who are the real skiers?

[jarrodski]

this may have already been discussed, but i'm wondering...

Who are the "real" skiers?

Back country purists? courduroy shredders? bumpers?

maybe i'm looking at the question wrong... i read it like, who is the skiers' skier...

to me, the skiers' skier would encompass all aspects of the sport.. king of the mountain style. Big mountain, into some gates(2 tops, skiers skier remember) then bumps / trees leading into park and pipe, followed by some apre in the lot... not in the lodge.

i fully believe that the people claiming to be "real" skiers can't do a switch 5 of a medium kicker. I fully believe that they can't shred a mountain face, and pop it around backwards at the bottom to hit a log jib. i believe these same people to talk a lot of internet trash and not prove otherwise on the hill...

To me, the claimers of "real" point out a simple truth... there are aspects of the sport they have yet to master.

so... response i'm looking for i guess is, what defines the "real" skier and how do you fall short?

myself, i can't race... never could... please, never tell me where to go. i won't like it.

 

[RootDKJ]

A "real" skier is one who has fun no matter what.

 

[Warp Daddy]

X2

 

[mondeo]

this may have already been discussed, but i'm wondering...

Who are the "real" skiers?

Back country purists? courduroy shredders? bumpers?

maybe i'm looking at the question wrong... i read it like, who is the skiers' skier...

to me, the skiers' skier would encompass all aspects of the sport.. king of the mountain style. Big mountain, into some gates(2 tops, skiers skier remember) then bumps / trees leading into park and pipe, followed by some apre in the lot... not in the lodge.

i fully believe that the people claiming to be "real" skiers can't do a switch 5 of a medium kicker. I fully believe that they can't shred a mountain face, and pop it around backwards at the bottom to hit a log jib. i believe these same people to talk a lot of internet trash and not prove otherwise on the hill...

To me, the claimers of "real" point out a simple truth... there are aspects of the sport they have yet to master.

so... response i'm looking for i guess is, what defines the "real" skier and how do you fall short?

myself, i can't race... never could... please, never tell me where to go. i won't like it.

Either no such thing or any of the above. If you want to start talking about who would qualify as your version of a real skier, you'd probably be talking about someone who spends 100+ days a year, for several years, on the hill focusing on improving technically in order to reach an expert level in all aspects of skiing.

If there is a "real" skier, masters of bumps, speed, BC, the park are all real skiers. So are jacks of all trades, who can do ok at everything. I know plenty of people that can shred bumps but don't spin. There are people that can fly down steep groomers but can't ski trees. All it is is devoting their time to better themselves at a particular aspect; it doesn't make them any less of a skier, it just means their skill is more concentrated in one aspect of the sport. It's like asking who's more of a baseball player, a pitcher, a center fielder, or a utility player. They're all just as much of a player as the other, just with different skill sets.

My big failings are BC and rails. Bumps are my strong point. I can ski groomers fairly fast (but not sure about how good my technique is,) and I do decently on airs, but I haven't rotated further than 180. Trees are fairly pathetic, I only skied them maybe 4 days out this year. I've never even hit an easy box, but I'm planning on picking up some park skis at a swap next year and tooling around in the park some on those.

 

[tmcc71]

"The Real skier" is very subjective. It's hard to quantify. Do you decide by days skied, skill level, mountains conquered? I have some positive skill sets, but I admit to some faults as well. I ski over 100 days every season. I ski groomers, powder, trees and more. I ski mostly the east favoring Snow, Waterville, Okemo, Wachusett and Straton (under two hour drive is my theme here). My shortcoming are i'm not great at bumps and gates. I feel I qualify as a real skier even with those shortcomings.
Maybe it's simpler than that. Maybe a skier is someone who dedicates a good portion of their time, money and energy towards the pursuit of skiing enjoyment. I don't think you have to be as obsessive as me (138 days this season) to be a real skiier. I don't think you have to necessarily do it all either. If you have passion for the sport and pursue it as part of your lifestyle you're a "real Skier".

 

[bvibert]

I am a real skier!

Wanna argue on the interwebz about it??

 

[Greg]

I'm a fake skier.

 

[wa-loaf]

I really like to ski. That feels pretty "real" to me.

 

[drjeff]

The arguementative side of me wants to define the "real" skier as one who can seemlessly transition from one surface to the next in variable terrain types easily with good speed and technical form. This "real" skier may not be the best at any one aspect of skiing, but doesn't have one true weak facet of their skiing :argue:

My friendly alter ego would define the "real" skier is someone who's out on the hill enjoying themselves no matter what type of terrain, snow surface or weather. Whether this "real" skier can do so with speed and technique is not an issue. :argue:

 

[tmcc71]

funny

The fake skier thing was the first thing that ran through my mind. too funny!

 

[dmc]

real skiers dont give a crap who real skiers are...

 

[whiteface valmas]

real skiers love what they do.they don't care about the weather and can ski in rain or below zero weather. they also don't need great admenities and don't care about how good they look on the slopes

 

[Beetlenut]

Real skiers wouldn't even respond to this post! I'm a faux skier.

 

[Greg]

real skiers dont give a crap who real skiers are...

Nice!

 

[deadheadskier]

real skiers dont give a crap who real skiers are...

bingo

 

[2knees]

I'm real and I'm SPECTACULAR!

 

[2knees]

 

[severine]

I'm the only real skier: you're all just figments of my imagination.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

Oh Teri Hatcher...how I love thee...

 

[gmcunni]

I'm a fake skier.

that explains why you can only ski seeded bumps, real skiers ski real bumps . . .