The name Michael Hibbs may ring a bell with some skiers, the former Line Traveling Circus intern has been around skiing for quite a few years now with TC, his urban doubles, and general antics. His latest project, however, carries a much deeper meaning than the usual jovial and downright goofy guy we're used to seeing. Hibbs is currently living in Los Angeles, California where he is attending Loyola Marymount University. Spurred by yet another shitty West Coast winter, and the ever-changing ski community, he has begun a mission to wake up the ski world, not only to climate change, but to the state of our progression driven culture as a whole.
Photo: Bryson Malone
Take a look at Hibbs' Instagram page, Kook.lyfe (https://instagram.com/kook.lyfe/), and you might be a bit confused at first, or just think he's another Danny Schwartz stair skiing wannabe, but take a closer look at the captions and you'll see a theme. #globalmelting and the rest of the text starts to paint the picture of "The Kook," a ski bum in the future searching for his thrills in the snowless land of LA. In a phone call Hibbs described the idea stating, "in 100 years, [skiing like this] is what skiing could turn into, that or rollerblading [laughs]." So, for the past nine months the skier has been hurling himself down dirt and stairs in order to show this very point, that skiing as we know it is not sustainable, both in an environmental and progression standpoint.
On the phone, Hibbs continued that "there's more meaning to life than just your life alone. People don't see that, partly because everyone wants to be internet famous these days. I want to make something that could be internet famous, but also subliminally says 'hey guys, wake up.'" In that way, Hibbs is attempting to ride the momentum viral content in order to question its influence, much in the same way as the folks over at the Tamashii Project.
Photo: Bryson Malone
So, Hibbsy is now tackling some of the major issues in today's ski world, bigger than the next to join the triple club, bigger than Lincoln looping around the Windells park. Personally I think he's got a good thing going, and he's definitely raising some thoughtful questions that we as a community will be forced to face in the near future, whether we like it or not. And for those reasons, you should pay attention to Michael Hibbs, The Kook.
Check out His Latest Video Here:
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