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Progression of Freestyle - where does it end?

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Oli_jgb
Posts: 985 - Karma: 95
I was thinking about this today as I watched Cody Townsend 'explain the Ghost'. He said it performs like no other boot he has ever ridden.
So this got me thinking, technology is constantly improving, that in theory makes it easier to perform bigger tricks, hit bigger lines and generally improve. Skis are constantly getting lighter and faster as new alloys and materials are developed, but where does it stop, if at all?

As the sport progresses, people also need better protection, and that is constantly improving too, probably faster than the technology that enables you to ski. Better body armour and protective systems, avalanche control and detection methods are constantly being engineered to cope with the bigger airs and the more ridiculous skiing that people do.
It got me to thinking that maybe people will end up going so big that they could have an emergency parachute ejection system or something in their jacket so minimise impact if it goes wrong!

In 10 years time, will we see people hucking quintuple backflips and double corked 2160 spins?! Even park building technology comes into this too, to enable skiiers to go bigger and do more ridiculous things.

If you go back 20 years, no one would have predicted the level of freeskiing that there is today.

Where are the limits, if there are any?!
Jan 17 2009 7:04AM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
it ends with seth morrison's full tilts.
/thread
Jan 17 2009 9:50AM
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Jacob-T
Posts: 325 - Karma: 9

IThe way i see it ending up is the way Skateboarding has kind of plateued.(Spelling). During the 1990's and early 2000's the amount of progression and how fast new tricks were coming out was INSANE. Now in 2009, it seems like MOST (not all) Halfpipe runs and street look like they were 5 years back. Don't get me wrong, Skateboarding still has new insane shit coming out of it, but it is no way near how it was before. It seems like skiing is going to perfectly match this. Idk, all theory.

Example of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksiXIEGP_EY (2003)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG6PVrHB1jM (2008)

Oh and freeskiing is going to get as popular as skateboarding too. JUST WAIT

Jan 17 2009 10:07AM
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newengland72
Posts: 227 - Karma: 29
Isn't the point of progression that it doesn't end?
It just goes in different directions.

Example: Ballet skiing; radical back in the day, not so much right now.
Jan 17 2009 10:26AM
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sirskizalot
Posts: 4370 - Karma: 161
bro, ballet skiing is still completely radical.
Jan 17 2009 10:29AM
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laurence^
Posts: 1575 - Karma: 19
I think features will change as will the skis themselves but skiing will remain the same. Tricks will always be tricks and I doubt people will be throwing 2160s anytime soon. You speak of progression as if skiers just finally started to know how to ski yet where we are at today has taken a very long time and it has not happened in the last two years. In my opinion analyzing the progression of a sport is kind of a waste of time, you just got to roll with it and see how it pans out.
Jan 17 2009 10:33AM
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Craigskis
Posts: 6650 - Karma: 1,645
Progression vs Regression.

As far a progression goes I do not thing there is much left that can physically be done.  From corked 810's on to rails that are 50 feet away, to switch backflip handplants upside down, to mega boosts 38 ft from the deck, and the amount of people starting to throw double flips in competition.

I would hate to see what happened with freestyle skiing in the 80's when FIS came in and regulated the shit out of everything,  pretty much taking the free out of freestyle...But when it comes down to it this is a high impact sport and injuries are going to happen regardless of anything.  People should know there limit and not try to throw the 1080 if they can't clean a 720 on speed dial whenever.  And this is where the style argument comes back into play.
Jan 17 2009 10:54AM
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holyDINOSAURS
Posts: 7038 - Karma: 639
not possible and hopefully not.

but yeah skateboarding did plateau in terms of the tricks being done. but now its moved on to trick/comp/style variations as opposed to new stuff. as well as older tricks brought back. if you look at Transworlds AND NOW, i have never seen so many no complys and fastplants in a mainstream movie, and not just from mr. richie jackson but the whole crew.

its the same argument again and again. eventually i think that skiing is going to split like snowboarding did (already has started?) and you'll have your Shaun White style comp guys (Dumont = Shaun White/Danny Kass), you'll have your creators/film kids (Nimbus/Surface/a handful of others = think thank/Rome guys/Autumn Line) and you'll have you're in betweeners like Jossi and Stefan Thomas.

That is pretty much where skiing is now, but i think it will seperate much further. right now in skiing pretty much you HAVE to compete to get sponsored. Yes there are several guys who havent but its an anomoly. whereas there are TONNES of shredders who haven't ever competed and just film. It seems like entirely different worlds between them, much bigger than in skiing.

Jan 17 2009 11:51AM
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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
It will never end. Theres no limit to what people can do with skis. You can always get more creative. And I hate to say it, but you can always add another spin or flip...
Jan 17 2009 12:05PM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,019
yeah its NEVER gonna end. just when you thought rails didn't have that much more to go, will wesson came out with his seg in turbo. underslide wtf? it all ends when the rider's mind cant think of anymore. there is so much more shit we can do i dont think it will be over for a long, long, time.
Jan 17 2009 12:21PM
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huge-go
Posts: 1451 - Karma: 33
AS much as I don't like watching urban, that was so sick. I rewound the movie and was like "wtf, did he go under?" "holy shit he did!"
Jan 17 2009 1:19PM
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cool.
Posts: 3457 - Karma: 1,724
Jan 17 2009 1:28PM
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Silence
Posts: 16030 - Karma: 150
Unfortuantely, people will start dying in the name of progression and it has already come close many times. That is when it will slow down and style on existing tricks will become more paramount.
Jan 17 2009 3:54PM
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Jacobsen
Posts: 112 - Karma: 18
I really hope the progression of skiing will go more towards style and creativity in the future.
Jan 17 2009 4:10PM
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Sean...M
Posts: 2450 - Karma: 14
bingo. its gonna be all about style. That and the jumps/features will get larger and more creative
Jan 17 2009 4:27PM
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Upgrayedd
Posts: 620 - Karma: 25
I think this is a really good question for discussion...

The point earlier about progression to the point of life threatening behavior is a good one - there is a point at which the physics make going bigger just too dangerous.  I am wondering if the same thing happened in skateboarding at the point at which street skating took over in popularity from half-pipe and bowl riding. 

The direction, I think, is more creativity on smaller features and a greater variety of features - Urban trannys, pole jams, wall rides, staircases, etc - with the crazy footwork and balance of Will Wesson and Andy Parry.

Maybe Spike Jonze will do the intro for the next Level 1 movie - Berman can call it "Fully Flared Sub Zero".
Jan 17 2009 6:05PM
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Malarky
Posts: 349 - Karma: 11

Nice topic. The thing I'm scared of is that professional skiing will become so "out there" and distant that the average skiier won't be able to relate to it anymore. So hopefully pros won't be throwing triple cork 16's and such anytime soon.

Jan 17 2009 6:37PM
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e.will
Posts: 1981 - Karma: 967
creative yes; bigger, i don't think so. People are realizing the need for safe features much more than they used to.

gone are the days of 120 foot stepdowns, and thank god. that is just stupid.
Jan 17 2009 6:39PM
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I_liketobutter
Posts: 2664 - Karma: 997
garret russel (sp?)

nimbus crew

parry/wesson


jumps will pretty much be the same, there should be more butters off 70ft jumps like in skimatic
Jan 17 2009 8:12PM
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ski-swagga
Posts: 5276 - Karma: 219
ha ya i doubt skiing is going to progress that far. but it would be awesome if it did but it does seem like it's going to plateau like skateboarding. instead of 10 years try 70 for that double cork 2160 (try quad cork!!!) good theroy though. 
Jan 17 2009 9:20PM
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PhilboydStudge
Posts: 3431 - Karma: 206
dude good call. the technical side of skating has kind of stalled out, and i think that's what will happen to skiing, but different people have still branched off in different directions on the creative side. i think that's what will happen
Jan 18 2009 12:00AM
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TheQuailman
Posts: 7382 - Karma: 147

"Freeskiing will never stop progressing"

Dumbest thing ever.  Eventually freeskiing will die as something else new comes out.  Look at moguls, ski ballet, hell even ski racing, aerials, snow-blading, and skiercross.  All these sports that were incredibly popular and people kept saying "Oh, they will never die" but they obviously did.

There comes a point in 'extreme sports' where you just can't do anything more.  Like look at skiing now.  Most people who 'freeski' have been skiing since they were little (as gapers only a few times a year) and have been skiing park for 3 years or so!  It already takes years to get even somewhat good.  And tricks are just getting bigger and bigger and more dangerous and eventually its going to level off.  The safety equipment is definitly not catching up with the level of skiing.

Hell maybe I'm wrong.  I mean like big mountain skiing and surfing have been around forever but I just don't see freeskiing as staying forever.  Like eventually there will be something new and mountains will no longer have terrain parks at least in the same sense.

Jan 18 2009 12:03AM
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rodenski5
Posts: 384 - Karma: 10
I don't think any of those things were ever "incredibly popular" (in the US, at least).  And aside from ski ballet and skiboarding, they are all current Olympic sports - skiercross is even a new event for 2010 - so I'm not sure how its obvious that they all died.  There are tons of racers and racing events, I just...what are you talking about?  Skateboarding is still going strong, snowboarding is huge, I don't see any reason to predict the fall of freesking.
Jan 18 2009 1:45AM
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Literature
Posts: 13673 - Karma: 3,085
Individual progression will always be more important the whole, but progression is not necessary to have fun which, to me at least, its the reason that I ski.
Jan 18 2009 1:51AM
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skieasy
Posts: 214 - Karma: 11
what other way could it go? besides backwards...
Jan 18 2009 1:54AM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
A repeated cycle of progression to something we can no longer relate to and then a violent backlash group that breaks free from what everyone else is doing and redefines the sport. So is skiing.
Jan 18 2009 2:38AM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,019
watch guys like brady perron and pep fujas and jon olsson and will wesson and andy parry and jon brogan and hornbeck and tamus wallnurt and just guys who have done something a little different with their skiing than everybody else. and also, check out everybody's different styles when they do the same trick. my rodeo 5 is different than your rodeo 5, which will be different than tom's rodeo 5, which is different than andreas' rodeo 5, which is undoubtably different than turpin's rodeo 5. everybody has a different style to the same trick that is unique to the way they move and control their body in the air, which makes the same trick done by different people still fun to watch.
Jan 18 2009 3:24AM
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Silence
Posts: 16030 - Karma: 150
I will never be able to rodeo 5, however my pizza is different to yours
Jan 18 2009 3:33AM
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k-rob
Posts: 14217 - Karma: 2,891
word to this. we may reach our technical limits someday, but when it comes down to the unique ways in which we throw down, i don't think there is a (foreseeable) limit. plenty of sports have withstood their technical limits and i see no reason why we couldn't do the same.
Jan 18 2009 3:43AM
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