Newschool skiing

Freestyle Skiing involves tricks while skiing, including mogul runs or aerials. However, many Newschool skiers believe that traditional mogul and (aerials) do not accurately represent the true progression of "Freestyle skiing". These same "newschoolers" can often be found inside terrain parks skiing and proving to new skiers that skiing is more than just going down the mountain.

History

In recent years, many ski mountains have opened up "parks and pipes" where Newschool skiers can slide metal rails and get big air in the half-pipe. Freestyle skiers use a special ski, called the twintip, that allows them to land or go off a jump switch (backwards). Both ends of the twintip skis have curved tips.

Newschool Skiing began when some skiers wanted to use the snowboard dominated terrain parks too. Eventually skiing evolved into a sport much like snowboarding with many of the same grabs and other similar tricks. The Newschool Skier is more closely related to the snowboarder in his/her style than to the traditional skier.

The term "Newschool" first started to be used after the FIS took the former term for the sport, "freestyle skiing", and applied a set of rules and boundaries to it. The FIS incorporated several rules that were unpopular in the growing ski community and slowed dow the progression of the sport. Such rules include no inverted tricks in mogul runs, limited the number of flips in aerial competitions, and did not offer ski park or pipe competitions. The "Newschool" movement was a breakaway faction of the freeskiers who who were unhappy with the FIS.

Newschool Companies

There are several companies that have supported and greatly added to the progression of NewSchool Skiing. These companies, Line, Armada, Ninthward, and 4FRNT, and solely freestyle skiing companies and make some great twin tips. Line is believed to be the first newschool skiing company and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2005. Contrary to popular belief, the K2 Poacher was the first mass produced twin tip ski to hit the market.

These companies each produce basically three kinds of skis, Powder, All-Mountain, and Park. The powder ski is fat and sometimes has a higher tail in order to support switch powder landings. The All-Mountain ski is an average width and is equally good on both groomed and powder. The park ski is specially built for jibing, and groomed terrain.

Newschool Terrain

Throughout the sport of newschool skiing there are many different kinds of terrain.

Jibs

rails, walls, and boxes that can be grinded, buttered, or tricked off of

Stepup Jumps

a jump in which the landing is higher than the takeoff

Stepdown Jumps

a jump in which the landing is lower than the takeoff

Tabletop Jumps

a jump that looks somewhat like a table or trapezoid in which you take off of a lip, clear a flat part in the air, and then land on a downslope

Gap

a jump that has a large gap in between the take off and landing

Hip Jump

a jump in which the landing is on the side of the take off

Spine

a jump, similar to a Hip Jump, in which the landing is on either side of the take off

Backcountry

Any skiing off the prepared or marked trails is reffered to as backcountry or off-piste skiing. This form of skiing is probably the most mortally dangerous (depending on where and how you do it) because of the high speeds, large drops (sometimes with hidden rocks in the landing), and avalanches. This type of skiing has been banned in certain areas of the world to (unfortunately very occasionally) preserve wildlife and (usually) since people there can not take responsibility for their own actions.

Urban

Any skiing in urban areas, including handrails, wallrides and drops off of stairs, is referred to as urban skiing. This is regarded as one of the most dangerous and technically difficult areas of newschool skiing, since it involves skiing things that weren't meant to be skied. It also creates a lot of trouble with authority, as some people consider it vandalism to slide down handrails on a pair of planks. Most skiers, however, see it as an artform, using everyday objects such as handrails and houses creatively, and seeing your surroundings in a different perspective.

A faction of the newschool community believes that this form of skiing should not be considered a form of skiing but a new sport altogether, since it is so radically different from traditional skiing.

East versus West

Everyone in the newschool skiing world knows one fact: East is park, West is powder. This is because in the east the snow is very wet and the mountains are very small. In the west, big mountains and huge amounts of snow make it possible to have tons of backcountry fun. Of course the west also has many incredible parks as well.

The Rivalry

Over the years many people have grown to believe there is a rivalry between skiers and boarders. However, this is incredibly false. The main rivalry present in modern day snowsports resides between newschool and traditional. The snowboarders mostly stand by while there is a fierce rivalry between the two classes of skiers.

Another rivalry is the ever-present battle between skiiers and snowbladers or skiboarders. Snowbladers are skiers who use unusually short skis (shorter than 100 cm), and who enjoy skiing on prepared trails and just generally have fun.

The Culture

Throughout newschool skiing a special culture has developed, one that has united the skiing community. The language, style, and people are unique to the newschool community. A good example of this community is Newschoolers.com which is the online skiing community with news, pictures, and forums for skiers.

Some of the language used in the newschool world are abbreviated spin (saying 7 instead of 720) as well as butter, jib, hit, session, lap, etc.

Skiers

Notable newschool style skiers are:

• Eric Pollard
• Charles Gaginer
• Tanner Hall
• Pep Fujas
• JP Auclair
• Evan Raps
• Candide Thovex
• CR Johnson
• Kristi Leskinen
• Sarah Burke
• Doug Mellon
• Simmon Dumont
• Jon Olsson