When did being 26 become old? I'm turning 40 in a few months, am a white collar engineer, and still ride the park, rip bumps, drop cliffs, ski pow, etc. Twin tips weren't invented until after I had already graduated college. (Actually got to spend a few summers at High North with Mr. Bishop back in my early 30's). I love all aspects of skiing and never got into one or the other because of the "rebellious ideals". Its about doing what's fun and finding new ways to challenge myself (whether learning a new trick or dropping a steep line that makes me crap my pants). If you're doing it just to be rebellious then maybe you are a hipster.
Someone made a comment about the FWT. If you want to get picky, those guys are truly freesking - no course, no man made features, being creative in your line choice, speed and technicality of racing. Those men and women demand more respect and recognition in our sport than they get (and you don't see them throwing "gang signs" after their runs).
But I digress - As far as the Olympics, I think it has the potential to do good, but I'm worried it may be more of a flash in the pants for the sport (as far as an influx of money and getting new people into it). All I hope is that NBC has the decency to shed a little light on the amount of training and technicality that goes into half pipe and slope style instead of calling us "jackasses". Don't tell me Vonn trains harder than Dumont or any of our other beloved "freeskiers". I think showing that Red Bull Nick Goepper clip on primetime would help the general public appreciate how amazing a double cork 900 screaming seamen is from a technical stand point, not some "adrenaline junkie" hucking his meat. Or take the time to explain why Harlaut's butter triple is mind blowing and why its different than an aerialist doing a quad twisting triple that never leaves the same plane of axis. However, I fear these things will never be shared with the public during the Olympic coverage. Therefore, my hope is the attention at least brings in new people to the sport and maybe encourages resorts to spend their money on improving the mountain instead of building more timeshares and shopping malls. And maybe these new kids will be interested enough to start learning about ski movies so they can spend their money supporting our ski film athletes too.
