New-School Skiing Subculture: Commoditization and its Effects Jeremy Berke, Bowdoin College Department of Anthropology

I. Skiing has been a very popular and widespread activity in Europe and North America

for the past century. Throughout the early 20th century, skiing moved from the sole domain of the rich and famous, to a family activity, with mountain vacation resorts sprouting all over the West and East coasts. In the 1970s, groups of hardcore skiers in areas such as New Hampshire, Vermont, Colorado, and California began to interact with the sport in unprecedented ways. To these hardcore skiers, called hot-doggers skiing was no longer considered a leisurely activity but a lifestyle in of itself. Specific competitions were created for the skiers to showcase their abilities, and these competitions usually awarded monetary compensation to the winners. In placed such as Burlington, Vermont, and Boulder, Colorado, a sub-culture of hot-doggers developed. Fashion and media were ways in which the hot-doggers differentiated themselves from the family skier. As the hot-dogging fad fizzled out in the mid 1990s, the ski industry was going downhill fast. (Douglas) The general population again saw skiing as a staunch, boring, and wealthy mans sport. All the youthful vibrancy that the hot-dogger scene had encapsulated was usurped by snowboarding, with the advent of the snowboard in the early 1990s. During this time period, other extreme sports such as skateboarding and surfing had moved from niche markets to widespread mainstream popularity. Snowboarding fit right into the mix, and became the new sport of choice for youth. Young people who took to the mountains decided it was far cooler to strap one board to their feet, instead of two. Skiing became stale, and snowboarding was an exciting new extreme sport driven solely by youthful energy. In 1998, a group of skiers, known as the New Canadian Air Force (Douglas) endeavored to reinvigorate skiing. Around this time, snowboard parks, replete with jumps and rails started cropping up all over North American and European mountain resorts. The New Canadian Air Force, comprised of Mike Douglas, JF Cusson, JP Auclair, and Shane Szocs decided that skiers too could perform the same rail tricks and aerial stunts that snowboarders could in the snowboard parks. Yet the problem was, there were no skis designed for tricks, as all vitality and innovation in the ski industry had largely been at a stalemate since the early 1980s. So the New Canadian Air Force decided to make a video showcasing their talent at performing snowboard-style tricks, and they petitioned many large ski corporations to help them design a trick-specific ski. At the time, most ski companies had already assumed they had lost the youth market to snowboarding, and paid them no heed. Yet, late in 1999, Salomon contacted Mike Douglas and said they were willing to design a trick specific ski with him and the rest of the New Canadian Air Force (Douglas). This pivotal moment is widely considered the most important development in the history of new-school or trick skiing. The trick skis that Salomon designed, dubbed the 1080 were unique as they had tips on both the front and back, as well as symmetrical weight so that the skier could ski forwards or backwards equally well. The New Canadian Air Force now had a dedicated tool for attacking snowboard parks, and with it, they became far more proficient. (Douglas) In places such as Whistler, British Columbia, and Mount Hood, Oregon, many young people

started to notice the New Canadian Air Force and were impressed by the new type of skiing they were in the process of founding. As more and more young people started to buy trick skis, and invade snowboard parks all over North America and Europe, it was not long before various extreme-sports companies started to notice. At the time, youthful mountain companies such as Red Bull, North Face, and Rossignol had been focusing their attention on snowboarding. Yet, when it became apparent that trick skiing was gaining popularity, sponsor money from these companies came pouring in. The first new-school ski competition, the US Freeski Open, was held at Vail, Colorado, in 2000. From there, new-school skiing took off. More specific types of competitions, such as the slopestyle, half pipe, rail jam, and big air were developed to allow new-school skiers to showcase their abilities, and earn money. Older ski companies, who had at first dismissed the New Canadian Air Force, were now turning out trick skis at unprecedented rates. (Douglas) Ski companies started to cater to these new-school skiers, designing specific fashions to allow new-school skiers to reflect their sub-culture. By 2002, new-school skiers had a plethora of skis, fashion items, accessories, and competitions to attend in order to affirm their identity as new-school skiers, essentially externalize their culture. As new-school skiings popularity increased more, many core companies, specifically catering to new-school skiers started to develop. These were small, skier-owned, and skier-designed companies, such as Armada and 4frnt, that were created as a strong contrast to the corporate culture of skiing in the 1980s and 1990s. These companies helped to shape new-school skiing as a distinct extreme sport, rather than some obscure offshoot of traditional skiing. Unlike other extreme sports at the time, the innovation and progress of newschool skiing was driven by the skiers themselves, rather than multinational corporations and advertising agencies. By the mid-2000s, new-school skiing had progressed to the point where there were enough competitions, such as the X-Games, Dew Tour, and Freeski Open, where talented new-school skiers could become professional. These professionals trained in order to compete in various competitions, were sponsored by skier-owned companies, wore skier-designed fashions, and were even showcased in skier-owned media companies such as Level 1, Freeze Magazine, Teton Gravity Research (TGR), and Poor Boyz Productions (PBP). These skier-owned media companies developed in response to a burgeoning market of new-school skiers who wanted media, as traditional media providers deemed new-school skiing to small of a market to focus on. Arguably the most important media development was the website, Newschoolers.com, created in 2003 as a forum to link new-school skiers all over the world. On the website, new-school skiers could interact directly with their favorite pros, and other new-school skiing youth, read updates and articles about recent competitions, and even view both professional and amateur-submitted videos of other new-school skiers. Many consider Newschoolers.com a prime motivator of the new-school subculture, as, similarly to other media outlets such as MTV, it is a place for youth to discuss what is cool, what isnt, and what they are buying. (Schmuck 1) Newschoolers.com is a unique expression of new-school skiing subculture, and remains peerless. Though there are web forums for other extreme sports, none have the widespread popularity, and significance for the sport they represent as newschooler.com does. 2

With this increasing popularity, new-school skiing again found itself in a transition period. On one hand, the subculture was popular enough to support ski brands and media companies specifically dedicated to the subculture, yet still underground enough to avoid mass-commercialization. Many new-school skiers believe that it is this underground nature of new-school skiing that sets it apart from other sports. Yet, with the announcement of new-school skiings inclusion into the 2014 Sochi, Russia Winter Olympics, multinational corporations who previously did not have anything to do with skiing started to creep into the sport. Nowadays, large corporations such as Paul Mitchell, Toyota, and ESPN have begun to sponsor competitions, and design products for newschool skiing, capitalizing on the incredibly surge in popularity that the Olympics will provide. In the future, the new-school skiing youth will be confronted with the decision to maintain the soul of the sport, and continue to support core brands, or give in to the corporate dollars, and see new-school skiing become as mainstream as soccer.

II. Because the sport and subculture of new-school skiing was developed less than
fifteen years ago, there has been little to no academic research done thus far. However, much literature exists on the topic of extreme sports as a whole. New-school skiing is a high-risk sport, with a high propensity for grave injury, and even death for its participants. (Willig, 2008. 700), identified participation in extreme sports (those that have a high risk of injury or death) as more than a desire, but a real addiction. Yet, it is far different than a chemical dependency as these extreme-sport participants work very hard to develop a skill set and a mastery of their sport. (Willig, 2008. 698) posits that the risk-taking behavior in extreme sports fulfills a sort of therapeutic function for the athletes. She notes that extreme sport athletes are more likely to participate in known risky behavior, such as reckless driving, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, as well as unprotected sex (Willig, 2008. 691). Also noted is that extreme sport athletes have a strong desire for sensation-seeking, or the desire to encounter stimulating and new experiences, as a personality pre-condition for becoming involved in extreme sports in the first place (Willig, 2008. 692). The methods used in this study were psychological in nature, and sought to understand extreme sport phenomenologically, or to understand the basic structure of extreme sport through convergent accounts (Willig, 2008. 693). Therefore, interviews were carried out with various extreme sport athletes (mountaineers, skydivers, and downhill mountain bikers), and the transcripts were analyzed for patterns and themes (Willig, 2008. 693). Similarities can be drawn from new-school skiing to the sport of mountaineering. Both sports athletes attempt to engage with the dangerous mountains, and attempt to master the environment around them. (James, 2000. 12) concluded that though climbers die, other climbers do not alter their behavior significantly. Rather, they try to control the environment around them, believing that they can overcome the risks associated with climbing, and avoid death (James, 2000. 13). Climbers seek these near death experiences, as this pumps their body full of adrenaline, and many are addicted to this adrenaline rush (James, 2000. 7). Again, interviews were conducted with many climbers, and the transcripts were analyzed for patterns and themes, yet with more of a greater anthropological understanding, than Willigs individual psychological focus.

Extremely little literature exists with specific regard to new-school skiing. I conducted a phone interview with the head reporter for Newschoolers.com. He believed that an internet forum provides a locus of thought and trends from which the new-school subculture developed (Schmuck 1). As well, he believes that new-school skiing culture is largely driven by its participatory youth culture, as all professionals, core company heads, and even amateur athletes are all in their teens or twenties (Schmuck 1). Yet, he is excited and unnerved by the prospect of the introduction of new-school skiing into the winter Olympics, as it can provide many new opportunities for the subculture, but at the same time the mass corporate influence and commoditization may stamp out the grassroots, youth driven culture of the sport (Schmuck 2). I did manage to find a video interview with the original members of the New Canadian Air Force. Mike Douglas, the informal head of the group, elaborated on their integral role in developing the sport. He discussed the history of how and why they decided to try and revitalize the ski industry, and as well how the subculture came to be in his words, marvelously youth-driven and grassroots, largely devoid of corporate influence in its primary stages. (Douglas). The interview was conducted in 2007, slightly before real corporate influence started to creep into the sport. Much of the history this interview covered is dealt with in my introduction.

III. In order to research the issue of the mass commoditization of the subculture of newschool skiing with its introduction into the Olympics, I will build upon the foundational research of (Willig, 2008), and (James, 2000). I plan to interview all people involved in the subculture. I do not want to merely focus on the professionals. I want to hear the opinions of the amateurs at local ski hills, and how they feel about the decision to purchase their equipment and clothing from core brands, or corporate brands. As well, I would like to discuss with the professional athletes as to how they can rectify maintaining the youth-driven nature of the sport, while receiving lucrative corporate sponsorships from companies such as Target. Many professional new-school athletes are confronted with the decision to stick with the core brands, and earn far less money, yet play an integral role in the company decisions, as well as retain the soul of their beloved sport. Other athletes decide to go the lucrative route, and sign with multinational corporations, where they sacrifice their integral role in company decision making, as well as sacrifice the soul of their sport, yet earn far more money and mainstream media exposure than their peers. I would like to use the transcripts from these interviews to analyze personality and cultural traits that set core-represented athletes apart from corporate-represented athletes. As well, I would like to interview those that run core brands, and see how they feel about new-school skiings inclusion into the Olympics, and how they believe the corporate influence will affect their business. On the other hand, I would like to interview officials from corporations who are making inroads into the ski industry, and see how they can rectify their influence with maintaining the youth-driven nature of the sport. Finally, I would like to focus on media influence, by interviewing people from core media producers, such as Newschoolers.com, and Poor Boyz Productions, and see how they feel about mass-media producers such as ESPN, and Fuel TV starting to pay attention to skiing. To get the other side of the story, I would like to interview people from mass media producers to see how they feel about affecting the youth run core producers. 4

IV. New-school skiers generally fall into the white, middle-class socio-economic
demographic, so they are not particularly an at-risk group. I will give people the choice as to whether to use pseudonyms or not. As an amateur, and aspiring professional newschool skier myself, I believe that members of the new-school ski community will want their opinions heard and recognized by the mass media and corporations poised to influence our sport greatly in future years. I want the opinions of both the corporate brands and core brands to be made public, so as to stimulate free discourse between the two camps. One risk associated with my research is the lifestyle associated with newschool ski culture, such as high levels of marijuana usage, as well as underage drinking. When approaching subjects such as these, I will use discretion with associating this behavior to specific individuals who could be held accountable, and alert them that this information can be made public.

V. Through my anthropological query into the commoditization of the subculture of

new-school skiing, I hope to open channels of discourse between the core brands, and the amateurs and professionals that support them, as well as the corporations that are slowly overtaking the subculture. Without any discourse between the two groups, they are likely to come into conflict. The corporations will clearly seek to commoditize every aspect of the sport, while the core brands will obviously try and stop this from happening. With the introduction of new-school skiing into the Olympics the subculture will be thrust into the forefront of the mainstream limelight, and I believe that with proper discourse, some sort of balance can be achieved between the core brands and the corporate influence. It is likely that the subculture of new-school skiing will take on a new direction in the years leading up to, and after the Olympic debut. Fostering a path for the sport and subculture that satisfies all parties and prevents conflict is the work of anthropologists. Furthermore, I believe that an anthropological understanding of the commoditization process can be related to many other global issues. Especially, I believe that my research will have a profound effect on understanding how corporations commoditize developing states in our rapidly globalizing world. Though a different case, the patterns of corporate influence stamping out culture, and pushing local, core businesses out of business is the same. The commoditization of new-school skiing can be viewed as a microcosmical case study into the processes of corporate growth and influence into previously undeveloped states, and grassroots subcultures. In a world where corporate influence is growing, it is important to reconcile economic growth with cultural expression. With the specific case of new-school skiing, corporations cannot be allowed to erase the expressive and unique youth-driven subculture for economic growth. As outsourcing continues to occur in greater and greater quantities, corporations must not erase the unique cultures of the nations they commoditize. If new-school skiing proves to be capable of maintaining its soulful, youth-driven nature in the face of impending masscommoditization, than we can logically say that it is possible for corporations to rectify commoditization of developing nations with allowing the local cultures to thrive. Only the future will tell.

References Cited

James, E. Paul 2000 Concepts of Death Among Professional Alpine Climbers: Continuing Risk Behaviors in the Face of Death. Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University. Willig, Carla 2008 A Phenomenological Investigation of the Experience of Taking Part in Extreme Sports Journal of Health Psychology 13(5) 690-701 Douglas, Mike 2007 Interview by Chris Davenport. Riptv.com and Salomon Ski Company. 6 min. Schmuck, Jeff December 2, 2011. Personal Interview