Thoughts on style and its royal family
The annual big air competition King of Style is for the 5th time in Stockholm, finished, and some of the riders have moved on to Trysil, Norway for the Sweet Rumble, some back home their respective winter homes. Although the competition is over and the scaffolding has been taken down, the internet communities are still debating over who was the worthy winner, if the contest format was flawed and whether or not the competition lived up to its name. A common complaint one finds is “I’m sick of seeing these double flips, I’d much rather see a gangstah/illin/stylish 540“.
The never-ending problem with judged big air events is its proneness to conformity. A few years back spinning switch was all the hype, and the more you could spin, the better. If you took off forward you weren’t rewarded as much because this was regarded easier than taking off switch. Somewhere around three and a half rotations the progression came to a halt, so this became a physical boundary for how much one can spin off a big air jump that was built on scaffolding and covered in man-made snow. A few 1440s were thrown, and the more you had to spin, the more the tricks looked alike. There’s really only one way to spin that much, and that is upright, with a mute grab, very standard.
Understandably, this got boring after a while. In Vail, Colorado, at the US Open big air competition in 2006, 37 out of 40 runs in the qualifying round were switch 1080s. Something had to happen, and I’m going to blame and thank Mike Wilson for taking the first step towards a new age of big air competitions. After landing two Wilson flips, or better described as “underflip to switch rodeo 540“, he didn’t make it into finals because the judges didn’t know what to make of it, but he left a few questions hanging in the air. Was this the way forward? Can we make this cool? Is this aerials?
Watching Wilson doing his thing while all of us were stuck in a rut of just spinning like tops, Jon Olsson and I said to each other – this is what we have to do. I remember Jon ranting about how this was the future and we better get on it now before everyone else. The rest is history. Jon went off to Australia to invent the Kangaroo Flip on the water ramps, I worked on double backflips in Åre (on the jump Jon built to learn Kangaroo on snow, all props to him for pioneering, yes, he should get the credit for doing the first “new school doubles”), and at the Jon Olsson Invitational in 2006, on the first perfect big air jump to try double corks/flats on, we unleashed the new tricks to the rest of the world, Jon stomping Kangaroos and I figuring out double cork 1080s and 1260s. All of a sudden these tricks were accepted by the judges, and we had something new and fun to play with.
Just a year later we had learnt about 5 new doubles, with different grabs, and pretty much the top 20 of the world’s skiers seemed to have caught on. You would see online edits every day with some new kid learning something that no one would have thought of two years ago. This was what big air skiing needed. Now you had people spinning, flipping and corking, going forward and backwards, going upside down once, twice, or just staying on a strange, un-defined wobbling axis. We had variety.
As with all things, this too had to end somewhere. 2010 is now coming to an end, it’s been almost 5 years since we started doing the first “new school” doubles, and conformity is once again taking over. Every competition skier in the game can do a few different doubles and anyone can win a competition on a 50 foot jump because everyone looks the same. Contest organizers can’t build the jumps bigger because of money and safety reasons, and the athletes can’t progress any further without sacrificing style. The internet communities are enraged over the path the progression has taken.
It’s funny how fast we lose our memory. Just 3 years ago doubles were still new and fresh and a given podium at any big air competition. Today they already feel outdated. The big problem is – where do we go from here?
We can’t really invent more ways to spin 2-4 rotations than we already have, except grabbing differently. Unfortunately, the recent competitions have shown that multiple grab changes are rewarded by the judges, not because it looks any better, but because it adds technicality to the trick. This is an example of sacrificing style and fluidity in order to make a trick more difficult. Should 4 different grabs in one trick be scored higher than 2? This can’t be the way to go.
We can’t do triple flips/corks off jumps the size they are today. And, making the jumps any bigger would be unsafe, not to mention too expensive.
We can’t judge a competition solely based on style. Why, you might ask? This seems to be one of the hottest topics of discussion right now, and if everyone is tired of double flips, why not have a true style competition, where the difficulty of the trick would not matter, but only one thing; Style. Here’s the problem – What is style?
This question has about as many answers as there are skiers. Technicality is easy to break down – anyone, even someone who does not ski, would agree that spinning 3 full rotations while going inverted twice is a lot harder than spinning two rotations while going inverted once. This is simple math. But how do you quantify style? How do you convert something so subjective into scores? We can all agree on putting a limit to the amount of rotations one is allowed to do would only hurt the sport, since freedom was the only reason for us to give FIS the middle finger and start our own thing so many years ago. Are we then going to go full circle and introduce mandatory tricks and put limits to them? This seems uncomfortably familiar for those of us who belong to the older generation.
The next problem is that style doesn’t only happen in the air. Are the judges going to pay attention to how the skier rides into the jump, and the way he/she rides out of the landing? Is attitude a judged category? How about bagginess of apparel? Some argue that style is something you have and that you can’t really learn. Wouldn’t this give a lot of riders a huge disadvantage? How does a short man win a tallness competition?
The last problem that I would like to address is that judging a competition based on style and not difficulty of the trick + execution, is that it makes the whole idea of being a professional athlete pointless. How many people in the world can do a good looking double corked 1260 on a city big air jump, with a solid grab? 15? maybe 30? Let’s change the question a bit. How many people in the world can do a flawless, motionless switch cork 720 tail grab on a city big air jump? I would not be surprised if the answer to that question is in the thousands. Besides, if the competition was based solely on style, then you wouldn’t even have to do such a difficult trick. A simple 360 would be enough, making my point even clearer. If everyone tried to do the best looking 360, how would you decide a winner?
I’m not saying I have the answer to these questions, but after reading countless arguments against the kind of judging systems we have in the sport right now, I just wanted to point these things out. Because to me it seems like a lot of people just don’t understand how their ideal system would work out in reality. It sounds like a good concept, but in a sport where 90% of the skiers copy 10% of the pros, said system would just take something already uniform and turn it into something even more uninspiring.
I do believe however, that I have an idea that could change this. The idea is not mine, but it’s like most things in our world, stolen from skateboarding. Check out Rob Dyrdek’s Street League, and take notes. Imagine a skiing big air final with 7 athletes, all having to land 7 different tricks, constant scoring updates for the crowd, and with no room for error. This is what we have to do to keep things interesting!
Jacob
random, skiing
Great post!
thank you jacob couldn’t say it better
word.i think your idea is a good one.
Trickpåsens storlek borde absolut få en större betydelse i big air sammanhang. Vissa tävlingar har ju haft sådana inslag och jag hoppas att dessa kommer att bli vanligare. Som det ser ut nu är slope style för mig sjukt mycket mer inspirerande att titta på då både trickpåse och stabilitet tydliggör åkarnas olikheter och kompetens. Det blir även lite tydligare att det faktiskt handlar om skidåkning.
Tack för en finfin blogg
Man, i wish we had this converstaion in Stockholm. Thanks for the great post !!!!!
great post! ur totally right! maybe jon will take ur format idea for the next JOI? haha and who did write that swedish comment written by jon? i think i understand it, and it’s not written by jon
luc – if jon wants to use this idea, he is more than welcome. that would be the illest, a trick bag competition on the best jump in the game…
i really think this is what needs to happen !! good words jacob
grymt bra skrivet! du är bäst!
blir det nå sweet rumble för dig btw?
very good and well written article. nice to hear what you think is the best way to move the sport in the right direction.
btw, no way Jon wrote that comment!
I think the JOI Big Air would be a perfect event to try out a new scoring system. Not only do you have some of the biggest names (and biggest offenders in the city big airs), but there is no governing body or outside influence. All you would need to do is convince Jon and perhaps the other riders. Great post though.
I got a idea !!
each tricks succeeded by a rider against another, can’t be done again in competition (by this rider, this would be very hard to do to impose that to other riders). I mean, that if one is throwing a cork 7 mute, the other can’t do that, and whatever which get out victorious of the duel, he can’t use it anymore. So a rider should have a big bag of tricks.
That should fix creativity, but not style.
Epic post Jacob. It made my day
to flo, but it still sucks that as the second rider u see what the first rider is doing, i.e. when he throws a cork7 u can beat him with a cork9 cause u know what he did. thats why i hate the head to head format! and when u would deaf and blind the second rider, it still wouldn’t be fair, cause u still can get info out of the crowd right before u drop in (as a second rider)!
btw jacob – can u present ur blog specs from today? i wanna have a number to see how powerfull a thread from a pro on NS is
this is why i surf more than i ski. i think the ski scene is falling apart, a fashion show more than a sport. skiing was cool during session 1242, now it is just lame as hell. skiing was once my whole life, now i dont even think ill be skiing more than 30 days this year.
Jacob I can’t find any email contact for you.. Can you please send me yours.. I need some advices about living and skiing in Norway and Sweden, If you find some time to help me with that would be brilliant
) THX bibi
That was an amazing post; truly wise. Your idea to fix the issue is admirable, but I think a lot more though needs to be put into this subject. Freeskiing is such a great sport, and I would hate to see it die in a few years like rollerblading did.
word!
great post, although i absolutely loved the europe vs the rest of the world comp in london, did you see that?
set trick, which ever rider does it best wins, something like that would be sick
Fantastic read
I hope you can help to make something of this idea, if not every big air comp wants to take a change it would be cool to see at least one where trick bags and consistency come into play.
Great post and part of what sets you apart from other skiers is the way you look at things and are able to express what you think and help people who aren’t so clued up on the finer details of the comps (like me) understand. Best blog I read, thanks.
good words jacob. an other interesting judging format could be seen at the RedBull 401 in Switzerland the last two years. i didnt find a side explaining the format in english. just ask Elias Ambühl about it. he won this thing the last season.
Jacob steg precis ett par pinnar i mina ogon!!!
Smart o genom tankt…
Bra sagt!
really enjoyed reading this !
I think your idea is great and it is important that someone thinks about the future.
I hope people see the opportunities that your idea opens up for..
solid post jacob, i’m totally with you… like the skateboard concept!
Mycket bra skrivet! Klicket på länken gjorde ju att man somnade en timme för sent, trots att jag inte gillar skateboard egentligen. Intressant, hade väldigt gärna sett något liknande inom skidåkningen.
Hi Jacob, have you seen new format for JOI Jon just posted?
You’re a wise man, Jacob.
Awesome idèa! Good job Jacob!
Great idèa!
Smart, clear, thought-out => excellent
Thx jacob for this post !
big thx!like an elliott smith of freeskiing.same way of mind transpose to world of ski
Really good post! =) I wouldn’t wanna be in your shoes and come up with the next level of the sport..
Btw, what do you think of Jons ideeas of JOI 2011 and the format there..? I think it can be good and more fair then now..
Good write up Jake, your english is pretty impeccable. I agree with the Dyrdek’s Street League though, that’s what needs to happen.
Jacob for president!! Grymt bra skrivet, håller med fullständigt!
Nice post!! totally agree, guess that it could be the future of “free”style skiing
Couldn’t agree more with everything you’re saying.
My point is, freeskiing is every day getting bigger and bigger and this makes it a lot different from what it was 5 years ago. You can’t conceive the skiing scene right now as something that you wanna see moving in a direction all toghether, and try hard to make it move in the right direction. Theres lots of different minds, different skiers, inside freeskiing right now, and each one is gonna find his place in the spot and progreess in a certain direction. Big airs might be the right place for those who wanna spend their time adding more grabs and spins to their tricks and also the place for those who wanna watch it. A whole big amount of other people is gonna move in some other directions, and find their place, with others that think like them and supported by others that like what they’re doing.
Keep up the good writing.
I agree with you to the fullest jacob! I read the interwiev with you in transition magazine and now this, you’re such an inspiring person!
Grymt inlägg allt som du säger stämmer till 110% har följt Street Leauge och det är verkligen ett mycket bra sätt att ha tävlingen på det gör att den som ”vågar mest,vill mest och är bäst för dagen” är den som vinner tävlingen och det gör verkligen att det blir en mycket mer intressant tävling.