History
"Newschool" skiing originated in the late 1990s when freestyle skiers, discouraged by constrictive laws placed on the sport by the International Ski Federation (competitive skiing's governing body, known by the acronym
"FIS"), began trying their tricks in what were at the time
snowboard-only terrain parks. Early newschool skiers were very aware of
the developing style and attitude of snowboarding, and adopted these for
their own sport. The Newschool Skier is related more to the snowboarder
in his/her style than to the traditional skier's style.
The FIS freestyle skiing events were governed by restrictive rules
that were unpopular in the growing ski community, and slowed down the
progression of the sport. Such rules included a ban on inverted tricks
in mogul runs, a limit on the number of flips in aerial competitions,
and a lack of ski park or pipe competitions. The "Newschool" movement
was a breakaway faction of the freeskiers who were unhappy with the FIS.
The breakaway faction was led by the New Canadian Air Force, which
included the "Godfather of freeskiing", Mike Douglas, and others such as
JF Cusson, Vincent Dorion and JP Auclair. Also contributing
significantly in these early days were Julien Regnier and "the Three
Phils", namely, Phil Larose, Phil Belanger and Phil Dion, all of whom
were teammates at Dynastar.
After helping Salomon develop their first twin-tip ski, the "1080", the
New Canadian Air Force began jumping and filming in traditionally
snowboarder dominated terrain parks.
In recent years, many ski resorts have introduced terrain parks where skiers and snowboarders can attempt tricks. These parks include many features like rails, boxes, jumps, hips, quarterpipes, and halfpipes. A popular choice of equipment for this terrain is the twin-tip ski.
Twin-tip skis come in all shapes and sizes, and were originally made
specifically for newschool skiing. The varieties of twin-tip skis are
now more versatile,
being marketed towards skiers of all styles and abilities. Twin-tip
skis are turned up at both ends to allow for both regular (forwards) and
fakie (backwards) skiing (see http://www.freezeonline.com/freeze/how_to/article/0,13122,330959,00.html).
Newschool companies
There are several relatively small companies that have supported and
greatly added to the progression of Newschool Skiing. These companies,
including Line, Armada, Liberty, Ninthward, and 4FRNT,
as well as others, make skis specific for Newschool Skiing. Line is
believed to be the first newschool skiing company, and celebrated its
10th anniversary in 2005. In 2006, Line was bought by K2 Sports.
Contrary to popular belief, the K2 Poacher was the first mass produced
twin tip ski to hit the market. Dynastar's Concept, Salomon's 1080, and
Rossignol's Pow Air were not far behind.
A
terrain park is an outdoor area that contains terrain that allows
skiers and
snowboarders to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in
skateparks
and many of the features are common to both. One of the first in-bounds
terrain parks was the "Snowboard Park" built in 1990 at the Vail resort
[1]. The park was copied soon in other resorts.
Terrain parks (in the United States and Canada) have designations with
respect to safety similar to standard alpine slopes. They differ in
their designation and degrees of difficulty.
we study the past, so history doesnt repeat itself,
FIS once restricted our movement and now they want to control it.
