By Tom Winter

The seeds for this column have been germinating for years, during long slogs to the top of remote peaks and childhood kicker building sessions in the woods. But things didn’t become a reality until a sudden flurry of emails brought the concept to fruition. Why not add a bit of big mountain love to Newschoolers?

Chris Benchetler. Photo: Justin Wiegand

The underlying premise is obvious: skiing is, after all, skiing. Sure, there’s a million different ways to approach the sport, everyone has their own style, and God bless them – and you – for doing things with a personal touch. It doesn’t matter if you spend your weekends hitting rails or hiking. As long as you’re out there having fun.

Bene Mayr. Photo: Bryan Ralph

But there are also the larger evolutionary trends of the sport. There’s little doubt that while the rough and tumble battles that lead to progression occur in the park and pipe environment, once tricks are nailed and style defined that the next obvious place to take new moves and skills is to the mountains: to push limits on natural terrain, in unpredictable conditions.

Kyler Cooley. Photo: Tom Winter

So, while Scary Steep doesn’t claim to be the ultimate arbitrator when it comes to much – progression, style, or even the future – we will stake our claim on being a voice for the mountains and for the scene that’s happening out there, past the lifts and the ropes and the manicured kickers.

Chris Turpin. Photo: Alex Giesbrecht

This is for better or worse, and you may or may not care. That’s OK. Because we’re convinced that at some point in your skiing career, you’ll look up at a peak or a cliff or into the woods or even just outside a rope at your local hill and you’ll say to yourself, “I want to go there.”

But until that moment comes, we’ll be here, two times each month, to take you there. Enjoy.