Alright!

So, I was reading everyone’s blog last week and their opinion about this subject and thought,
 I’ve been Freeskiing since I was 15 years old and compete with all these girls at all the main events. I just had to share my view as well! I really enjoyed everyones take on this subject and think it is something that needs to be brought up, talked about and discussed because 2014 is right around the corner and we all will be the first for slope in the olympics. I don’t consider this discussion solely for the olympics but for courses in the near future for us and our progression as a sport.

Details about the ways our bodies are built differently than males: That is something everyone can use as an ‘excuse’ as to why we should have a different course. For me, women have been hitting the same course for years, and everyone has injuries. Plain and simple. I won’t talk about facts of other sports equality in their own event, because this is Freeskiing. Why compare it to other sports? Note: This is my opinion on what I think we should try to make happen.

I think we are running around in circles arguing about if we should stay on the same course as men/we need smaller/bigger jumps.
I think what the attention should be directed to is this:

-How jumps/rails/features are built.
-Jump/Lips/Landings.
-In-runs.
-Speed in between features.

When I first started skiing slopestyle and big air there was never a “girl side.” You had to hit what was there; a single lip was your option. I learned on the same jumps guys were hitting and I had to either hit it, or not. There was one option for me, no way out. You had to women up or just do a trick off the knuckle. But, growing up with the guys, I had no choice but to hit what they were hitting.

I agree with both sides:
“We have fought to get where we are at, lets not jump a step back.”

“We need more progression on jumps we are comfortable on.”
Although, by arguing over smaller or bigger jumps, we need to look at something no one is talking about; how the jump is built.

Addressing all the kids who are asking why girls aren’t throwing the same tricks, or as Kaya mentioned in her blog that we often hear “girls suck”. Yes, we are a few years behind mens skiing, only a few though. About five years ago at Winter X Games they canceled mens ski slope for a big air instead due to weather. It ended up being a battle over who could do the sickest switch 1080. Now girls are doing switch 10′s. For example: Kaya being the first female to lay down the switch 1080 and Jess Warll 2010 summer did the first double flat 720 for women. There are very few girls that actually compete at the same level, on the same circuit, so the the progression is not as fast. Kaya made a good point that guys have a lot more participants in their field to have a quicker rate of progression.

Saftey is always a main concern. Many of us have been injured and have all had our fair share. This is a sport where that will happen with the risk we take, the impact on the body and sometimes just fluke things will happen. It’s pretty interesting the fact Kristi mentioned that women are eight times more likely to tear their ACL than men because of their hip rotation and hormone levels. With that it seems like one could leap to the conclusion that it’s because of big jumps. Although, I don’t agree with the reason why girls are blowing ACL’s or getting hurt is because of a jump too big. It shouldn’t be used as a crutch or even change the way that we have been doing things in contests. I can say being in a competition setting, some have more then others, but it’s not always an ACL. I have had plenty of injuries, (knock on wood) and I can say that only two have happened in a contest. I must mention, it had nothing to do with the size of how big the jump was.

Speed is my next point. The survey shows that speed is a huge issue for everyone. That is usually mine and many of my co-competitor’s main issue. We all have our “bag of tricks” that we know how to do because it’s in our brain and our muscle memory. Just switch your mind and body to auto-pilot and you can do that trick off anything…IF you have the right speed. Speed is usually an issue because of the way courses are built. If instead of cramming a ton of jumps into one run and making it hard to get speed for the next kicker my suggestion is this. To build 3 (or 4 depending on how long the course is) nice kickers with time in-between each feature. Building a more efficient course for speed and lips with more space between each feature wouldn’t be as stressful. I believe it would decrease injuries if you have more time to think/ski in between each feature because there’d be less of a chance of you landing on the take off to the next jump. Then, the size of the jumps wouldn’t matter because you’d had your speed and a smooth lip. Building a course with more space between is also another key factor in keeping it safer.

Weather. Speed as we all know can factor in a lot with weather: wind, snow, rain, you name it. If a course is built properly with enough space between each feature by taking out a jump or putting it on a longer run, then speed wouldn’t be an issue. Now, I fully believe in having weather jumps, Don’t get this mistaken with a “girlfriend jump”. Euro-X Games 2011 had such a bad snow storm that even the guys were knuckling the small 30 foot jump. People were at the start gate saying,
“Do the best trick you know how to stomp on a knuckle and ski away from.”
Instead of the best competing against the best, the contest became who can get through the entire course on their feet. We need to have a course that everyone can get through in any condition.

New Tricks. The progression of Women’s Freeskiing and the ”Girlfriend jump” – We have been getting nagged about our skiing for years and how we need to step it up. Style, grabs, new tricks and PROGRESS. I see what some are saying about the progression of a contest. Our sport with smaller jumps helps when learning but for a contest setting, I don’t think that is the answer. I will be the first to admit that I am most likely going to try a new flip or trick on a smaller jump than even a 55 footer. (the size women prefer according to the survey). I’m talking about a completely brand new trick. Trying it on a 65 to 70 foot jump for the first time is not realistic for me, let alone smart due to the injuries I have had in the past. I think even in contests its rare that anyone is going to be trying a completely new trick that they haven’t trained for before the contest. (air bag, foam pit, water ramps, trampoline,visualizing). Although, I can also say contests is where I sometimes will learn a new trick because the level might be getting pushed at that time. If the weather is perfect, if i’ve landed two good tricks and basically if i’m zoning, I wouldn’t throw something I hadn’t been practicing (mentally or physically). That’s why contests are called contests. For everyone to do their best, solid, steezy tricks, as well as stepping up the game and stomping under pressure.

We women want to progress which is why Nine Queens was such a great event. Although, it wasn’t solely based on the size of the jump. We saw almost everyone’s biggest tricks on that jump, and then NEW tricks they had never done before. According to the survey, women prefer a 55 foot jump. If you ask me, between 55-65 feet is a perfect size jump to try big and decently new tricks on. Nine Queens is where I learned my first switch 900 and this year my first switch 1080. Now, let me explain why. We had give or take five days to ski on the jump before the contest actually happened. That’s when everyone threw down their new and big tricks. We weren’t in a major competition setting. It wasn’t X-Games or Dew Tour. It was much more laid back because we made the rules of how we will be judged. You have plenty of time to work on not just big new tricks, but different grabs, different rotations/axis, getting action shots, getting footage and just skiing with you’re friends. The jump wasn’t sketchy and enormous. What I mean by huge is that the lip wasn’t popping you 30 feet in the air vertically. The jump was 20 meters (60′) which is 5 feet more then what girls say they are comfortable on. I love a 60′-65 foot jump, but I’m telling you that the 9 Queens Jump did not feel 60 feet when hitting it. It felt much smaller because the way that it was built. The reason why Nine Queens is so effective is because there is no pressure to do anything. You have a few days to ski on the jump at your leisure, and the jump is built almost to perfection. Being comfortable comes from knowing the jump and knowing the speed you need to take into it. If every jump had more time between them, and built more like step up’s or true tables (as the survey shows that most all prefer this type of jump), I think we’d find less injury and more progression.
I saw some of the same big tricks on the biggest jump at X Games as I did at Nine Queens. It is all about the environment, being comfortable and your mentality. Being comfortable doesn’t always mean it’s the size of jump. It doesn’t mean us girls have to push our take offs forward and leave the mens jump back but just build the jump (take off/ landing) perfect and have it ready by comp day.

From my personal experience I can speak to being comfortable with a jump. Every year minus this 2012 season, I have never done my entire run until the day of. While every other girl had already done most of their tricks, or got their run once in the few days of practice, I had only accomplished straight airs. I would put a lot of pressure on myself to land my tricks in my run. There had been contests I didn’t even hit the jump switch until my actual run. Now, I’m not ever advising for anyone to do it like this, because it seems not the smartest thing to do. That is how I work(ed). For me, like I mentioned before, I would just put myself on auto-pilot. It was always this for me. I wouldn’t do a single trick until I had my speed just right, that is what makes me comfortable. If it is an issue with a lip, then that is something I think we need to address with how the jumps are built.

Progression? Switching to rails for a second. At Aspen X this year, there was a terrifying down rail that rarely any girls did anything progressive on or off. Features need to be built where we can show our highest bag of tricks and skills on all the features. The down drop rail was a major drop that the majority of us weren’t thinking about what big tricks to do on and off but to just get through. I went there thinking I was going to 270 on the down rail to a 270 off. It didn’t happen because A. I hadn’t ever done it on a rail with a drop like that and B. if I came up even a foot short I could have been hurt. And yes I know a lot of it is for T.V. But we need a course to be built properly for people to see good quality, our best skiing, progressing and technical riding.

I know that at most contests they will have built a course and then have rider meetings later that day to talk about course change. Usually the skiers and snowboarders even have have different opinions on how they’d like certain things to be changed; i.e. more pop on the lip/mellow out pop on the lip. This means building one or two different courses having it come down to what snowboarders and skiers can/like to hit. Not just a XX / XY course.

Progression of the sport doesn’t mean you need to have a mens and women jump . I think it would be more progressive to have both judged the same and put two different (poppy/less poppy) lips or take offs directly next to each other. That also includes snowboarder preferences as well. Now what’s the point of this if it’s not a women’s tee? My point is that there are two different take offs one more poppy and the other lip a bit more mellow. Here’s why:
I can do a 270 on pretty much any rail or box, but if the jump is built too close you can catch your tips. If the jump has no lip, then count me out on trying that trick because it was built for ollie on.
Or think about it, if there is a jump that is bumpy in the take off most likely it will be a challenge to hit switch so it may limit tricks. Or in spring skiing there are huge ruts in the landings of jumps and or rails and it becomes to hard to land switch. So again, maybe the tricks are limited because it’s not effective riding and the opportunity to progress becomes harder.
My point here all goes back to how a feature is built.

Just as we are talking about jumps and two different take offs- Most every guy you know out there that’s a skier or snowboarder competing has a double. If not one, they have 2,3, or even 4. And a few guys out there already have triples. This means the men are progressing, and the rate is fast. Dangerous or not, call it what you want, it’s happening and the sport is changing fast. Like I said above, women Freeskiers are throwing forward/switch 9′s and switch 1080s which is the biggest spin landed for females at the moment. And it has been done over 55-70 foot tables. We don’t necessarily need a table giving us the same pop as men.

So, now what? My answer to all of this (it is not necessarily the RIGHT one.. but give it a thought) debate about keeping the same course as the guys or changing a smaller course is simple. Spencer O’Brien hit it on the head with this,

“The courses need to be built in the safest way possible, to benefit every rider and so they’re clearable in all conditions. It’s not a matter of size, it’s a matter of how the jumps are built. A jump can be 80 feet, but if it’s built properly then it’s just as safe as one half it’s size.”
That’s exactly where I stand. We have been hitting the same corse as guys for years. We have been throwing down some of our hardest and biggest tricks at X-Games and Dew Tours. The jumps have been the same, so why should much change? I have honestly never seen a 90 foot jump in a contest unless it was a big air event without women allowed. The majority of riders (74 percent) who took the survey are saying they prefer true tables, 13% step ups and 10% step downs. If you want a safe kicker, a step down is not the option. I firmly believe that it would be safer to focus on how a jump is built rather then just making a jump smaller. 

We are professional skiers, we do what 90% of the world would never do or try because to them it’s ‘nuts’ . We are paid to do what we love but also to learn new tricks and we have the best resources to learn those tricks somewhere other then snow for the first time. We are talking about slopestyle here. I cannot speak for half pipe but I think its safe to say when a pipe rider shows up the the pipe for the first time they are not astounded with the shape or size of the pipe. Maybe because they have seen that similar shape at the last contest. With slope, it’s always different so you have to adapt to whatever the course may be.

I have been doing this for almost 10 years and when I first started there weren’t smaller sides for women, you just had to hit the jumps that were there. Taking a step back could mean that the equality that all the women pushed for us to get here in the early days, may go back to us fighting for it all over again. Equality.
From the very beginning of freeriding, finally there is a bit more respect in having our own division instead of competing against the guys, equal pay, and hopefully even more advertisement. We all do our big tricks and progress on the big jumps at X or any contest because we have been put there for a reason and have earned our spot in skiing with each other at a high level. All the girls I ski with absolutely slay it and dominate specially after seeing the progression from women this past few years…lets keep doing what we do, keep moving and pushing forward for more equality in this male dominated sport. Forward! 
To read more about what the other girls think click on the links below. Whats your opinion?


http://kristileskinen.com/category/blog/



http://www.kayaturski.com/what-do-you-consider-progression-by-kaya-turski/

http://www.spencerobrien.com/blog

http://www.d-structureqc.com/blogs.php?uid=33