We don’t like to think about money in skiing. Unfortunately, it’s a sad reality that skiers with bigger sponsors get bigger video parts and ESPN gives more air time to corporate-backed athletes. BUT, it’s nice to know that in this greasy-palm world, there is at least one skier who looks at the big picture.

He doesn’t let agents or massive sponsors determine his path. He knows that one good “that’s what she said” is worth ten actual dollars. And remaining in denial about your age and diminishing skillset is as good as finding the fountain of youth. Can’t put a dollar sign on that, bro.

With ski halfpipe’s inclusion in the 2014 Olympic Games looking more and more likely, the voice of opposition, once a murmur, has begun to ring out. Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that a nod from the Olympic Committee would only accelerate freeskiing’s meteoric rise from laughingstock of the action sports world to fastest growing segment of the snowsports industry. However, many of the freeski elite seem to be concerned about the larger implications of just such a shift.

Maybe the naysayers fear freeskiing will suffer a fate similar to rollerblading in the late 90’s, where too much too soon led to a veritable tsunami of a backlash—and ultimately—the sport’s commercial obliteration. Think it’s tough making a living as a pro skier? Try earning an honest living with in-line skates on your feet…well, outside of Japan, I mean. And outside of Sonic Burger.

Predictably, many of the most ardent dissenters are of the “X’s coolness is inversely related to the number of people who think X is cool” ilk, otherwise known as the “They sold out, their old stuff is way better” club. However, a sizable number of the….ahem….godfathers of our sport seem to also consider the Olympic push to be a possibly crucial misstep. Many potential issues have been cited by those wary of such a huge move, but the most common seem to be the fear of a return to the creativity stifling rigidity of high-profile competitions, and a drastic reallocation of dollars towards pipe-athletes and pipe skiing in general—at the expense of other niches.

And, who can really blame them? After all, wasn’t freeskiing’s emergence at the dawn of the aught’s a flipping of the bird to the FIS? Wasn’t the birth of the “newschool” a resounding rejection of the stagnant freestyle and aerial scenes?

So then, isn’t it a reasonable fear that, with pipe’s Olympic debut, companies will be powerless to fight the allure of diverting their already modest resources to pipe skiing in an attempt to reach a broader audience? If so, will training pipe become a freeskier’s only option in pursuing a career in skiing? And…if so, won’t our beloved sport, built on the desire to be “free”, become just another mess of tenth of a point deductions and suspect judging?

Well…in a word, no. As skiing is all too wont to do, we have but only to look to our snow-sliding brethren.

Since snowboard halfpipe took the Nagano games by storm in ’98, the sport has only grown, and much more tellingly, diversified. I’m not implying that there’s a cause and effect relationship there, but it’s clear that snowboarding having made the leap into the “mainstream” has not had a disastrous effect on the “little guys”, or on snowboarding culture.

As Shaun White has dutifully collected medals like some collect DUI’s, left-of-center film crews like the Videograss and Think Thank bunch(es?) have carved out sizable and lucrative niches for themselves. In addition, the likes of Travis Rice and Jeremy Jones (and many others) have pushed the very idea of what is possible on a snowboard outside of the confines of the ropes and gates. While a few large corporations control a sizable market share in both hard and soft goods—not unlike in skiing—several smaller brands have found ways to be successful; often by developing new technologies or through shrewd branding (sound familiar?). In 2009, a year in which hype for snowboard halfpipe reached a fever pitch in anticipation for the Vancouver games, sales for rockered snowboards—which are certainly not pipe-specific boards—more than doubled compared to the previous year. Simply put, in spite of snowboard halfpipe’s inclusion in the Olympic Games, the sport as a whole has only grown and fragmented into specialized factions. In fact, as the notoriety of Shaun White, Louie Vito, and other pipe jocks has grown, the “core” snowboarding culture has actually appeared to move away from rigidity and conformity, and towards freedom of individual expression. Sure, plenty of kids want to be Shaun White, but plenty others want to be Lucas Magoon or Scott Stevens or Gus Engle and so on.

So, why then are our freeskiing forefathers and elder statesmen so afraid of freeskiing going (more) mainstream?

No, skiing is not snowboarding, and skiing has a much longer and more diverse history particularly when talking about competition. So, naturally, I’m not suggesting that there’s any sort of guarantee that skiing’s inclusion will have an overall “positive” effect on the industry, or on “us” as individual skiers—nor is freeskiing guaranteed universal “respect” all of a sudden because the Olympic Committee decided it was worthy of a slot. The truth is that no one knows for sure what ski halfpipe being Olympified will change. But, there is one group that will most definitely benefit from ski halfpipe’s inclusion, and that’s the athletes themselves.

Matt Margetts, a likely member of the Canadian squad, summed up his outlook on the matter quite nicely in a recent post on newschoolers.com: “When halfpipe skiing gets into the 2014 Olympics in Sochi Russia, I will be competing. It will not be for money because that’s not what skiing is all about. It will be for the once in a lifetime opportunity to become an Olympian and potential medalist. Simple as that”. Aren’t his wants valid? After all, he’s one of the many that devote an enormous amount of time and energy to training pipe. Is it really the amorphous “ski community’s” place to say what FREEskiing should or shouldn’t be? Should passionate individuals be denied this opportunity because some multi-national corporations potentially stand to profit?

Encouragingly, despite competitive freeskiing reaching all-time highs in terms of visibility with the birth of the Dew Tour and a newly cast starring role at the X-Games, backcountry skis (AT/Randonee skis) saw a 48% increase in sales between ’08 and ’09. Additionally, three times as many rockered skis were sold in ’09 than the previous year…suggesting, yet again, that more and more people are exploring skiing outside of the traditional confines of icy halfpipes and resort boundaries all together. Furthermore, several freeski brands have emerged over the last five years that essentially forewent the idea that to sell skis they had to be photographed atop podiums at major competitions. All of that, coupled with the fact that the “webisode” and videoblog have proven to be incredibly popular and influential in driving consumer purchases, seems to suggest that ski halfpipe being elevated to Olympic heights won’t fundamentally change the sport.

At the end of the day, whether ski halfpipe makes the cut or not, the average kid who heads to the mountain, or hill as it were, will continue to do exactly what he or she finds most enjoyable. Whether it be hiking a handrail, earning pow turns, or competing in the largest athletic contest on the planet, it should be up to the individual in my book.

Please let us know what you think…is an Olympic berth good, bad, or meaningless?

I guess Olympic coverage is obligatory right now. The slipping ratings and questionable national relevance of these hallowed games aside, they’re still a pretty big deal. Then there’s the question of whether or not ski superpipe will make it in next time.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t care much less if ski superpipe makes it to the big stage. I have a hard enough time sitting through the X-Games; the Olympics would just be another event I have to pretend to care about. If you are one of these people who are still deluded enough to think that “freestyle” and competition can coexist, check out this article about baggy pants rules. Or check out some extreme commentary on that article.

Nonetheless, it does seem pretty ridiculous that there are no skiers up there in Whistler with that red Shaun person. Like everything though, it’s all business. There’s only so much airtime and there’s no way to speed up curling. That said, no NBC executive worth his weight in Conans would turn down an action packed double-sport. It’s more for less; simple economics. Nordic combined is going strong, so all we’ve got to do is a little freestyle-combined and we’re in the game baby!

I dug deep into the BroBomb Archives and discovered a little thing called Skijoring. It’s the original extreme Olympic sport. Back in 1928 these rad dudes were getting towed around by horses in pursuit of that sweet, sweet Gold. It’s been discontinued for the past 80 years, but what better time to bring it back?

Work with me here—you’ve got Simon Dumont behind his favorite pony dropping into the pipe. Not only is there a cute and cuddly horse to distract the public from the rebellious nature of his baggy pants, but there’s shit tons of amplitude. Amplitude! Naturally the skijoring-combined High Air is next, and we’re on the board with two totally extreme Olympic offerings.

U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!