Freeskiing's History: Cherished or Neglected?

[Alkasquawlik]

Not to sound like a whiny bag of old douche, but I feel like many of today's skiers don't take a step back to honor the founders of skiing and see that they were probably doing radder shit than we'll ever do. This episode is probably my favorite of all time because of it's bridge that it builds across the divide of skiing generations. And I am not entranced by this episode by its' dig on the differences of the multi vs. single plankers, (I throw on a board from time to time and absolutely love it) but I dig it because of the simple fact that skiing's history is bad-fucking-ass and to not embrace it is an insult to the sport.

[Lane Meyer]

I'm going to go with neglected. Where's our 'Riding Giants?' And don't tell me it's 'Steep.'

[Driver]

great episode... I have to admit I didn't think peopel were doing stuff like that that long ago. Looks pretty tough on those skinny 210s as well... respect

[leroy jenkins]

I used to see Dick Durrance ripping around Aspen years ago and was amazed that such an old guy skied so fast and seemingly with such little effort.

[durangotang]

holy shit, YES! thanks for sharing that. the back over the train was awesome. I have to show this to my dad

[goldenboy]

Good for any skier's collection. john jay and dick barrymore were capturing some pretty amazing skiing and stories a long time ago.

Great webisode or whatever the hell it's called

[splat]

Well played, guys!

[The Kids Are Alright]

nice work fellas...

is it just me or is anyone else sick and tired of hearing about where is skiing's equivalent to "Riding Giants"? Movie was good, but certainly not the benchmark for documentation of action sports. The Jeff Clark story was the best part. Other than that, it was really one-dimensional.

[la_banda]

Love the "chinese downhill" of flips, airs and spins near the end of the edit. BADASS

I think people on this forum/other dedicated skiers around the world might take for granted the efforts of skiers pre 1960s. Yet people on this forum/dedicated skiers in the know, all do not take for granted: peterson, mckonkey, pehota, wayne wong, glen plake, coombs, douglas, the mahres and other icons of the last 30 years of skiing--we cherish this sport

this sport is constantly evolving and changing,we have to embrace it and recognize that the likes of bobby brown and others may advance our sport.

Still respect given to our history is necessary and i am stoked to see it here!

[truth]

Al Gore invented Freeskiing.

[gforce]

I would say somewhat neglected. Thanks for sharing - some great vintage footage. Love the on the edge powder bumps sequence and double back flip tandem skiers. John Clendenin had to be in there somewhere.

[grskier]

The 1080 was sweet... Good rant, great use of old photos, etc.

[Cyber Cop]

Yeah, I think about this a lot too.

I'm recording my monologue right now. I'll post it tonight when all my thoughts and emotions have coalesced to a coherent treatise on the subject.

[The Dad]

Very nicely done.

Anyone know where the train gap jump at the beginning of the video sequence is? Looks like Donner to me, but that may be bias.

[Huckwheat]

I really enjoyed that, mostly for the history and reminder that although current movement is "progressive", it isnt a new sport (somehow spawned from snowboarding is another interesting point).....wear skis, will huck......it has always been integral.

In a different vein, I am recently very interested in just the history of skiing as transportation. 10th mountain division, solo to North Pole, etc. The fact that our sport has such an amazing function is pretty cool too. There is no other way we could travel and see so much of the mountains without skis (even if it is just covering a few thousand acres at a ski resort).

[eldereldo]

Want to see just how good some of those guys were? Go and take those 210 straight sticks you bought for 70's day and try to rip around the mountain on your regular runs on them. I guarantee you will come back with a whole new apreciation on just how much easier fat skis have made skiing.

[2FUNKY]

That was awesome, great job. Dad: I am pretty positive that is Donner with the train gap. I still love to rock the 207 K2 KVCCOMP. Man do I get some funny comments when riding those, especially on pow days. Makes the fat ski that much more enjoyable.

[ridefree]

I got to ski with Darren Johnson yesterday. He really is new school!

[SkiNebraski]

Want to see just how good some of those guys were? Go and take those 210 straight sticks you bought for 70's day and try to rip around the mountain on your regular runs on them. I guarantee you will come back with a whole new apreciation on just how much easier fat skis have made POWDER skiing.

Much agreed

[thefrush]

Want to see just how good some of those guys were? Go and take those 210 straight sticks you bought for 70's day and try to rip around the mountain on your regular runs on them. I guarantee you will come back with a whole new apreciation on just how much easier fat skis have made skiing.

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52679"]"Longer the Better" - A Long Board Day production - KW 04/30/06 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83618"]TR: Short Skis Still Suck Hard and are Lame - Kirkwood LBD 2007 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121578"]TR: Long Live Ludicrous Long Board Day - Kirkwoodin' 04/26/08 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157900"]TR: Lunacy of Length - KW Long Board Day 2009 - 04/19/09 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

[Lane Meyer]

"Longer the Better" - A Long Board Day production - KW 04/30/06 - Teton Gravity Research Forums

TR: Short Skis Still Suck Hard and are Lame - Kirkwood LBD 2007 - Teton Gravity Research Forums

TR: Long Live Ludicrous Long Board Day - Kirkwoodin' 04/26/08 - Teton Gravity Research Forums

TR: Lunacy of Length - KW Long Board Day 2009 - 04/19/09 - Teton Gravity Research Forums

And just wait 'til you experience LBD2010 @ Squaw Valley USA! You're gonna want to smell what 666 and I are cookin'

Back on topic though...I still posit that there is a void in the documentary history of the non-racing/jibbing aspects our sport (i.e freeskiing) that no one film has yet to fill. Or, am I missing something?

[Arty50]

And just wait 'til you experience LBD2010 @ Squaw Valley USA! You're gonna want to smell what 666 and I are cookin'

Exxxxxxxcellent...

Hell, people forget that Shane's dad was a badass in his own right. There's a pretty nice line off the Harmony chair at Whistler that's named after him. I seem to recall there's another one elsewhere too. The dude slayed it by all accounts.

[skibrake]

You mean the 210s I bought during the '70s? It's not just "fat" that has made skis better, it's also the turn radius and construction methods and materials of all high end skis. Today's current race skis aren't fat, but they are WAY better than race skis of yesteryear. My 186 GS skis feel like super solid, ice gripping speed machines compared to my last pair of 210s from the mid to late '90s. I agree with you - the way those guys could ski on the skis of the day was amazing. I remember personally seeing as a kid a lot of what was shown in that video. What are skis going to look like in 20 years and what will skiers be doing on them?

[mikedski]

I'm glad you guys like it. It was a fun one to put together.

As for Cody's question...
The history of Freeskiing has largely been neglected and that's why I really wanted to put this together. If you ask most modern freeskiers who got the sport off the ground, they typically say Schmidt, Plake, or someone current. Those guys are great but they were kids when most of the skiers in the vid were ripping it up.

I'm running a contest on my facebook page right now asking people to name 2 skiers in the video besides me (feel free to go there and try to win the skis). About 75% of the answers are wrong and are skiers that could not possibly be old enough to be in the vid. That just seems wrong to me. All skiers should know at least two of these guys' names. Right?

Skiing has such a rich history -- one of the best in all of sports. We need to celebrate our past and never forget the pioneers.

[Lane Meyer]

I'm glad you guys like it. It was a fun one to put together.

As for Cody's question...
The history of Freeskiing has largely been neglected and that's why I really wanted to put this together. If you ask most modern freeskiers who got the sport off the ground, they typically say Schmidt, Plake, or someone current. Those guys are great but they were kids when most of the skiers in the vid were ripping it up.


Skiing has such a rich history -- one of the best in all of sports. We need to celebrate our past and never forget the pioneers.

Fuckin' a right! This little vid you produced is awesome! Now, someone with talent and artistic vision like yours needs to expand your idea into a legitimate, soulful, feature-length documentary. Scott Gaffney, I'm looking in your direction. If I only had $2 million to pay for it....