Before afterbang, no poles, tight pants, tall T’s, Tom Wallisch’s facial hair, or the merits of Full Tilts were the topics du jour, there was the debate over whether skiing had lost its soul. There were articles in the major magazines, and more importantly there were endless threads on everyone’s favorite forum for the masses. My search for old NS threads was thwarted by the prevalence of “soulja boy” and “plenty soul” topics that have pushed the old “soul” threads out of the searchable archive. A Google search provides some archaeological evidence that the topic was hot around 2004-05, including a major mag that went to Mad River Glen and Mt. Bohemia to search for the lost soul.

As I remember it, the debate centered around whether newschool was true to the old soul of skiing. Some said that it was an obvious descendant of the freestylers and big mountain pioneers of yore. Others lamented the obsession with outerwear, gorilla steeze (remember that?), and artificial terrain parks. The youth had lost the soul.

The topic has largely disappeared from magazines and ski sites. Does this mean that the soul was laid to rest around 2005? Or was the hullabaloo just an old generation dying, and a new one picking up the torch? Have we proven ourselves to have soul? I think there’s a lot to say either way. Take a second and vote…but if you’ve got more to say then just drop in a comment. We’d love to hear the state of the issue as you see it.