Cheese
New member
I've called it an overused term but frankly I don't even know what it means anymore. Skiing has such a wide variety of specialty requirements I wonder just how many are included in the qualification of "expert".
Racing - Obviously at a minimum there's slalom, giant slalom and the downhill. Do we have to be within some number of second(s) margin of Olympians to be considered an expert?
Powder - Is it floating on or through snow of any depth on any marked trail or glade? Do we also need to perform in the woods and be able to land a cliff drop from some 10s of feet? Can we just straight the cliff or do we have to also flip while hucking? Is a simple cornice drop enough to be an expert?
Bumps - Is it making it down a black diamond mogul run in control? Do we need to hammer the zip line at a certain pace to qualify? Does it have to be a timed and judged competition course where pulling inverted aerials off of both kickers is a requirement?
Park - If you can hit every feature and every jump are you an expert? Do you have to spin on each rail or box, throw corked maneuvers off the jumps, take off and land switch to be more than an intermediate?
These are just 4 specialties I came up with quickly which might be considered in an all inclusive expert skier. Are we just intermediates if we can't do at least these 4 without embarrassment or serious injury? Are there experts which only perform a few or none of these? For those striving for continual improvement, just where is the "expert" bar set? If it's set low, are there more levels above or below "extreme" to achieve?
Racing - Obviously at a minimum there's slalom, giant slalom and the downhill. Do we have to be within some number of second(s) margin of Olympians to be considered an expert?
Powder - Is it floating on or through snow of any depth on any marked trail or glade? Do we also need to perform in the woods and be able to land a cliff drop from some 10s of feet? Can we just straight the cliff or do we have to also flip while hucking? Is a simple cornice drop enough to be an expert?
Bumps - Is it making it down a black diamond mogul run in control? Do we need to hammer the zip line at a certain pace to qualify? Does it have to be a timed and judged competition course where pulling inverted aerials off of both kickers is a requirement?
Park - If you can hit every feature and every jump are you an expert? Do you have to spin on each rail or box, throw corked maneuvers off the jumps, take off and land switch to be more than an intermediate?
These are just 4 specialties I came up with quickly which might be considered in an all inclusive expert skier. Are we just intermediates if we can't do at least these 4 without embarrassment or serious injury? Are there experts which only perform a few or none of these? For those striving for continual improvement, just where is the "expert" bar set? If it's set low, are there more levels above or below "extreme" to achieve?
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