Someone tell me I'm not nuts.

What do you see.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167433

....could you narrow it down a bit?

Wow,

Wild thread!

RW

Edited by PhilT - 9/6/09 at 12:06am

Not everyone can pull off pink....

Total respect here.

Ugh

I guess I am nuts.

Ummmm. what are we suppose to be looking at?

If i tell you it just proves the point that i'm crazy.


But whatever

What comes to the front of my mind when I see that TR and others like it, is not the stunning scenery, nor the excellent photography nor even the nice snow that they are skiing, it is the fact that their asses are directly above their ski tails. I know they're trying to look cool but it just looks like bad skiing.

  Is this guy telemarking and droping the wrong knee http://www.slaythegnar.com/image/NZ_day_one_018.jpg

Is this cherry picked from a wipeout sequence????  I'm sure if he was going fast enough he might have recovered it but it looks for all the world like a failed hockey stop to hip check. I mean look at his downhill (soon to be uphill it looks like) ski!!
http://www.slaythegnar.com/image/NZ_day_one_034.jpg


Awesome photo. But it looks like 99% of his body weight is behind his heel pieces

http://www.slaythegnar.com/image/NZ_day_one_045.jpg

I mean come on

http://www.slaythegnar.com/image/NZ_day_one_016.jpg



I am all for people having fun doing it there way. But these are expert skiers skiing like beginners (ok not really). Their skis are wide enough w/ rocker that they shouldn't have to heel weight at all much less put their poop hole in a position to catch the skis rooster tails (hey maybe thats it.....). It jumps immediately to mind when i see this.


Am i just crazy?

Believe it or not, you are not crazy.  This is the state of the sport at this time.  Have you looked at the recent buyers guides?  Most of the skis are wide & rockered.  This is what the industry is marketing & promoting.  Remember a picture is only a moment in time & these pictures glamorize the speed & freedom of big mountain skiing.  90% of the skiing public will never ski in places like these guys or ski with their speed, but people like to dream and the Marketeers are gonna take advantage of it. 

Remember the pictures of Patrick Russel & Killy doing jet turns in the 60's?  It nearly ruined technique for the average skier.  At least they are not dropping huge cliffs, which have put a lot of kids in the hospital, or worse in the last decades when they go out & try to emulate it.

You may not be crazy now... but if you let it get to you, you will be!

JF

THANK YOU !  Either I'm not crazy or maybe we both are crazy.

Ha ha!  I'm talking about the pics that make your quads hurt.  You're only 19 & wise beyond your years, good for you.  Don't be swayed by hype & mass media/hysteria.  Stick to what you know is right, you will live longer & ski strong till you're old like me!


JF

Since the horizon was off in so many of the shots, I just sort of put it down to crazy camera angles.  That whole forum I find very difficult to look at anyway.

Perhaps you should post your observations in that thread instead of here on epic, or is it that you lack the spine?

I more or less did on the first page. I posted a gigantic picture of a tail gunner. That got no responses so I figured nobody else noticed the same things I did or they weren't nearly as obvious. So I posted over here where I considered it more likely that someone would see those pics the same way.

 That would be a ski trip to remember. Good photo skills and the night shot was cool. Some glaring movements that TGR does not want to hear VA.

I think their skiing is quite compatible with their equipment, the environment and what they want to do there, especially that . They look more or less very solid skiers. And even better photographers.
So my answer would be yes

Edited by TiLT - 9/6/09 at 7:29am

They look like the SlideWright skier. Angulation from the neck up.

People will do what they see as being cool. They don't care if they ski 'correctly'. They just want to hit the gnarliest gnar gnar so they look sickter than their buddies in the photos. It doesn't always take good skiing technique but huge balls, someone to pay the medical bills and good camera angles and backdrops. They only have to make 5 turns at a time. That will take them from top to bottom of just about any run unless they hit 5 inches of pow on top of rock like pinky did in that chute that he sideslipped then 'fell' out of.

To these guys 'correct' skiing is mach speed, throwing up snow, and looking like they are doing something that no one else could possibly do or even think about doing. They are athletes and brave/stupid ones to boot. They aren't PSIA and they don't want to be. That's their point. They are having fun and they'll have good memories if they don't bang them out of their heads on the rocks.

In today's culture, if you aren't extreme, you are nothing.

And the tailgunner cartoon is a pretty obscure remark, particularly when labeled 'Sickter!' Guns, icons of death and ghastly cartoons are what these guys admire. Just look at their avatars. You were (as I understand from your comments in this thread) slamming them for being in the back seat, but they likely thought it a compliment.

MR

I don't really understand this site vs. site rivalry. Clearly there are two different camps. Why attack someone that is having zero impact on you? Why go to sites that offend your sensibilities just to make passive/aggressive remarks? Is your skiing perfect? No. Do you have fun skiing? Yes (at least I hope you do)

Hell, I'd have been happy to ski that terrain. I'd just have made more turns. The type of terrain would be nothing new, just the destination.

MR

You guys don't get it.

They can't ski like that. That is not sustainable skiiing you can't go from one turn to another putting your body in those positions. I'm positive that those skiers know how to ski (and quite well), I've seen videos of at least one of them doing it. What they are doing is intentionally pulling a "one turn wonder", sticking their asses out, sitting down, and leaning into the snow to create what they think is a more visually appealing shot. What i'm saying is it's not. It is ugly and looks like bad skiing.


That's what this thread is about. It's not about fat skis vs skinny ski (most of my quiver is over 100mm). Its not about powder vs groomers (I spent more days in the Backcountry than at the resort this year). It's not about this forum vs that forum (I have many more posts over there). I just wanted to know if I was the only one who thought that that looked dumb.

Well, TELL THEM.  And frankly, putting a picture of airplanes in doesn't speak to ME, why would it speak to them?  I thought it meant it was something about a dogfight or something.  

I'm with VA.

I do get it. I know it isn't sustainable. I think everyone here gets that.

They ski like that because it is 'cool'. For them.

Your point is lost here. People on this site, for the most part, don't ski like that (intentionally), nor aspire to it. People on this site are looking for the perfect carve, discuss rotary movements (ugh) and argue about the virtues of how much waxing is too much. The problem that you see, perhaps, is that they only show the cool and not the out-takes of the falls, blood and carnage that comes in between the cool shots.

The skiers at TGR know their skiing is unsustainable. They don't care. They realize it everytime they biff or have to turn them sideways to get back in control. They get the cool shots and $ from being published. They aren't thinking about the compressed discs, torn ACLs; just bragging rights.

What's more they don't care that you do care except that they get pleasure that it pisses you off. The inter-site jibing is really ridiculous. Nothing said on this site is going to change how they ski. The TGR should realize that a lot of the stunts they pull are going to hurt them and ruin their future permanently.

So why make such a big deal here about how others choose to enjoy their time on snow?

Now if you want to talk about sustainable skiing, lets talk about rotary movements and their place in modern skiing.

MR

Are you nuts PhilT? who knows, maybe, but if you put on some lycra shorts I know someone that wants to look at your nuts:

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/85630/lycra-induced-insanity

Kids will be kids. 

A lot of you people can remember the drill.  Being told by photographers to, 'throw up a lot of snow'.  It made a much more dramatic pic, and a fine way to make a little loose snow look like a lot more.  Remember slipping at a fair clip and setting a hard edge, kind of hockey stop?  We have all done it to splash our friends. 

These guys are skidding on the tails to do the same thing.  How else are you going to make a few inches of fresh into face shots?  IMHO they are schlepping for the camera; these guys can ski.

That thread was....disturbing

 The pictures look like good skiing to me. How are you going to lower your CM that much in stiff alpine boots without weighting the tails? I don't think you are crazy, I think you're jealous.

I know they can ski. That's the problem.

why do you need to lower your CM that much? What the hell is wrong with being centered.

Edited by MastersRacer - 9/6/09 at 12:15pm

 OK, I just hope the guys at TGR aren't ripping on some photos of me that have been posted on this website. Somehow I suspect they are above that. These picture look like magazine covers to me. I see what you mean about the angulation and counter though, but there is less of both in my own skiing. :(

Phil, post some pictures of yourself skiing better than these guys so I can study and learn the difference.