Message #19929

[dan.boisvert]

Liam, I really like what you're doing with this series of threads.

This style never really appealed to me for a couple reasons:

1) I never saw the point of doing tricks on skis--or anything else, really.  It looked mostly like a way to show off that didn't appear terribly fun or interesting to me.
2) The between-tricks skiing looked like an orthopedist's wet dream.  For a lot of years, I've approached sports from the perspective of "the most mechanically efficient and joint-friendly way is the one for me".  The straight legs, backseating, and amount of active rotary in this style make me cringe.  Sure, the young and athletic can get away with it, but for how long?  It reminds me of boxers--impressive to watch the good ones, but there's only so much damage you can take before your body is wrecked and you're out of the sport for good.

Within the past year or so, I've turned over a new leaf on this front in my spring/summer/fall sport (whitewater kayaking), and discovered that stupid human tricks in a boat can be pretty fun.  Maybe I should give the skiing version another look, as well.  Thanks for raising the topic, Liam!