Newschool skiing

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Newschool skiing is a type of skiing which involves advanced tricks, jumps, and terrain park features, such as rails. This form of skiing is considered a combination of the growth in popularity of snowboarding as well as the progression of Freestyle skiing. "Newschoolers", or those who specifically ski in this style (as opposed to freestylers, big mountain, racers, etc.) are often found in terrain parks, which are designed specifically for tricks.

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[edit] History

"Newschool" skiing originated in the late 1990s when freestyle skiers, discouraged by constrictive laws placed on the sport by the International Ski Federation (competitive skiing's governing body, known by the acronym "FIS"), began trying their tricks in what were at the time snowboard-only terrain parks. Early newschool skiers were very aware of the developing style and attitude of snowboarding, and adopted these for their own sport. The Newschool Skier is related more to the snowboarder in his/her style than to the traditional skier's style.

In recent years, many ski resorts have introduced terrain parks where skiers and snowboarders can attempt tricks. These parks include many features like rails, boxes, jumps, hips, quarterpipes, and halfpipes. A popular choice of equipment for this terrain is the twin-tip ski. Twin-tip skis come in all shapes and sizes, and were originally made specifically for newschool or freeride skiing. The varieties of twin-tip skis are now more versatile, being marketed towards skiers of all styles and abilities. Twin-tip skis are turned up at both ends to allow for both regular and switch (backwards) skiing.

The term "Newschool" was first introduced after the FIS took the former term for the sport, "freestyle skiing", and applied a set of rules and boundaries to it. The FIS incorporated several rules that were unpopular in the growing ski community, and slowed down the progression of the sport. Such rules included a ban on inverted tricks in mogul runs, a limit on the number of flips in aerial competitions, and a lack of ski park or pipe competitions. The "Newschool" movement was a breakaway faction of the freeskiers who were unhappy with the FIS.

The breakaway faction was led by the New Canadian Air Force led by the Godfather of freeskiing, Mike Douglas and others such as JF Cusson, Julien Regnier, Vincent Dorion, and JP Auclair. After helping Salomon develop the first 1080, the New Canadian Air Force began jumping and filming in traditionally snowboarder dominated terrain parks.

[edit] Newschool companies

There are several companies that have supported and greatly added to the progression of Newschool Skiing. These companies, including Line, Armada, Liberty, and 4FRNT, as well as others, make skis specific for Newschool Skiing. Line is believed to be the first newschool skiing company, and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2005. In 2006, Line was bought, and moved to the ownership of K2 Sports. Contrary to popular belief, the K2 Poacher was the first mass produced twin tip ski to hit the market. Dynastar's Concept, Salomon's 1080, and Rossignol's Pow Air were not far behind.

Within the last decade, traditional ski brands such as Salomon, Rossignol, Völkl, Fischer and Head have embraced the newschool revolution and are producing twin tips of their own. Now, most of the popular and larger ski companies produce many twin-tipped newschool skis.

[edit] Types of Skis

There are basically three kinds of newschool skis: Powder, All-Mountain, and Park. The Powder ski is wide (also known as fat within the ski industry) and sometimes has a higher tail in order to support switch powder landings. The All-Mountain ski is an average width and is equally good on both groomed and powder. The park ski is specially built for jibbing (jibbing refers to skiing on anything other than snow such as rails, barrels, walls, etc...), and jumps.

[edit] Newschool terrain

[edit] Backcountry

Any skiing off the prepared or marked trails is referred to as backcountry or off-piste skiing. This form of skiing is probably the most mortally dangerous (depending on where and how you do it) because of the high speeds, large drops (sometimes with hidden rocks in the landing), and avalanches. This type of skiing has been banned in certain areas of the world because of chances of injury and/or death.

[edit] Urban

Any skiing in urban areas, including handrails, wallrides and drops off of stairs,or even buildings is referred to as urban skiing but mostly called "jibbing". This is regarded as one of the most technically difficult areas of newschool skiing, since it involves skiing things that weren't meant to be skied. It also creates a lot of trouble with authority, as some people consider it vandalism to slide down handrails on a pair of planks. Most skiers, however, see it as an artform, using everyday objects such as handrails and houses creatively, and seeing your surroundings in a different perspective.

It should be noted that newschool skiing is by no means restricted to North America. This form of skiing is growing fast all around the world, particularly in the Alps and in Scandinavia, even in Japan.

[edit] NewSchool Culture

[edit] Terminology

Jibs
Rails, walls, and boxes that can be ground, buttered, or tricked off of.
Step-up Jumps
A jump in which the landing is higher than the takeoff.
Step-down Jumps
A jump in which the landing is lower than the takeoff.
Table-top Jumps
A jump that looks somewhat like a table or trapezoid in which you take off of a lip, clear a flat part in the air, and then land on a downslope.
Gap
A jump that has a large gap in between the take off and landing. One of the most famous gaps in newschool skiing is the Chad's Gap in Utah.
Hip Jump
A jump in which the landing is on the side of the take off.
Spine
A jump, similar to a Hip Jump, in which the landing is on either side of the take off.

[edit] Specific culture

Throughout newschool skiing a special culture has developed, one that has united the skiing community. The language, style, and people are unique to the newschool community. A good example of this community is Newschoolers.com which is the online skiing community with news, pictures, and forums for skiers.

Some of the language used in the newschool world are abbreviated spin (saying 7 instead of 720) as well as butter, jib, hit, session, lap, crown, etc.

Much of this culture and style was assimilated from snowboarding.

[edit] Notable Skiers

This is a partial list of some of the more notable Newschool skiers:

[edit] External Links

  • Freeskier Magazine - Magazine dedicated to newschool skiing
  • NewSchoolers.com - Community-based website with pictures, videos, blogs, and forums by and about the newschool community
  • HookedOnWinter.com - Community-based website with a skiing and snowboarding specific wiki
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