“On The Come Up” is a series in which we highlight an up and coming skier each week. Some of you may recognize them but for many, the name won’t ring a bell. Either way, one thing’s for sure, you’re going to be hearing a lot more of that name in the near future.

After a brief hiatus for SIA and X Games last weekend, we're back with another installment of "On the Come Up." In the day and age that we live in today, sometimes I still can’t believe that I wasn’t aware of someone this filthy at skiing. With the ocean of content shared and readily available at one’s fingertips, it’s tough to choose a skier that is still relatively underground and doesn’t have a couple thousand followers to spare. But I am especially excited about this week’s featured skier because it brought me closer to the roots of online ski media: discovering him in a NS edit rather than scouring the endless depths of Instagram. So without further ado, this week’s rider is Knut Fineid.

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/854688/2nd-Cut

2nd Cut

I try to remain unbiased in choosing riders for this series, but the reality is that I have at the very least heard the names of a lot of newcomers to the scene, especially the ones from the US. This time it was different. Knut hails from Norway, but you may be more likely to notice him skiing Breck’s park, at least I was. It was the recent release of Gavin Rudy’s 2nd Cut that drew my attention to him; a collection of original taps and a sort of finesse exuding from Knut’s skiing caught my eye amongst the array of other riders. Seriously, there’s a lot of taps. When asked about his experiences as a visitor to Colorado versus his home resorts of Norway, he explained, “This year was my 4th year in Breck, and every year they have a nice park ready. It's nice to get out of Norway and ski other places as well, the main difference has to be that they maintain their parks more there and switch up the setup more often. I probably prefer a mixture of both, after 3-4 weeks riding the same place every day you get kinda tired of it.”

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/839111/Unseen-of-Winter-Sixteen

Unseen of Winter Sixteen

And a mixture of both he delivers. Whether it’s in Breck, or back home, Knut is definitely good at surrounding himself with a heavy-hitting crew. Filming with the likes of Gavin and Levi Ascher, as well as landing a few shots with some big name Norwegian guys such as Øystein Braaten, Johan Berg, and Siver Voll. One thing most people can agree on is that skiing with the homies is the best, and when you’re skiing with guys like these, I can’t imagine that hurts. As Knut puts it, “my favorite aspect [of skiing] has to be that it can be just fun. You don't have to go competing which I find not so fun. You can just be on the hill with your friends and ski fast through the park, not think about training for stuff and still get recognized and respected.” And fast he goes. As far as recognized and respected, I don’t expect he'll have much trouble with that either.

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/842091/FAST-LAPS---Geilo-Preseason-Shred

FAST LAPS - Geilo Preseason Shred

One of the questions that I have asked a few of the skier’s featured throughout this series is where they would like to see themselves down the road 5 years from now (could be skiing related or not). I see it as a generic question, but when aimed at someone in the stage of trying to make a name for themselves, it can generate an intriguing response. Some are very aspirational; others are more laidback. I don’t think one holds more weight over the other, nor does one make a certain skier better than another. Some live in the moment and some plan for the future. I’ll let you decide where Knut stands on the matter, “I do not really have any big plans, I like what I am doing now, just trying to have as much fun as possible on skis, so probably that haha, out on the hill kidding around.”

One thing I know, this week’s edition hit me. It reaffirmed that despite the amount of social media/content we are exposed to daily, there are still heaps of skiers out there ready to shock the world. And Knut Fineid is forsure one of the skiers on the edge of that frontier.