If I'm not rich, not sponsored, how do I rapidly progress at comps?

Ill give you the best advice anybody here has given you. Dont do it for the money or glory. do it because you love doing it.Or else, people will end up hating you, or you failing at life

i was just wondering.....ARE there any pros that didn't come from a rich family? hmmm

dash, didn't you see wski, he's a hobo ass bum.

Bode Miller    oh!  FS............ 

damn some of you cant read, he didnt close off with saying "All I wanna do is ski" de he?

anywho, the main question seems to be about doing well in comps (as he bluntly asked). I dont need to be another person to say so, but $1100 on gear is overkill. Good gear helps, but it doesnt have to be new to progress by any stretch of the imagination. Try to keep it reasonable.

As for comps, the way to get better at them is to do them, and do them often. But more importantly, you need to get solid at skiing, rather than go into comps and just trying shit, which happens a ton. Get comfortable, and get a myriad of tricks and make them solid, so whatever a comp has to throw at you, you're ready. This means you have to ski a bit, but do have fun while you're doing it. But skiing comes first, not competitions. If you want to ski and ski harder, then you're already set. If you want to compete...

Start off locally and regionally. There really isn't much point in branching into national and world scale events if you arent doing particularly well regionally (aside from just having fun). On the flip side, you dont want to get super comfortable with the level at local comps, if youre serious about it. Keep it as cheap as possible though (avoid hotels and solo shit), and have fun with it. Keep expenditures down, and the gas and entry fees won't be such a burden. If you are doing well locally, you should be able to pick up a couple low key sponsors such as a shop, and maybe some flow from a rep or some shit. Thatll keep your gear intact, maybe even help carry the tab. But if you do want to step it up to larger events, you should do well locally, and you gotta save money. Entry fees, travel, and accomodations can kill you on some events, so this means work, work, work (or win, win, win). Having money isn't a requisite (although it does help). But that's thinking too far ahead.

Essentially, when it comes to comps, it's up to you; not money, not equiptment, but your ability and effort.

but keep it real, and keep it fun

haha bodes tight, but thats racing...which when i think about it is actually way harder money wise.

"...progress at comps?"

oxymoron?

no shit eh, erich?

I have 1 word and two letters of advice: VISA and EI (employent insurance)



actually if you want to do well at comps you need to ski full time and not go to school full time.