Ski Culture 101

As all of you in District 203 have clearly noticed, winter is upon us whether we like it or not. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one slipping and sliding as I drove to school Monday morning. For some people, this sudden onset of winter is awful; it means uncomfortably freezing temperatures and gloomy snowy weather. That’s not my view of winter. Winter for me is another world entirely; it’s all about skiing, all the time.

A picture of me skiing last season.

Let me give you some background. Being born in Colorado, I was actually at the mountains my very first winter as a 4-month-old. My parents took turns skiing while the other was watching me in the lodge. Needless to say, skiing is in my blood and I have been doing it since I could walk. Fast forward to now, I have been teaching ski lessons as my winter job for years and I have been ski racing since fourth grade. 

Living in Illinois, we aren’t exactly inundated with people who are familiar with skiing, seeing as it’s pretty flat terrain. Let me give you a crash course quickly before we continue. Ski culture comes with its own set of words and phrases that are unique to it. Here are a few that you’ll need to understand this post:

Jerry: Someone who can’t ski or snowboard at all, making them a nuisance on the mountain.

Slalom: A style of ski racing. It can get a little intense because the turns are shorter and faster.

Yard Sale: When you crash and lose all your gear. Skis, poles, the whole nine yards.

Send: Just going for it, usually referring to a jump or trick. Almost always a ‘send’ is something that shouldn’t be attempted, but that’s what makes it so great.

Now that you’re caught up on your lingo, your next step in getting familiar with ski culture is understanding who to follow to keep yourself up-to-date on ski humor. As you can imagine, putting uncoordinated people on skis can lead to some thrilling crashes. This is the kind of humor that gets me through the long hours teaching ski lessons to four-year-olds on Saturdays, and it’s only fair that you get to experience it as well. Without further ado, here are the best two skiing Instagram accounts to follow.

  1. Slalom Tokyo Drift

For a racer like me, this is prime content. This account features the best of the best ski racing crashes. From getting tangled in fences to full-on yard sales, this is where I go to laugh at people just like me. In fact, one of my teammates made it to the page a couple of years back and he still hasn’t lived it down. Essentially, this account is great for a very specific type of crashing: high-speed stupidity at its finest.

Beyond Slalom Tokyo Drift’s ability to make you laugh and cringe at people’s mistakes simultaneously, they actually do great work for the ski community. The account is working on becoming a nonprofit according to this article from Powder. Their goal is to raise money to make ski racing safer through their collab with Flylow on a pretty sweet hat. 

2. Jerry of the Day

Just like Slalom Tokyo Drift, Jerry of the Day pokes fun at the many mishaps that befall skiers constantly. The only difference here are the subjects; instead of just racers, these posts are all about Jerries everywhere, on and off the mountain. The feed features a collection of crashes on the mountain to insane free skiing sends to pure stupidity just about anywhere. There are so many posts I can’t pick a favorite, but here’s an article from Freeskier that lists the top 15 posts from 2018 so I don’t have to pick. This account is great for those times when you’ve been having a bad day and need to laugh at people who are stupider than you.

Jerry of the Day got started when the owner, Colton Hardy, poked fun at one of his college teammates on Facebook, according to an article from Ski Magazine. From there, the idea just took off, and now Jerry of the Day has 1.7 million followers and a pretty cool set of merch on their website

If that’s not enough ski culture for you, there’s always Powder Magazine or Ski Magazine. Both have been staples in my house for years, and they’re a great resource if you just want to kick back and read more about great mountains and equipment. I know all of that can be a lot at first though, so the best way I recommend to break into ski culture is to just get out there on a pair of skis. I know it can be intimidating at first, but there is always going to be a seasoned vet there to cheer you on. I promise, we’re just happy to see our community grow, but don’t be surprised if we sneak a video to send to Jerry of the Day 😉

2 thoughts on “Ski Culture 101

  1. Hey Makenzie!
    So, I’ve been watching Jerry of the Day videos for the past 30 minutes and I gotta say it’s been the best 30 minutes of this entire weekend. I really, really enjoyed reading this post, especially since I totally wasn’t aware of the existence of a ski culture, let alone lingo for it!

    I used to go on ski trips when I was younger but, uh, I’m not exactly sure what happened to those. I’m definitely a Jerry, but maybe not as bad as the Jerry-of-the-Day Jerry’s. I can stay upright. Last time I went was in Winter Park, Utah, and I just remember I was pizza-ing (is there an actual word for that?) to slow down and I got a cramp in both of my calves and my butt somehow. My oblivious family left me behind as I was trying not to go full speed down the slope while simultaneously trying to un-cramp my body. It was the only time I tumbled down a slope HAHA.

    Anyway, I LOVED how you tagged in the Instagram accounts – it just makes the entire post so engaging (thank you for my new source of entertainment).

    1. I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that you’re loving these accounts like I am! It’s so fun that skiers and non-skiers alike can enjoy Jerry of the Day because it’s just plain funny. Also, I definitely approve of the term “pizza-ing” and I think it should be added to official ski vocab because I’ve definitely used it when teaching little kids. Anyways, I’m so happy you enjoyed this little taste of ski culture!

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