I attended a ski meeting for my middle school in 6th grade or 7th I think, maybe even 8th simply to skip a few periods of school. I walked into the room thinking, "man this will suck" and that no one I knew would be in the room, because at the time I guess you could say I was part of the "cool group" the "popular kids". Walked in to find some of my best friends and they really pushed me hard to try. Rented and took lessons for a year, then bought some all-mountain skis. I forget what model they were, but they were K2s and had a slight tip on the back, not really enough to be considered twin tips, but enough that you wouldn't catch your edges if you tried doing a little bit of switch riding. So starting skiing switch, loved the thrill. A friend of mine that also skied, made me come over and try a box, started straight, looking like a gaper, then proceeded to start going sideways, and from there just kept trying new things on a slow and safe pace. Got myself a pair of line invaders (back when they actually had them) and starting getting really heavy into rails, since they were so soft and durable. I still prefer rails over jumps, I'm scared of jumps personally, I don't know why, but I feel at home with rails, and have just progressed at a level I'm comfortable, no where near competition level, but a day out on the mountain, relaxing, yet exciting.
When it comes to video. The Tanner vs. Simon rivalry (even when they were super close) was always awesome at X-Games. X-Games is something I had watched already, but didn't realize that I could do freeskiing myself if I wanted to. Also Slamina and then the Massive really got me into freeskiing. Slamina for the craziness and exciting-ness of skiing, then the Massive made me love skiing for what it is, snow and skis, not having to do dubs or anything to have a good day on the mountain. Lurked NS for a while, the videos there also got me really excited about the sport, finally made an account here in 2009, and really have just loved the feeling and lifestyle of skiing since, even if my mountain is the biggest pile of shit on the east coast.
Also I have raced karts and cars competitively for a while and one of my best friends (NS username Shintastic48) was into freeskiing at the same time, we would watch shit like "My Friends a Pro" and the team america joss edits. It was a good time.
I've gotten quite busy since, studying abroad in Germany now, and didn't have room to bring skis. Hopefully will make it out the alps or something and rent for a relaxing day. If I can find twin tips and hit the park a little, great, if not, a great day of turns in the Alps sounds great.
So yeah, my story, I love skiing, don't care how good you are, or what you wear, its just a great way to spend the day.
