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I'm afraid you leave me with no choice but to deconstruct this rant of yours piece by piece, because frankly your ignorance is starting to entertain me and I wanna see what else you can come up with.
1] "Skiing does revolve around North America bitch."- Hate to burst your bubble but X slopestyle was won by a Norwegian and there was no North American on the podium. A Swede won Big Air. US Open Pipe was won by a Finn and only two of the top 6 were North Americans. Two of the top 3 in the North American Open were Swedes. Only one of the top 5 (5th) were North Americans in the Nippon Open pipe.
In freeride, only 2 of the top ten on the freeride world tour were from north america and every event was won by a non north american.
2] "Even racing now." Only 5 in the top 30 FIS racers are north american.
3] "Your entire statement about halfpipe skiing is retarded". - why? you're honestly telling me the field ISN'T shallower in pipe than it is in slope? That really is retarded and besides, I even qualified that assessment by saying that maybe it only seems shollow because Tanner is so good.
4] "That big mtn comp that Jon won was a joke"- what was funny about it exactly? Kaj Zackrisson is one of, if not THE best comp skier in recent memory. Beating him and countless other world class skiers is not a joke, particularly when nobody even realises you ski big mtn at all.
5] "What the fuck do you know about pillows?"- More than you apparently. Although I suspect you frequently get up close and personnal with them when you biting one you fucking idiot. Have you ever competed in a big mtn event? I doubt it because if you had you would know that they are the truest test of a skiers technique, brains and balls. Don't get me wrong, skiing gnarly pillows is both tech and scary but you can't compare even the gnarliest pillow line (tanner in believe?) to a top big mtn comp line.
I'm sorry i had to do that pal, and i've no doubt you will continue your epic nonsense but really it is you that has demonstrated you have no clue.
Ah thank God!! I had feared this thread had died without a reply from real_deal so thank you for speaking on his behalf!
Seeing as you have decided to challenge only one of my points then I guess that's what I'll focus on, although this is summer and I have a lot of time to kill so I'd be grateful if you'd be so kind as to disagree with me on the various others also.
If it's all the same to you I'll continue with my numerated system as it keeps things focused and easier to follow.
1] "Talent of individuals has nothing to do with the centre of skiing."
Surely there has to be a postive correlation between those two concepts? You think it's just coincidence that many of the world's best skiers are from countries like sweden, norway and france? not because maybe these countries actually play a ig part in the GLOBAL ski industry?
2] "Almost the entirety of the ski industry the snowboard industry are centralized in North America".
Absolute nonsense. Salomon, Dynastar, Rossi, Volkl, Elan, Fischer. Other than K2 and Scott, these are the biggest ski brands in the world and they all have their HQ, r&d and manufacturing outside North America. I don't know how to go about finding the sales figures but I bet the big brands such as these sell more product outside of north america.
3] "The core companies of both these sports concentrate and feed off the american market".
No, you are just blinkered by your perception of 'core companies'. Sure, Armada, Line, 4Frnt etc are primarily driven by, and aimed at, the American market. No shit, they are all relatively small companies that started in North America. There are just as many 'core' companies of comparable size and nature, of which the same is true in europe. Movement, Zag, Faction, Black Crows, Extrem. These are examples of core brands who are just as influential, but you just don't hear of them because you don't read/browse the media that gives them exposure because *gasp* it's in another language.
4] "Most influential media coverage: NS.com Freeskier, Freeze..."
Again this is very blinkered. Skipass.com, Freeride.se, Skieur, Weski are all examples of influential european ski media. Would I expect you to have read the european ski mags? no. Can you buy freeskier in shops in europe? no. For the record, Weski is infinitely better than any North American ski mags, unless you enjoy reading about Peter Olenick every month.
5] "Biggest Events/competitions, with huge prize money. Us open, X games etc, Ski tour"
Again, very park specific. Yes, park comps are bigger in the US but the gap is narrowing. Events like the european open, nippon open, JOI, Candide inv are catching up fast. In fact the best park event of the year was in Sweden while X and the US Open were a farce. Furthermore, with Jon set to launch the "freeski world tour", expect the focus to be even more globalized. Besides, you've missed the point again. This is a discussion about skiing as a whole, not just park. The freeride world tour is far more europe-focused and racing is very global indeed.
6] "Best resorts: Park City, Mammoth, Breck, Keystone, Whistler to name a few. In terms of what can financially and logistically be provided for our sport these guys do way more than europe."
Haha! Have you ever skied in europe? You have no idea mate. The 'top' resorts in europe absolutely dwarf anything in north america, whistler included, both financially, technologically and indeed geographically. STVI, the lift company in Val d'Isere (equivalent to intrawest maybe, but just lifts) was the most profitable company in France in 2007. The lift systems in the top european resorts is a whole different level- the whole lift network in Lech for example has heated seats. You have no idea how much skiing means, relatively, to some countries in europe. As for terrain... I won't start.
So look, I never said "skiing revolves around europe not north america". What I am saying is that the ski industry is very globalized, far more so than most kids on here realise. Europe and America are both importatn power bases for skiing. Neither is more important than the other. Take off your blinkers.
