After reading through a few threads devoted to this years Nine Queens—and more so after watching the footy—I'm honestly blown away by the amount of hate still being leveled at women freeskiers.
I'm not going to leap into some rant about genetics, societal roles, or even suggest that women's skiing is on par with men's, but I will say that I was personally blown away by what went down on that setup. To my dismay, I saw a bunch of people claim the jump to be 40ft....well, that's total bullshit. The jump measured over 19 meters, or roughly 60ft. 60ft. is not a "little jump", and the consequences for casing were absolutely monumental. Furthermore, in the day 3 and 4 edit, many of the girls, Maude comes to mind immediately, were sending it way deep; easily eclipsing 80ft.
On top of the jump being nothing to sneeze at, the variety of tricks being stomped was really impressive. I find it an awful hypocritical stance to constantly berate the male robot comp jocks for spinning dub 12's, and clamor for slow smooth spins, and then to turn around and complain about the girls doing that very thing. I understand that it's not a direct comparison for obvious reasons, but from a purely aesthetic/spectator vantage, several of the blunt 3's and cork 5's looked 10x better than what I've come to expect out of premier slope contests.
From what I understand, nearly every competitor threw and landed a NEW trick that week—a feat that is really damn impressive when you consider how rare that same thing has been on the men's side of the sport. Not only were new rotations and axis(es?) being juggled, but I have to say that I've seen very few men's big-air comps that featured such an array of grabs...Mutes, high mutes, japans, safetys, high safetys, blunts, shiftys, and on and on. On top of that, the tricks—for the most part—were being thrown incredibly stylishly, with near perfect landings. Honestly, if you haven't seen the footage, go watch it...I'm not some major gal's skiing advocate or yes man (quite the contrary in fact), but shit was going down for real.
Needless to say, seeing the first two female switch 10's pop off was a huge step forward, and while both Kaya and Maria could stand to clean them up, Maria's in particular was well grabbed and promise that the trick will undoubtedly become a staple in slope runs next comp season.
I don't know why I felt so compelled to make this thread, but I suppose it was just to call for a bit of support for the ladies who are truly and honestly investing their lives and hearts into this sport that we all love. Ladies, I was made a believer, and the smiles on all of your faces were as "core" and "progressive" as any I've seen on the guys. Please keep pushing and help do your part to make landmark sessions/comps like this one the norm rather than the exception.
Lastly, props to Nico for hosting such a class-act event and really understanding that all the girls need to get shit popping is the proper event and blue skies. Congrats gals, and keep slaying despite what bitter, resentful, emasculated, insecure males have to say about it.
Peep the footage and see for yourself...if you can't see some progression and improvement in this comp, you're an idiot, and probably a sexist piece of shit.
I'd really appreciate embed help you guys...since things have changed I can't figure it out.
