The Olympics
Free Skiing Slope Style
Free Skiing Slope Style
Free Skiing Slope style was added to the Olympic program on July 4th, 2011.
§ Nick Goepper was the first American free skier to qualify for the Olympics.
§ He recently competed in the free skiing slope style and did the triple cork 1440 in competition at the X games.
§ Keri Herman, 30, is the oldest member of Free Skiing Slope Style.
§ Slope Style is a winter sporting event where the goal is to perform the most difficult tricks
§ Slope style snowboarding/skiing is performed on specially made trails at ski mountains
§ These trails, called "terrain parks" or "jib parks", are filled with various types of jumps and other obstacles.§ The goal of the snowboarder/skier is to use all of these to their advantage while riding down.
§ Jumps on a slopestyle course can be as big or small as needed, but most range from 20 to 80 feet long.
§ Rails come in all shapes and sizes, from long straight ones to rainbow shaped ones.
§ Rails must be cared for extensively
§ The snowboarder/skier tries to perform tricks onto or off the rail in combination with sliding the whole length of the rail
§ Similar to a rail is an obstacle called a box.
§ Just as it sounds, a box is literally a wooden or metal box placed on the mountain whose top is covered with a slippery material
§ This allows snowboarders/skiers to ride onto the box and slide the length of it back onto the snow.
§ The goal of this obstacle is to hit the sphere with the tips of your skis or poles while clearing it
§ Also, there are "table tops", where the rail takes the form of a wide box rail or a "picnic table