Questions for advanced park skiers

I'm bored so what the heck.

-How many years have you been skiing park, and where? 20 years, 8 years at Schweitzer, ID, and 12 years at Keystone, CO.


-What is your best trick? (Jump and Rail)
Idk how do you define best trick? All 4 tens and sw2 pretz 6 or triple front swap front two out I guess.

-How long did it take to progress to where you are?
Still trying to progress, but injuries have held me down for the last 4 years or so, so I guess I kind of peaked after 15 years skiing park.

-What were the biggest hurdles you faced in that progression?

Injuries, fear of injuries I guess.

-At what point did you begin to feel like you had a solid bag of tricks?

I'd say after about 3 years of park skiing.

-What is your philosophy? Grind at the fundamentals, or just try to have fun?

Was just have fun when I was teenager, dialed it down to working on the fundamentals about the same time I moved to Keystone.

-How much risk do you take in the park when learning new tricks? Not a lot, probably why I never learned to dub.

LivingDaLife-What were the biggest hurdles you faced in that progression?

Injuries, fear of injuries I guess.

Seems like injury is generally the biggest problem in park skiing... How did you get hurt?
Ive seen a lot of injuries from people going too far outside their abilities, but also from people getting too comfortable on tricks that are easier. Guess you gotta stay on top of it.

-How many years have you been skiing park, and where?

About 3-4 years now. Mostly in the indoor dome near my home (Snowworld Landgraaf the Netherlands) But also Australia (Thredbo) /Newzealand (Mt hutt) and Austria (Mayrhofen)

-What is your best trick? (Jump and Rail)

Rail: 270 on front 2 Jumps: Switch 540 mute and normal 540 mute.

-How long did it take to progress to where you are?

Took me 3-4 years :)

-What were the biggest hurdles you faced in that progression?

Because ive switched resort multiple times over those years i always had to get used to new features over and over so that didn't help with progression but was alot of fun. Otherwise fear of injury.

-At what point did you begin to feel like you had a solid bag of tricks?

I feel like now ive got a pretty solid bag of tricks but nowhere near where i'd like to be.

-What is your philosophy? Grind at the fundamentals, or just try to have fun?

I'd say have fun cause thats why we're out there! But while having fun every now and again ask friends to film your tricks/line and see what you're doing and how your tricks look. Or ofcourse if you're struggling to land a trick ask friends or other better skiers for tips.

-How much risk do you take in the park when learning new tricks?

When im determined to land a trick im willing to take a few slams. That said though if i slam hard enough that it effects my skiing i stop trying that trick for the day and just cruise around.

Hopefully that all makes sense eventhough im not really the targeted audiance.

-How many years have you been skiing park, and where
I started skiing for 9 years. 4 years in park. skied at a couple small mountains in NC

What is your best trick? (Jump and Rail)
Jump all four 7s and switch frontflip. rails front 8 out, and 4 on

How long did it take to progress to where you are?
It took me about 4 years in park 2 years racing and 3 years freeskiing

What were the biggest hurdles you faced in that progression?

-How many years have you been skiing park, and where
I started skiing for 9 years. 4 years in park. skied at a couple small mountains in NC

What is your best trick? (Jump and Rail)
Jump all four 7s and switch frontflip. rails front 8 out, and 4 on

How long did it take to progress to where you are?
It took me about 4 years in park 2 years racing and 3 years freeskiing

What were the biggest hurdles you faced in that progression?
My biggest hurdles were having no friends that skied

At what point did you begin to feel like you had a solid bag of tricks?
getting all four 7s after that i realized i can learn new tricks easier

What is your philosophy? Grind at the fundamentals, or just try to have fun?
I combine grinding fundamentals and having fun

How much risk do you take in the park when learning new tricks?
I take some bigger risks sometimes if im wanting to get a new flip

How many years have you been skiiing Park?
6 years

Best trick?
Jump: 7 blunttt or fat cork 3
Rail: fswap continue 4, front 6 out or 2 p2

How long for progression?
all 6 years G

Biggest hurdle?
Snapping tha femur

When did you have a solid bag of tricks?
like 2 years ago

Philosophy?
Have fun while still learning new stuff

Risk levels?
Idk I feel like i send it more with friends tho

hubbardsSeems like injury is generally the biggest problem in park skiing... How did you get hurt?
Ive seen a lot of injuries from people going too far outside their abilities, but also from people getting too comfortable on tricks that are easier. Guess you gotta stay on top of it.

Latest one was a torn ACL riding out from a rail...caught an edge in the slush, wasn't anything special, did a disaster 2 on that I'd done 10 times before on the same rail that day and just got caught wrong riding out.

My worst injury is actually patellar tendinosis from over use (aka jumper's knee, too many impacts over my lifetime I guess), I can't seem to get rid of it - even after 9 months off snow rehabbing my ACL I'm still suffering from that.

I've also broken my wrist over rotating a flat 3 on snowflex, broken my pelvis on an urban quad kink, torn my meniscus over rotating an underflip slightly (didn't even fall on that one), and sprained my MCL under rotating a switch 9.

Injuries are unavoidable in my opinion, it's a dangerous sport. I try not to let them hold me back as much as possible.

1: I’ve been skiing park for roughly 7-8 years. I skied moguls for about 4 years when I was in middle school though and I’d spend my free time fucking around on park jumps but I didn’t touch rails till I was like 14 (I’m 21 now)

2: I’ve landed a dub backy once but my best consistent trick would have to be cork 7s. My rail game is just a weird bag of tricks I’ve curated over the years. I’ve never been a technical rail skier but I can do a lot of different rail tricks at high speed.

3: This is a hard question to answer. I was able to do corks when I was 16 but I sucked at rails. I’ve always liked jumps more than rails so I didn’t really start skiing rails heavily till I was 17/18 and that’s when I started feeling comfortable with my abilities.

4: Biggest hurdles to my progression has always been dealing with injuries. I’m at a point now where I have my own personal protocol for dealing with injuries. Taking care of your body, stretching before you ski, staying fit and active both physically and mentally, etc. I use to get so worried that I’d lose all my tricks but it all comes back after like 2 weeks of riding at most.

5: Started feeling confident around 17. I could toss flips whenever I wanted and had a few rail tricks on lock. Could hit any rail in the park.

6: My philosophy when I was younger was to grind out as many days as possible and treat skiing like a workout. I had a list of tricks in my head that I had to do several times before I could say that I was warmed up. Nowadays I’m the opposite and I just like to cruise and have fun. I always take it easy the first few laps/hours before trying new tricks though.

7: On an average day I don’t take too many risks and just stick to what I know. If it’s nice out and I’m warmed up and all my homies are throwing down then I’ll get confident and try a bunch of new shit. That’s another thing too is skiing with your friends is a great way to find new lines, ideas, and tricks.

To all younger skiers and beginners: Take care of your body and go fast with your friends.