Degree Limitations in Big Air and Slopestyle

That's a cool idea but I wouldn't do it in every comp
( i.e. Olympics[i.e huckfest{I.e who can send the hardest in the world}])

more rules will end up in some sort of aerials, just make weird features and let them figure out what to do with them

Alvaromore rules will end up in some sort of aerials, just make weird features and let them figure out what to do with them

I think the idea is to have different rules maybe one comp like that would be cool. Sorta creative tricks for jumps instead of creative features/ being creative with the features. Hope that makes sense. But you're totally right, rules+rules+rules= aerials type thing

Beating the half decomposed remains of what was once a handsome stallion.

Also skiing and snowboarding definitely need more rules. Also the jumps arent going to get smaller anytime soon.

I think the jumps getting smaller is not the way because we all like to see those low spin tricks going massive. Maybe forbid doing doubles on the first two jumps and then let them go on the last one

Alvaromore rules will end up in some sort of aerials, just make weird features and let them figure out what to do with them

I agree, just adding rules to force stylish tricks isn't the way to promote style, I think it would just dumb things down so to speak. The best way to make riders be creative is to change courses to allow for more creative takeoffs and rail use, and change how the scoring works to place a further emphasis on execution and difficulty of grabs.

e.litttI agree, just adding rules to force stylish tricks isn't the way to promote style, I think it would just dumb things down so to speak. The best way to make riders be creative is to change courses to allow for more creative takeoffs and rail use, and change how the scoring works to place a further emphasis on execution and difficulty of grabs.

I agree. fuck rules. but also look at all these new courses and how people ski them, they just do their dub 12 mute on a QP jump instead of a normal one. Whoopdedoo

As soon as freeskiing becomes an established winter event in the Olympics everyone realized all at once that progression is dead and the sport is going stagnant. Heard this story before somewhere...

maybe judges should just look more at style than trick difficulty. some comp skiers are technical gods but have sloppy style
style is always based on individual opinion but we can all agree that some skiers just have more style than others lets make that count

dolf jansen is niet mijn papa! hij is een terminaal reptiel!

**This post was edited on Mar 21st 2018 at 4:38:53pm

i think that more rules will confuse viewers. there is already so much jargon. It was annoying enough hearing my coworkers try to make jokes about 'grabbing japan' and while trailing off after saying a series of numbers... "oh ya he did fifteen thirty double or some...thing.."

i suggest we increase the complexity of judging. hear me out. the judges need to enforce variety, out this will grow creativity.

I want judges to penalize riders for doing the same run. i gotta admit, half way through the olympic finals i was getting bored of watching everyone trying to perfect their previous run. I recommend the following deductions across runs:

general line: deductions for hitting the same features in a line, from run to run. (best run of three? there should be three features to choose from at every section. best of two? only need to have two features at each section.) judges will keep track of each feature that every each skier hits, every line.
getting onto rails: deductions for getting onto rails always the same way. this is already part of the judging, but they only take into account the standard 8 (left foot, right foot, lips, and those 4 again from sw), but if you add in nose butters and tail butters, now we got way more options. spinning onto the rail makes it a different trick onto the rail but same restrictions apply. adding a tap on the way in also makes it a different trick.
sliding rails: deductions for doing the same kind of slide... a switch up makes it a different slide. same with surface sw, blind etc... hand drag slide, grab slides, getting low and wobbles also would be different slides.
out of rails: spinning left and right, front and blind, cork and other axis would be considered different from each other. adding a tap to any spin out constitutes a new trick as well

jumps: deductions for choosing the same jump for every run (if there is more than one jump in the section) seriously it pissed me off watching all but 3 skiers avoid the hip jump at the olympics. obviously still same deductions are in place with spins and grabs, except the carry from run to run as well. deductions for doing the same spin (fucking trip 1440) from run to run and same with grabs. except, carves, hand drags, butters, pre spins, AND KNUCKLES all consititute a new trick. this way, we dont see 4 skiers doing trip 14 high mute, instead we get 4 drastically different tricks. im probably missing a few things here, grab switch ups and stuff.

challenges of reality: this would mean judges have to remember a lot.. this is a serious amount of data for a person to juggle in their brain... instead, develop software that keeps track of this complicated run data. a lot of the tech behind big data stuff can handle this stuff easy. we need to track what features each skier skied
on every run and what trick they did. ya, that's a lot of data... but what if the judges didnt have to think about that stuff??? instead they actually can focus on the skiing... basically, skier does a run, analytic checks for score deductions (yes, we can teach an algorithm to figure out what a seatbelt japan looks like... and until that day we can have a team of four ski nerds enter all this data while the run happens pretty quick... ok this part is chunky but im serious the software can be built. for sake of this discussion, lets imagine the software exists and it can detect if a skier's run 1 is different from run 2 and 3 according to all those parameters i laid out up there...) this has two effects:
1. skiers focus on creativity, rather than consistency. (consistency gets fucking boring.)
2. judges focus on the execution of tricks

what do you think? would this be too complicated for skiers to build their lines around? i think it would be a lot better than them just picking 6 rail tricks they can land almost every time and repeating them for the whole event

downsides is that we might see more botched lines... but in return, we would get to watch an incredible variety of tricks and a lot less trip 14's

i am so sorry about my grammar and bad spelling above. i am at work and did not proof read

* these rules would be apply to each skier individually, not to the group. technically two skiers could do the exact same line as eachother and not get deductions. that would be tacky though

pattyWhackwhat do you think? would this be too complicated for skiers to build their lines around? i think it would be a lot better than them just picking 6 rail tricks they can land almost every time and repeating them for the whole event

downsides is that we might see more botched lines... but in return, we would get to watch an incredible variety of tricks and a lot less trip 14's

Far too complex, telling skiers they cant do the same run is just as limiting.

Slopestyle needs to have the least amount of rules as possible, the only thing that could change that is similar to what you're suggesting is giving riders 3-4 runs and making 2 runs count. That way, they put down a run theyre confident with, but is still difficult and then 2 attempts at putting together their hardest run.

I think the audience should also understand what these riders go through (especially in an olympic year) there is so much pressure to be your best at only a select few contest that are all back to back weekends. Its exhausting for the athletes, asking them to do different tricks on every run would likely be shut down by any major slopestyle skier.

In the end, this is a contest to see who can do the best run, not who can do the most tricks, not who can be the most creative and certainly isn't swayed heavily by style. Not sure if there is much we can do but hold on to what we have and push for more creativity and style, judging has been reflecting these kinda changes by not rewarding hucked triple 14s and 16s, andri is a prefect example of such things (athough he did do quite well in a few contests) but just because you do a triple in your run doesn't mean you win, thats the silver lining here.

Also I'd like to see rails truly count for 50% of a slopestyle run. Some contests it does, some contests it doesn't, would be nice to see some constancy there, but its tough with so many judges.

If everyone hates dubs and people spinning more than 2 onto or off of a rail, just watch smaller comps. The runs you want where nobody spins over a 9 or a 2 on are out there, just not at the pro level.

Telling pro skiers that they're only allowed to spin 720 now and can't spin onto rails is fucking retarded in my opinion.

Also looking back, when 5's or 7's were winning comps, they were sketchy, the grab selection was whack as fuck sometimes. People would get one arm over their head to try to get their 9 around, only grab for a second. This golden age of everything being so stylish doesn't really exist. Sure we hit a period where most people could 9 or 10 in comps with pretty good steez. They could 2 onto a rail and make it to the end fine. If that's all you want to see, watch some old comps.

The doubles that were going to ruin skiing are so fucking laid out these days. They aren't spin to win, they're super lofty and slow.

Idk. I've always felt we could use more creative comps out there doing some things differently. I just think the idea of telling everyone they can only spin 5's and 7's now because a few kids on the internet hate triples doesn't make very much sense.

Probably a super unpopular opinion but whatever.

eheathFar too complex, telling skiers they cant do the same run is just as limiting.

Slopestyle needs to have the least amount of rules as possible, the only thing that could change that is similar to what you're suggesting is giving riders 3-4 runs and making 2 runs count. That way, they put down a run theyre confident with, but is still difficult and then 2 attempts at putting together their hardest run.

I think the audience should also understand what these riders go through (especially in an olympic year) there is so much pressure to be your best at only a select few contest that are all back to back weekends. Its exhausting for the athletes, asking them to do different tricks on every run would likely be shut down by any major slopestyle skier.

In the end, this is a contest to see who can do the best run, not who can do the most tricks, not who can be the most creative and certainly isn't swayed heavily by style. Not sure if there is much we can do but hold on to what we have and push for more creativity and style, judging has been reflecting these kinda changes by not rewarding hucked triple 14s and 16s, andri is a prefect example of such things (athough he did do quite well in a few contests) but just because you do a triple in your run doesn't mean you win, thats the silver lining here.

ya you are totally right. i think my format would only work for a shredsauce tournament :D

We'd probably see some dub and triple fronts and backs, still at 0 degrees haha. Keeping fewer rules is better, in my opinion, people need to push each other and clearly, in the last 2-3 years, I feel that competition skiing has progressed at an exponential rate and people are getting better and better. I think people need to chill with the judging and just be hyped for each other and how dope a level skiing is at right now. To be a top 50 athlete in skiing is something to be proud of. If judges are really putting a damper on your skiing career, maybe comps aren't for you, go to the streets and make a sick video if that's the case. Competitions are a small part of the ski community but they tend to push the limits the most.

**This post was edited on Mar 21st 2018 at 7:45:23pm

I think course design and judging is pretty important in driving the direction of comps.

More creative options on the course, and judging rewarding people for hitting things differently with style.

I think keeping the 1/4 takeoffs is a good move. More comps running some sort of smaller setup jump.

Things like a pole jam or up rail stepover into a little ski jump are pretty cool. That would be a feature to see some singles. I think tignes had one in one of the years.

I really wish there was something where athletes could just shred a course for a day, post a video of their best run,and get scored on that. If you're in a big contest, there's pressure and the drive to win. a 7 isn't going to impress the judges, so they aren't going to throw one.

I think that's a better compromise for some of you then trying to completely nuke larger rotations.

I think really creative courses that don't necessarily need to have huge money booters would be a cool way to go. Its called slopestyle for a reason.

I'd love to see different kinds of features like wood or concrete as well.

This is like Roger Goddell going to Brady and saying “Hey Tom we’re gonan have to force you to retire we want to limit the amount of Super Bowls someone can win”

spin limits really attack the free part of freeskiing. i dont like seeing 1980s but i would dislike even more if they werent allowed. its cooler when people like vinny choose to spin less in a different way then being told they have to.

I think eventually style will be brought into mind more with the judges. Not really anything you can force but rather just let it happen over time. Generally speaking comps are judged on an overall impression, that being said different judges have different opinions on whats a good run. Im guessing that a lot of the judges that are at a world cup level grew up will a mogul background that switched to slope at some point in their life. So with new judges coming in with a more up to date idea of whats a good run I think style will become a bigger part of the score. At national level competitions you have younger judges that are ex athletes who have moved on to judging, some only being 2-3 years out of competing.

All that being said, in my opinion I don't think there are any rules that could force judges to reward style. Its freestyle skiing, the less rules the better.