp skiers progress the sport and so do film skiers and all the basic skiers. Some people like the comps and they are a great way to bring new people to the sport. I liked doing comps when I was younger because they were so much fun to do. Nowadays it's just fun to ski. I don't know why I even bother replying to this because this is like the 10000 thread about it. Just wish people would just accept it as part of the culture and at least see if they enjoy it before just hating on it.
6 years ago
5 0
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Redrobin
Posts: 196 - Karma: 936
Just to throw my 2 cents in here, but I believe also that the style of comp skiing has changed in the past 10 years. Mostly because comp jumps haven't gotten much bigger in the past decade, so a trip 16 would obviously look much more forced than a switch upright 10 if thrown on the same jump.
6 years ago
3 0
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jakeordie
Posts: 665 - Karma: 3,281
yungmcqueenStyle can not be graded on piece of paper.

True, but style don't make paper either.

Remember that clip of Henrik's nose butter triple at X? Tanner is talking him into doing it, and Henrik is like "yeah, but.....it'd be so ill to win without it."

Dollo wants to win on style, but Tanner knows that ain't enough for everyone to get paid.
6 years ago
2 0
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freestyler540
Posts: 13231 - Karma: 20,383
I dont think so... or you were born after 2008.

Comps back in the early 2000s were really fun to watch; it was 12 of the only known skiers in the world, the ones you would always see in the movies and posters throwing down in events where nobody knew what they were doing. There was no "throwing a run away" back then. One bad trick didnt mean you lost. Tricks were way more basic than today, a switch 720 safety would get ya gold.
Comps got polished to a point where it turned into aerials; its everything or nothing and the slightest error could cost you a sponsorship and your career as a skier.

Another argument against yours is the number of tries you get in shooting a part. You can try all day to get a shot and by luck, a perfect shot looks like they snapped a pair of skis and pulled off a death defying stunt on their first try. Well, that is the illusion of skiing. Comp skiing is how real life goes; you never get the perfect run.

Could it be that you are confusing real life with the illusion of entertainment? Most people today cant tell the difference.
6 years ago
7 0
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GrandThings
Posts: 3299 - Karma: 34,047
pokermanThis looks terrible. I'd rather watch comp jocks than this new age trend of looking compleeeetely out of control 100% of the time. Also nothing worse than kids skiing on 174's popping around like they are in gymnastics class.


If you think this looks terrible you should delete your account and move to Texas.
6 years ago
5 5
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Deepskier
Posts: 3269 - Karma: 4,864
Freeride world tour is the most fun thing to watch
6 years ago
6 1
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theabortionator
Posts: 52609 - Karma: 174,418
You don't seem to realize that most of the people throwing trips in comps, can throw absolutely ridiculous 5s and 7s as well. When people are warming up to the jump lines they're training through the jump lines dipping into nice slow spins. Same with when they're lapping the park at their home mountain.

Just because somebody can do a triple, doesn't mean they can't do all the tricks you think are more stylish.

Also the "it isn't hard, it just takes athleticism" is a pretty whack argument. You could say that about just about anything that can be learned. The problem is that most people will never take things even close to that level.

Also the "Omg, spin to win, comp people, trip corks, skiing ruined" take got old when dubs or maybe even 1080s came into play. It sucks that this will still be getting rehashed in another form for the next thousand years.

There's so many avenues of skiing right now. So many styles, so many ways to view it. The amount of stuff you can watch just on here, youtube, etc. I remember watching anything that was skiing or snowboarding on TV, even racing aerials, moguls, jumping, just to get the fix. It would take you a long ass time to watch all the content you can find online these days.

If you hate comp skiing, don't watch it. Watch one of the bunch movies, or member edits, etc. There's too much content out there to be a crusty hater imo.
6 years ago
9 0
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yungmcqueen
Posts: 38 - Karma: 403
Maybe my example choices were misleading in to what I was bringing up. I'm not trying bring up the classic steezy 540 vs. dub cork argument, or even hate on comp skiing. I really enjoy watching competitions.

What I'm trying to explore is why guys like Geopper, Ragettli, and Busch are so damn boring to watch ski beyond the statement that they have "robot style". Been trying to figure out the reasoning for why watching these "robots" is boring or almost irritating.
6 years ago
3 0
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270on420out
Posts: 7524 - Karma: 51,324
theabortionatorYou don't seem to realize that most of the people throwing trips in comps, can throw absolutely ridiculous 5s and 7s as well. When people are warming up to the jump lines they're training through the jump lines dipping into nice slow spins. Same with when they're lapping the park at their home mountain.

Just because somebody can do a triple, doesn't mean they can't do all the tricks you think are more stylish.


Kai Mahler is one of the best examples of this. Dude can throw triples at X-games while still being insanely stylish when he’s just cruising.

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/915730/Kai-Stubai-2016
6 years ago
6 0
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fghtoffyrdmns
Posts: 3003 - Karma: 6,957
yungmcqueenMaybe my example choices were misleading in to what I was bringing up. I'm not trying bring up the classic steezy 540 vs. dub cork argument, or even hate on comp skiing. I really enjoy watching competitions.

What I'm trying to explore is why guys like Geopper, Ragettli, and Busch are so damn boring to watch ski beyond the statement that they have "robot style". Been trying to figure out the reasoning for why watching these "robots" is boring or almost irritating.


how the fuck is fabians skiing boring dude is no bdog but he does brazy ass shit
6 years ago
1 0
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3mania
Posts: 2648 - Karma: 10,800
Henriik skis a lot of comps... does not suck to watch.
6 years ago
0 0
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Puzzled
Posts: 4267 - Karma: 4,448
Who cares skiing is dead just play Fortnite like everybody else
6 years ago
1 1
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