The Quest for Slopestyle in 2014

For many the word Olympic conjures up scenes of running tracks, athletes who hone their craft based on 4 year cycles and of course people competing in little more than a swimming costume. But that’s the Summer Olympics, and I love them, but to be honest I much prefer their colder, cooler brother, the Winter Olympics.

The Winter Olympics although an institution haven’t been around all too long, the first games were held in 1924 and the events bore no resemblance to what you might have seen on TV last spring. There was no concept of aerodynamics let alone a twin tip. In fact Snowboarding was yet to be invented, forget being an actual Olympic sport so needless to say it was pretty different to our whole modern concept of winter sports.

As an ex-ski racer (please dear god don’t tell ANYONE) I love the Olympics. When I was younger it was all about the pretty dresses and ladies whirling across the ice in the figure skating. I genuinely thought that Torvil and Dean were the happily ever after story of the sporting world, and I’m still waiting for my Christopher Dean to come sweep me off my feet. Then I started skiing seriously and I could watch the racing for hours, obsessed by the technical brilliance of the world’s best skiers competing for what surely is the highest accolade in ski racing, Alain Baxter briefly thrilled us all with his bronze, but like everything in British Ski racing, our high hopes were dashed (but more on that in another post).

Now I’m all about the cool kids in their baggy pants on boards and on skis generally defying gravity and logic. Freestyle and the Olympics, let’s face it they don’t go together. The Olympics by definition requires strict technical parameters and generally shirks creativity (Gymnastics scoring anyone?) but I think it’s missing out if it doesn’t seriously consider slopestyle as a new event.

The X Games has proven that slopestyle can work in a high octane event. Granted the X Games doesn’t have the same bureaucratic streak that runs deep in the IOC, but it’s a worthy model to look at. The IOC’s excuse for never considering slopestyle (and halfpipe until very recently) was that it didn’t have an structured competition schedule in the season, but now with the incredibly successful Dew Tour, TTR Tour and the X Games which now has a European leg, that excuse appears to be defunct.

Of course as a British girl there is a big reason that I’d like to see Slopestyle in Sochi and her name is Jenny Jones. 3 time X Games Slopestyle gold medallist and Britain’s finest chance at snow sports glory. She’s not only an amazing boarder, but having interviewed her, also a hell of a nice girl and someone who has really worked her way up. Unlike our upcoming generation of indoor snow slope wunderkinds, Jenny started a little later in life, did a season in Tignes, and now she’s winning gold medals in Tignes.

Jenny's Winning Run in Aspen:

Most importantly, the inclusion of girls in the pipe and slopestyle for men and women opens up the Olympics to a whole host of people who might not watch because they see it as part of the ‘establishment’. Yes, the Olympics might suddenly mean that we’re a bit more mainstream, but think of how much it would bring in terms of wider sponsorship and funding into the sport. If your audience grows, so does your capacity to achieve more and make competitions bigger and better.

At the end of the day, it’s a chance for the Winter Olympics to embrace some of the younger crowd who have no interest in racing or full body spandex. Skiing is cool, but it would appear that racing has lost its appeal to many kids out there who now look up to Bobby Brown as their idol instead of Bode Miller. 

Jon Olsson @ London Freeze

If it’s going to work the IOC need to compromise, get some people on board who have experience in the event, and be willing to work together to get the best of both worlds. If it starts to sound like work, the chances are many athletes won’t be interested because the foundations of these events lie in having fun and pushing yourself to get that grab because you enjoy it, not because you cynically believe that the judge will give you more points.

Case and point is the incredibly versatile and talented Jon Olsson. While I stood on the jump, there wasn’t one time that as he flew off the kicker in the air towards the landing that the man didn’t have a smile on his face. No matter how hard the trick he looked liked he was genuinely enjoying it, and that my friends is the attitude we want to preserve.
 

The IOC in October said that the level of competitors in slopestyle is not up to the required standard, and to that I have to say; well why don't you go and give it a go and see for yourself, you might be surprised.

I could go on about this subject for hours and look at all the angles and every option and direction to take, but i'm going to wrap it up and put my soap box away, as this is meant to be a lighthearted blog afterall! Hopefully in 2014 i'll be linking back to this post as I write about the slopestyle medals won in Russia in 2014, you never know!

Two in Two?!

 Two posts in two days I hear you cry?! What on earth. Well start as you mean to go on I say, and I do miss waffling on about things so what better place.

I’ve just had a look at Fear of The Park and a brief look at the Burton High Five results from Chill Factore in Manchester. Although it still looks like the Scots are perfectly capable of dominating when they want to, the name that really stands out to me is Katie Ormerod.

Katie (Courtesy of The Huddersfield Daily Examiner)

I first met Katie when she had just turned 11, she and Tyler Harding (another Yorkshire native) allowed me to follow them around with a camera for a few days in order to put together a ‘Day in the Life’ piece for our local news show at university. At the time Katie was very quiet and to be quite honest seemed a bit scared of the crazy 19 year old who was pointing a camera at her all the time and asking boring questions, but it’s great to see that she is getting the respect she deserves.

A few years ago it was clear she had the skill but not the confidence, her dad was out with her on the slope and it was a team effort, not to mention she was also tiny so getting enough speed and momentum to stomp her tricks on an indoor slope was a little harder for her, but it seems she is only getting better as she gets older.

Katie’s big advantage is that she also trains as a gymnast (her afterschool commitments were immense, and she wanted to do it and her parents supported her, not pushed her) and I think the moment she back flipped across her garden, I was completed fascinated, there was no preamble, no look at me, it was just natural.

Of course you have to take into account the fact she is also a part of a very formidable snowboarding family. She is Jamie and Sophie Nicholls’ cousin, and so will of course benefit from that connection. But these snow zones are becoming families in themselves, everyone supports each other, and that seems to be another great aspect to the rapidly developing UK scene.

She’s now a fully fledged member of the Burton team, and I’m sure they will be very pleased to see her top of the podium at their own event. It scares me (and makes me a little jealous) how young all our British talent is, but it’s a great result for the indoor slopes, who are making excellence in snow sport a viable alternative to more ‘traditional’ UK pastimes.

In more general blogging news; I’ve still got one more roll of 120 film to finish before I take them all to be developed with the photos I took over summer with my Diana and Holga camera and then I’m hoping to take the Diana out skiing with me before Christmas and get some more fun photos. As soon as I’ve got those photos developed, if any are decent I’ll post them up, but as it was my first real outing with them, I haven’t got particularly high hopes.

Anyway, back to stuffing my face with Chocolate, Christmas is nearly upon us so I can’t let the side down and start eating rabbit food!

N.B As soon as I get those photos back I've got some from the rail jam Leeds Snowriders did in the Faversham pub in Leeds with Damian Doyle and the Standing Sideways Crew, and I will be sorting out this fugly layout.

Cor blimey, it's been a while

Yes, i know. Horrifically bad form on the blogging front. I've just been having a bit of a hectic few weeks and i'm slowly but surely trying to regain a bit of control.

I can't say i've been doing anything of much importance, working like crazy and trying to see all my friends and y'know not live like a hermit doing all her socialising through facebook chat (this has become a distinct possibility).

I have been up to a fair bit though, two visits to Leeds, the ski show and London Freeze as well as a quick jaunt out to Val Thorens to have a pre-season look and start preparations for repping with Off The Piste.

Ski show was lots of fun, and my prediction that when left alone i would make a ski purchase sadly was a self fufilling prophecy. Laura left me alone for 10 minutes and a pair of these beauties came into my life.

They are last season's Atomic Elysian skis. I've been looking for something a bit more specific to riding in the park than my current K2 Nancys which are great for powder with their width and light core, but are a little stiff for park and have absolutely zero pop, meaning i'm preparing for my rotations with a wind up more fitting of a 1260 than a meagre 360.

These skis got mega good reviews last year, and if could have afforded the 450 price tag i would have purchased them without a 2nd thought (and the same goes for the 10/11 versions i saw this year) but to have found them at 225 with bindings was an offer i couldn't refuse, especially after the fact everyone who has skied on these raves about them. They are ex demo, but in good condition and a good service will sort them right out. Can't wait to have a go on them and try and find my courage again, i started my season doing flat 540 spins on a box and ended it with no courage and a broken leg following a 360. That's not ideal.

So i think i might be starting at the baby steps, but i think this is a great ski to be making those forays into the park with.