Sending Thoughts and Prayers to Save Your Ski Season
As Europe considers shutdown, U.S. carries on
November 29, 2020
When Italy closed tighter than a submarine in early March to stop the spread of Covid-19, I was skeptical that the United States would ever follow it into lockdown, despite the desperate pleas blipping across Twitter like Morse-coded messages from a warzone. I was stunned when we actually did, shuttering ski areas and everything else in a profound moment of national unity and pants-shitting fear.
That lasted about three weeks, at which time armed protesters channeling their inner Paul Revere stormed state capitols across the land to warn Americans about the existential danger of stay-at-home orders. Because nothing says freedom like an AR-15, wraparound shades, a tactical vest, and a goatee. I guess.
Thus began a partisan snowball fight over the efficacy and need for masks, social distancing, re-opening schools, and on and on. Somewhere in there, full shutdowns became political poison. President-elect Joe Biden has repeatedly said he will not shutter the economy. And as we learn more about how the virus spreads, we’ve arrived at a version of reality in which we can mitigate risk while certain sorts of commerce and fun continue. This includes skiing.
Posted from The Storm Skiing Journal
Tips to Prepare for Ski Season From Two-Time Olympian Kaylin Richardson
November 12, 2020
by Andy Cochrane
After ten years as an elite world cup racer and ten subsequent years as a professional big-mountain skier, Kaylin Richardson knows a thing or two about carving turns and slashing pow lines—and just as much about the strength and fitness needed to do it all. After two decades of training for these unique disciplines, Richardson has a wealth of knowledge that few others around the globe can claim.
Growing up outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, and learning to ski with Team Gilboa at Hyland Hills, Richardson cut her teeth on a ski hill so small that it transitions to a driving range for golfers in the summer. She recounts, “Decent golfers can easily hit balls over it. It’s not very big but it was great to get a lot of laps in.” But that didn’t stop her from training, skiing and reaching the top of her game.
Posted from Freeskier.com
Tuck and TUMBLE: All-time FWT Crashes
November 18, 2020
by Jordan Grant-Krenz
This one is NOT for the faint of heart. Buckle up for the top 10 crashes ever documented on the Freeride World Tour. Everyone knows that the FWT is arguable the most intense competition in all of skiing. With the best of the best out to stake their claim at victory around the globe, riders are always trying to stomp that next unbelievable air. Sometimes however, that stomp is replaced with a dizzying double ejection tomahawk. As they say, you pay to play! Sometimes even while being as safe as you can, a good tumble is all but inevitable. Hats off and mad respect to all riders who risk falls like these while airing out 50 feet going mach10. Luckily it seems that everyone in this video, once they took a breath after their spills, rode off without serious injury. Always important to keep in mind that while this sport can be stupid amounts of fun, it can also be stupid amounts of dangerous, so keep those whit’s about you especially as more people began heading out for tracks with snow falling across the country. Early conditions exist, so keep an eye out. Enough from ol’ mom over here, let’s watch some spills!
Published from Freeskier
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