View Full Version : Who is your favorite skier/boarder?
targheehucker
11-12-2003, 03:02 PM
I am giving props to Wayne Wong on this day...
Craig Kelly - Supreme - old school - backcountry - soul rider... Quite possibly the reason I started snowboarding...
RIP.... :(
http://classic.mountainzone.com/snowboarding/2000/interviews/kelly/graphics/usopenfs_hubert.jpg
SnowboardAJ
11-12-2003, 03:15 PM
deff. craig kelly mad props to the man. One of the main reason this sport has gotten so HUGE. RIP
SnowboardAJ
11-12-2003, 03:16 PM
deffinetly craig kelly mad props to the man. One of the main reason this sport has gotten so HUGE. RIP
Finhead
11-12-2003, 03:24 PM
Me. :skismile: :D :D :D :D :D :D
After all, if can't love yourself........ ;)
pepperdawg
11-12-2003, 03:28 PM
Craig Kelly definitly is missed by all... :(
Give him a thought the next time ya are makin some pow turns.... ;)
Skilasnow
11-12-2003, 03:34 PM
Duh!
The original Tuckermaniac, Toni Matt, not to mention Joe Dodge, et al
skicdave
11-12-2003, 03:54 PM
Skilastucks:
Duh!
The original Tuckermaniac, Toni Matt, not to mention Joe Dodge, et al Yup I agree! Come on lets see these guys perform on boards without edges and boots fastened to skis with straps and cables. :cooldog:
Makes me want to pop my Quackenbush and Schlitz movies into the VCR! :jumpturn:
skidude
11-12-2003, 03:58 PM
Out of all the famous skiers that you guys probably know I would probably have to say Picabo. She seemed very nice :)
Brooks Dodge - NO DOUBT!
The man reinvented skiing technique to be able to turn in the narrow gullys at TUX... All that Austrian stem christie stuff went out the window... Brooks invented a form of the jump turn that has brought us all together in some strange way.. We'd pretty much laugh that old technique out of the bowl but you gotta start somewhere.
Brooks Dodge - Father of recreational extreme skiing...
Craig Kelly - Father of freeriding.
I lift my glass..
Stein, Jean Claude and Billy were my heroes, but I prefered skiing with a pair of Corchran girls at Mansefield and Madonna....I barely kept up with them or got totaly smoked, later I found out why.
Skilasnow
11-12-2003, 04:10 PM
Salut! Skoll! to all named above
Suzy Chafe!
A friend used to have a poster of her skiing topless in his ski house..
Skilasnow
11-12-2003, 04:27 PM
let us not forget Suzy Chapstick either...
or James Bond's Lotus
targheehucker
11-12-2003, 04:57 PM
Oh snap! I forgot dick durrance, but wayne is my number one, the original Palisades hot dogg...
Ahh you youngun skidude... I heard a rumor that picabo's nickname on the USST was "easy street" - no joke :)
BLING BLING
skidude
11-12-2003, 05:00 PM
targheehucker:
Ahh you youngun skidude... I heard a rumor that picabo's nickname on the USST was "easy street" - no joke :)
BLING BLING LOL
Mumster
11-12-2003, 05:41 PM
For current favorites, I'd have to go with racers since I don't know anyone else. The skidude and I met Picabo and Bode Miller last winter....Bode was slobbery and staggering ( :beermug: ), which was a turn off. Picabo was nice to the skidude - which makes her ok with me.
My family are my other favorite skiers. :skicool: :skicool: :snowboarding: :jumpturn: and :skifemcool:
It would have been nice to meet TM.
kmrnskier
11-12-2003, 05:48 PM
How about Phil and Steve Mahre - I remember watching them race when I was younger, they ripped!!
Mumster
11-12-2003, 05:52 PM
kmrnskier:
How about Phil and Steve Mahre - I remember watching them race when I was younger, they ripped!! I think they do race programs in the Rockies....maybe we can plan a future FemmesCannon day out there.
:skifemcool: :skifemcool: :skifemcool: :skifemcool: :skifemcool:
skicdave
11-12-2003, 06:06 PM
Phil & Seve Mahre Training Centers (at Vail) (http://www.coloradoskiresorts.com/keystone/mahre/)
skicdave
11-12-2003, 06:18 PM
Heres me and one of my favorite famous skiers I met back when I was about.. hmm... 14?? I was presenting 'her' with a skier I made out of pottery complete with our club badge and skies painted like my old K2 III's. If you look REAL close you can see than the middle of my glasses we broken and I had them glued together with a wad of epoxy (no :ducttape: back in those days?).
Easy guess who she is.. except maybe for you youngins ;)
http://timefortuckerman.com/gifs/skicdaveandnancygreene.jpg
Bode has another side: the patient and cooperative kid that skis with all the CannonKidz that trail around after him. Sometimes it's cool to see this long conga line of skiers. Sometimes a lot of them are really small but going with all the jets firing, it's inspirational for the little skiers and comical/inspirational to see.
I hope he gets some time off for more of that. The pressure is really awfull at the world level. I'm guessing that Bode has a private moment twice a day..Picaboo probably the same.
skidude
11-12-2003, 06:22 PM
Mumster:
Bode was slobbery and staggering ( :beermug: ), which was a turn off.I think bode was doing a lil more then :beer:
Think we need a bong pic :mad:
Mumster
11-12-2003, 07:31 PM
RR:
Bode has another side: the patient and cooperative kid that skis with all the CannonKidz that trail around after him. Sometimes a lot of them are really small but going with all the jets firing, it's inspirational for the little skiers and comical/inspirational to see.I'm not exactly a little kid, but, I got to race him once, and never had as much fun getting annihilated.
Still, he's not such a great role model when he's blitzed. Maybe he just needs more :hottub: :cookies: :drphil: :homer: :guitar: :makeoutonatube:
skidude
11-12-2003, 07:53 PM
Mumster:
RR:
Bode has another side: the patient and cooperative kid that skis with all the CannonKidz that trail around after him. Sometimes a lot of them are really small but going with all the jets firing, it's inspirational for the little skiers and comical/inspirational to see.I'm not exactly a little kid, but, I got to race him once, and never had as much fun getting annihilated.
Still, he's not such a great role model when he's blitzed. Maybe he just needs more :hottub: :cookies: :drphil: :homer: :guitar: :makeoutonatube: well I guess it is also when they take there "personal moments". Also I have heard people talking about when he came to there mt and he just wanted to ski by him self all day.
Don;t get me wrong he is a great skiier but well not my favorite for a few reasons ;)
Skilasnow
11-12-2003, 08:06 PM
Alberto Tomba wasn't too cool either. I met, skied with and fed the entire Italian team in 94 during summer training in Las Lenas (I fed all the teams that year, but my chef was Italian so I got to ski with the Italians). Where was Tomba? He was training by himself elsewhere getting into trouble with the Argentinian National Police.
2plankerider
11-12-2003, 08:44 PM
me, i'm an eighties man.
Scott Schmidt...brought "extreme" skiing to a new level (for the record i cannot stand the word "EXTREME") and Glen Plake... he keeps it real on those 215 straight cut GS boards. not to mention that mowhawk.
snowboarders? i guess it would be Jake Carpenter. he may not have "invented" it (there are many argumets as to who actually thought it up)but good 'ol mr. Burton is a huge reason why we have the sport of snowboarding as we know it today.
:cooldog: rocks pretty hard too! :D
kmrnskier
11-12-2003, 08:49 PM
ahhhhhh yes, Glen Plake. I would LOVE to ski with him for a day. The guy IS the original hot-dogger!!
NH_tele
11-12-2003, 08:56 PM
I actually have to say that, from my personal experience, Bode is a very inspirational skier... I'm sure he gets drunk & parties and such, but can anyone his age honestly say that they don't? I don't know him personally or anything, but what I've seen from him on TV & in real life has been very positive...
odber
11-12-2003, 10:02 PM
whatever Happened to Scott Schmidt.
Bannick
11-13-2003, 08:26 AM
Skiers....any of the Crazy Canucks Steve Podborski, Ken Reed et al. Yellow and red spandex suits just scream Canada
Boarder...by far Craig Kelly the guy had soul, even in the neon days.
BladeGirl
11-13-2003, 08:55 AM
The only pro skier I ever met was Dean Decas, who seemed like a nice guy (and a native Massachusettian to boot).
But I was inspired by both Picabo Street in 1994-1998 (then heartbroken in 2002) and Jonny Moseley in 1998 (who made me gasp and hold my breath while he stopped gravity for one beautiful moment)
-BG
BladeGirl:
Jonny Moseley in 1998 (who made me gasp and hold my breath while he stopped gravity for one beautiful moment)That Olympic mute grab was the trick heard round' the world. Re-energized the ski industry.
BladeGirl
11-13-2003, 09:05 AM
DMC:
That Olympic mute grab was the trick heard round' the world. Re-energized the ski industry. Watching it in competition (albeit on TV) (as opposed to seeing it on the news after the results were announced or something) was amazing. It was a thing of beauty. I just knew he had to medal after seeing that.
-BG
I was jumping up and down in total shock... Made me want to bump ski again..
HeyBC
11-13-2003, 09:11 AM
Wow...it's a long list of all time favs. I must say for old timers, my Uncle Tom Sweeney and Jack Snyder who made a road trip from Trenton, NJ to Tucks in the 40s (wood skis, leather/ lace-up boots, cable bindings, etc.). Craig Kelly goes on the list as a pioneer of modern snowboarding with a lot of soul. And I have to say Shawn White, an inspriration for the young up and comers.
Picabo. Bode. John Egan (skiis a mean mountain, and makes a mean burger)
M@
targheehucker
11-13-2003, 09:41 AM
kmrnskier:
ahhhhhh yes, Glen Plake. I would LOVE to ski with him for a day. The guy IS the original hot-dogger!! :mad: plake has an 80s mohawk, little else... Wayne defined freestyle when Glen was still crappin' his pants. Oh and Wong was the first to throw a 360 in competition. Its called the Wongmill...
Wayne Wong
Between Wayne Wong and the river bank lay a wide inviting pool. Streams of water spilled from it. A few German Browns schooled near the bottom -- eight - and ten--inchers they looked like -- hanging still in the cold lower layer. Beer cans glinted through the depths. Wayne, comfortable in his fly-fishing vest, stood in the cool water under high-cut banks lined with overhanging cottonwoods, waiting for a flash and a strike.
"There is more than art to casting a fly," Wayne explains. "Like the time I was fishing with a friend and teasing him about all the fish that I was catching" I told him that I had mental telepathy with the fish. When he approached, I called out, "Here fishy fishy. Immediately, a 3 pound trout savagely attacked my fly. He couldn't believe it! Timing is everything!"
At present the World Champion freestyler is more concerned about the beer cans sitting in the bottom of a mountain stream than reciting a tall tale. Ignoring the Orvis zingers dangling down his front, he reaches for his laminated landing net and becomes more intent on retrieving the sunken trash. After netting the mess a corona of happiness trundles once more about his face, so radiant it reminds you of a 4-year-old's drawing of the sun.
When Wayne Wong enters a room its space becomes different, not greater perhaps, but warmer. One recognizes his vibes as instantly as one would the sunrise. The simple truth is he has the sweet happiness of an adolescent who has just been given his first major kiss. And so he glows, and one's reminded of a Joe Namath or an Ali, not because they are the least alike in features, but because they are luminous when one meets them and Wong has something of that light.
Over the past two decades, Wong has outdone most other skiing emissaries, using his fame toward consistent good ends - and doing so with an intelligence rarely seen among marquee athlete activists.
"In 1986 I was asked to be a ski celebrity at the American Airline Celebrity Ski benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation," says Wong. "This event had a deep impact on me when I met the children affected by the disease. Upon arriving at home, I took one look at my healthy children and realized how fortunate we were to not have to overcome the obstacles that the C F children and families had to endure everyday. I made a commitment to dedicate myself as a professional to help find a cure not only to Cystic Fibrosis, but also to other children's diseases."
Raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wong first visited nearby ski slopes when eleven years old. At age 16 he attained his Level 1 Ski Instructor's Certification. By 1972 he achieved his Level 4 Certificate, the highest level attainable, and was chosen as a member of the Canadian Ski Instructor's Alliance's Inter-Ski Demonstration Team. That same year he won three freestyle events at Waterville Valley, Vail, and Sun Valley, and podiumed with two thirds and a second. His outstanding results earned him the first ever title as "Freestyle Skier of The Year."
"When I "cabled up" my first skis in 1961 skiing quickly turned into a passion. I lived, breathed, and dreamed about skiing. I realized that skiing was more than just sliding down the hill. It is sharing special moments in time with friends, interacting with natural elements, and discovering more about yourself," explains Wayne.
Blessed with cat's feet and unbridled and bright on the snow as day-glo orange, Wong excited skiers and spectators like no other during the 1970's. Creating tricks that still look fresh today, his trademark bandanna tied around the knee became the insider dress code for those turning straight down the fall-line. Influenced by freestyle pioneers Doug Pheiffer and Art Furrer, Wong built a freestyle library of original stunts equal to no other. The international freestyle champion and high priest of hot dogging electrified the ski world with his fun, hip innovative style.
"I was skiing down a slope when all of a sudden my ski tips ran into an abrupt transition in the snow. It threw me forward, and to prevent the obvious face plant, I stuck my poles out in front of me and did a somersault (flip) and landed on my feet." he recalls. "The Wong Banger had been born."
Other tricks followed such as the "Worm Turn," the "Slow Dog Noodle," and "Wongmill."
"Wayne was the one who broke the mold," says "Wild" Bill O'Leary, who once directed South Lake Tahoe's World Freestyle Training Center from 1973-80. "Before freestyle came along everything was geared towards racing and was restricted to the gates. Wayne, more than anybody, broke away from traditions and put freestyle on the map."
"Those were really exciting times. I would try anything," Wong explains about inventing his maneuvers. "Fall down, keep on moving, and get back on my feet. There was a real freshness to what we were doing and a real spirit. There were better technical skiers out there, but my personality and name was easily identified. I think people appreciated my approach, and the fun they saw me having. More than anything, skiing became a way of life. It gave me confidence and self esteem."
Wong's pioneer style continues to influence skiers around the world. Besides earning full medal status at the Winter Olympics, freestyle competitions are regaining their popularity as witness to the X-Games, Bumps and Jumps, and pro mogul frenzies such as Heavenly's "Top Gun" on Gunbarrel. The remarkable ability that also made Wong a three-time World Powder Figure 8 Champion, Japan International Champion, and European Champion, shows no sign of age. He loves free skiing more than ever. He still spends over 100 days a year in his ski boots, bridging his sport with activism, entertainment, with the ability to make people care about each other. He seques from one realm to the next so gracefully that he hardly seems to be trying. But like everything else about freestyle tricks, it's all about perception.
"I was once told that everyone knows on average at least 250 people," says Wong who resides in Reno, Nevada with his wife Karen and two daughters, Vanessa and Serena. "You have an opportunity to influence more than just one person. Since skiing is a very social sport it is important to try and make a positive impression on everyone you meet."
Wong's commitment to worthy causes is reflected each spring at his annual Wayne Wong World Hot dog Skiing Festival and Championship at Alpine Meadows, California. A fund-raiser for juvenile diabetes, the two-day event is a recreation of the glory days of hot dog skiing that draws once legendary freestyling household names and big-name sponsors.
"For me, it was never about trying to prove that I was the best. It was about sharing the joy and excitement. It was about entertaining people while showing the possibilities of what can be done on skis. Most importantly, skiing is about camaraderie and family," Wayne says.
kmrnskier
11-13-2003, 12:21 PM
Targhee - I'm almost embarassed to say it, but I haven't hear of Wong. Sounds like a great down-to-earth type guy though. Time to research him.
Skilasnow
11-13-2003, 12:43 PM
kmrnskier:
Targhee - I'm almost embarassed to say it, but I haven't hear of Wong. Sounds like a great down-to-earth type guy though. Time to research him. We young kids... I don't know him either
targheehucker
11-13-2003, 01:51 PM
****e Im only 26... its the mogul background i guess...
http://www.yourproduceman.com/images/olympicsjonnymoseley.jpg
Skilasnow
11-13-2003, 01:59 PM
targheehucker:
****e Im only 26... its the mogul background i guess...
http://www.yourproduceman.com/images/olympicsjonnymoseley.jpg I also didn't start skiing until 10 seasons ago... and though I was fascinated watching all the skiing events as a kid, names did not stick, except for Suzy Chapstick and Jean Claude Killy
Bill Johnson...
****y gold medal down hiller... Crashed a few years ago and had bad injuries now he's relearning to ski...
A guy with black hair skiing backwards and crosover stepping into and out of turns....and then for fun doing the same while skiing forwards. Yeah, that's Wayne. Tips spins, tails spins, yup, Wanyne grinding holes in the snow. First full rotation Daffy, oh yeah, whatta skier!
Obviously quite a human being too, thanks for the update.
Castlerock
11-13-2003, 03:29 PM
Bode...
He can ski at a level that no one else on the planet can at this point. In the GS at Soelden, he not only won, he had the best time on both runs.
Sorry Mum. Going on the advice of people that know him he is universally admired. I met him last weekend and found him approachable, genuine and great with my kids. That same comment can't be said about the Mahres or Bill Johnson. Hell the Mahres were basically their own ski team.
BladeGirl
11-13-2003, 05:50 PM
Skilastucks:
[QUOTE]I also didn't start skiing until 10 seasons agoMe too. This will be my 10th season. Now I think of all the years I missed when I could have been skiing.
-BG
Mumster
11-13-2003, 06:08 PM
Castlerock:
Bode...Sorry Mum. Going on the advice of people that know him he is universally admired. Castlerock:
I've heard others lavish the highest of praise on Bode for his mentoring skills as well. So, that's what I expected when we met him. Staggering around with a dazed look in front of hundreds of children isn't acceptable behavior for a role model in my book. I hope my experience with him was the exception - he's such a fantastic skier I'd prefer to think of him as an all round superhero.
2plankerider
11-13-2003, 07:41 PM
haven't heard of WONG? the white shaded ripper!
ahhhhhh young grasshopper you have lot to learn...
i must admit WONG was a few years before my time. as i said before... i'm an eighties man
Scott Schmidt. whatever DID happen to him?
Glen Plake. he has been quoted as saying the influences on HIM were the forefathers of hot dogging... you guessed it... WONG to name a few.
BTW K-MART rocked today!
the conditions were sub par, but hey, it was my :1stracks: of the year and i could not be happier :D
it only gets better from here...
Frankontour
11-13-2003, 07:46 PM
1) Matt Duffy (lol)
2) why not me :D (not really)
Any extreme skier able to ski some extreme woods like if it was a beginner trail. I don't care of the olympic skiers.
kmrnskier
11-13-2003, 08:19 PM
2Planker - I'm really not a young grasshopper - will be 31. I use to watch alot of skiing with the folks when I was a youngster, maybe I just don't remember the name Wong :confused: ?? You guys really have me thinking now b/c I just can't remember him LOL
surfy
11-13-2003, 11:47 PM
Warren Miller. Met him once in Lake Tahoe, very interesting guy and a great story teller. Still can rip with the best of them.
surfy
Skilasnow
11-14-2003, 02:15 AM
And Obermeyer! He f'n rocks! in his 80's and still playing the fox. The last time I heard he ditched the crew chasing him with a parachute and a kayak!..!..!....
He deserves some credit for being the all around check-this-out-for-a-way-down guy!
elwood
11-14-2003, 08:20 AM
Out in Steamboat I skiied with Billy Kidd. He is the man. Any dude who will ski in a cowboy hat in 10 degree weather has a huge pair. Plus he won a medal back in the day and he still rips.
2plankerider
11-14-2003, 10:36 AM
kmrnskier....
31 is still younger than me :D (not much though)
yeah, growing up i never really did hear the name wayne wong much, just a bit of ski related info that has been stored in the 'ol cranium for when i get on skier jeopardy some day.
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