Defining a Free Skier

I think that what defines a freeskier can be broken down into three sorts of values. These are both aspects of a skiers perspective, and of their skiing itself.


Originality
Originality within skiing is the choices you make regarding what tricks you do or what line you take. The way that your decision making has your skiing set apart from others. Within freeskiing today originality is the least common of these values.



Style
Style is your own twist on how you move skiing. Often, styles come naturally. Style is how you look. It can be influenced by music, your crew, or other sports you have done. Style is consistently evolving in skiing, but will never have a golden standard as it will always belong to the individual skier.



Skill
Skill is the level of your game, so simple it can be broken down into numbers. The spins you can do, the cliffs you can drop, and your ability to excel in all sorts of situations. Skills are what win competitions and are usually noticed right off the bat. A truly skillful skier is hardly denied credit.

Lately: ?

The summer has been an odd one. In the last few weeks I feel that I've sharpened my perspective on things, however this occurred after I had slowly shifted my mindset in a blurred direction throughout the summer. I've wasted a fair amount of time in the last few months. Choosing one job and and quitting another in the beginning of the summer. I ended up losing focus and never working a whole lot, spending lots of time doing nothing in particular. It wasn't a bad summer, however I do regret coming out it without producing anything. ($)

Even though it's still warm, it is fall now and coincidentally things have changed for me. I look forward to the rain for the sake of the simplicity it provides.The next few months won't be crazy, successes will numbers in the gym and lows will be bad days at work. However I'm sleeping with my skis bedside, not losing any focus.

Writing on skiing

I have many ideas about skiing that I would like to put out for others to read and respond to. Action sports generally are held on a pedestal by their very own cultures. This is especially true within Internet communities. Countless times I have seen videos with aspects potentially worthy of criticism only to read below a surplus of generic comments that really don't get to the point of what people like or dislike about the piece. This is not a matter of negative or positive feedback, but what I think is the result of a sport adopting a umbrella-like mindset. Conveying that anyone skiing shouldn't be is bad, however action sports are inherently art. Nobody skis the same and I like it when people have input on other peoples game that goes beyond good or bad. No one has to listen either. It's win-win.

Blading Clips

Last fall my friend Nathan got some clips of me rollerblading in my garage. I usually ride the park in Whistler. Song Bruiser Brigade by Danny Brown

What I've been doing. What I plan on Doing

Last time I posted in UnderWhiteSkies I was skiing park and it was springy and I was just flowing through the park and trying new things for fun. Little changed until the end of May but I became more and wild with skiing as the hill became more sunny more muddy and more scarred. I started working construction for the summer and no longer ski. I want to get a truck in the fall and save money and train in  the gym for 3 cold months in the fall and then I want to ski.

Lately: Longview

Haven't been doing much over the weekend after hurting my shoulder. Watching TV, sleeping in, amongst other things. I've done a bit of exercise to get my shoulder tightened up a bit, and in turn learned a bit about skipping rope. I'm pretty stoked on the skip rope, since it's intense as you make it, not to mention the fact that you never really stress your calves when skiing. In a couple days if skiing feels right I'd like to get a couple days in at bounce.

Here are some rap songs for your pleasure. I'll be back skiing park tomorrow and these are gonna be the main source of inspiration.

Toboggans

I've been in the ski patrols toboggan before. At first it was a thrill, now it's a claustrophobic nuisance, being locked in a potential projectile and slowly dragged down steep slopes. You are so immobilized that people could mistake you for a dead body. Yesterday I hurt myself in an odd accident, tumbling after being hit by a stray ski. I never consciously think about the thrill of skiing when I'm on the mountain. I just do things because they feel good. But when something  like this happens I begin to identify with the group of skiers that are about the thrill because I see the consequential side of this sport and I feel like I should embrace it.

I need to find something to do to pass the time. I'm really good at spending an entire afternoon getting a coffee, and I still thinking about grabbing a new but old video game system. A few couple essay ideas have come to me and I'm put those down on here when the times right.