Way back in the 90s, there was a little sport called Free Style Jump. Back then, they did a whole lot more of the ramp than just flips, gainers and helis. They’d do all of that, then they’d do it on just a single ski, throw in some 1 ski 540’s, mobes, back mobes and some other stuff that I’m really not sure what they are and you have some pretty slick free style jumping.
It still exists today to some extent. Now it’s called show ski jump, but just a bit tamer. They mainly stick to the three staples (helis, flips and gainers), with a handful of people doing a bit more. You see the occasional 720, some one ski helis, and the vary rare mobious, but you just don’t see them vary often. In the show ski world, unless you can stick damn near everytime, it’s just not going to make the show. It’s too risky when you’re going for a state, regional or national championship.
But here are some people that don’t care about scores. They just care about making you go “what the hell did I just see?” or “wow” or “holy shit!” and occasionaly make you’re jaw drop.
Now some ski teams still push the envelope a little bit. Mad-City has Paul O’Conner who’s one of a handfull of people who can through a 720, and probably the only one that lands it consistently. They also have a stable of jumpers so they can put together double 1-ski gainers, or the more traditional triple gainers. There’s also Jon Debelak who’s skied for RAJ & Badgerland that can through the Mobe and gets to pull it out once in a while.
Some other teams will put together some crazy jumps of people flipping over helis and what not, but nothing like old school free style jumping.
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