Freeskiing Alliance takes off
Local skiers take park and pipe to new heights

SideStory: A short history of freeskiing: From the Chugach to the double switch

Landon Verce, of the San Juan Freeskiing Alliance, airs it out at the Pitchfork Terrain Park on Monday. This weekend, Verce will take on some of the world’s best skiers at the U.S. Freeskiing Open in Copper Mountain./Courtesy of Thru the Lens

by Will Sands

This is the future of skiing,” James Parmer, coach of the San Juan Freeskiing Alliance, says matter of factly. Freeskiing is steadily taking root in Durango and the San Juan Mountains, as a tight legion of local skiers pushes the limits of what can be done on snow.

Freeskiing is a relatively new innovation that has its roots in both freestyle and extreme skiing. At first, the term was synonymous with big mountain skiing. But with big help from ESPN’s X-Games, freeskiing has moved off of Alaska’s Chugach Range and onto nearly every ski resort. Under the banner of freeskiing, athletes are now pushing the limits of gravity at parks and pipes all over the country, and Durango is no exception.

“Right around 1995, it seemed like everyone went to snowboarding,” says Parmer. “A few years later, Salomon came out with the first twin tips, and guys started doing snowboard tricks on skis. The rest is history. Now, we’ve got people going much bigger and higher on skis that they ever did on snowboards.”

Kirk Rawles is the coordinator for the Durango Winter Sports Foundation, an umbrella organization for Durango alpine, freestyle and Nordic ski teams. Like Parmer, Rawles said that the growth in freeskiing is undeniable, as more and more kids are honing their skills in the park.

“We’ve seen a lot of growth in freeskiing,” he says. “I think a lot of that is due to the X-Games and the amount of exposure the event has gotten. ESPN is a real driving force on this, and the message has definitely gotten out there.”

This season, freeskiing is going bigger and higher in Durango than ever before. The San Juan Freeskiing Alliance, a nonprofit club for developmental freeskiers in the region, now boasts seven student-athletes who focus on pushing the boundaries of park and pipe skiing. The Alliance gained extra momentum this year when Parmer, formerly the head park and pipe coach at Mammoth Mountain, relocated to the Four Corners and took over coaching duties.

“We called it the San Juan Freeskiing Alliance because we want it to be community based,” says Megan McClenny, assistant coach and secretary. “We want kids from all over, not just Durango. We’re also trying to expose them to skiing as an art form. This is more than a sport.”

The message is definitely going beyond competition and training. In Durango, members of the Alliance are taking the discipline and artistry of freeskiing into their daily lives, according to Parmer.

“It really is becoming its own culture,” he says. “All of these guys are artists, they play instruments and everything in their lives is tied to urban art. With freeskiing, that urban art form is also being taken to the mountain.”

Several local athletes are also4 doing their parts to elevate freeskiing to a high art. Fifteen-year-old Durangoan Landon Verce will square off against the best skiers in the world this weekend during the U.S. Freeskiing Open at Copper Mountain. Verce was one of 100 skiers selected by raffle for the top national event, which includes superpipe, slopestyle and big air contests.

The San Juan Freeskiing Alliance takes a break from practice at Durango Mountain Resort’s Pitchfork Terrain Park. Pictured (L-to-R) are: Landon Verce, Gian Salzillio, Coach James Parmer, Porter Peterson and Paul Bikis. Kneeling are Megan McClenny, assistant coach, and Gabrielle Salzillio./Courtesy of Thru the Lens

“It’s definitely kind of scary,” he says. “There are going to be a ton of really good skiers there. But I’m still hoping to do well.”

Verce got into freeskiing several years ago, as a way to push his skills. While he has aspirations of a podium someday in the U.S. Open or X-Games, he got into park and pipe because of the fun.

“I could already ski pretty well, and I just wanted to push myself some more,” he says. “The park seemed like the best place to do that. So my brother took me in there one day, and I was hooked instantly.”

The San Juan Freeskiing Alliance is hoping for more success stories like Verce’s in coming years. McClenny and Parmer agreed that local skiers have the

potential to go to the top but are in need of some community help.

“If the athletes are dedicated, they can go really far, really quickly,” McClenny says. “The kids here all have the potential, but a lot of them are short on funding and need scholarships. It’s also difficult to get released from the school system to get out and train. These kids are dedicated to skiing, they just need some support.”

In many ways, freeskiing remains a fledgling sport and is struggling to forge its way into ski areas and ski towns, according to Parmer.

“It’s hasn’t been easy,” Parmer says. “A lot of ski areas are reluctant to work with the freeride kids, saying they’d rather have a family environment. Personally, I don’t know what family would want to visit an area without a good park.”

But the times are also changing, just ask Verce.

“Someday, we’d all like to be on the podium spot in a big competition,” the local skier says. “We’re also hoping that it won’t be long before freeskiing is part of the Olympics.” •

San Juan Freeskiing Alliance member Paul Bikis executes a rad mute fakey rail grab???? at DMR’s Pitchfork Terrain Park on Monday./Photo by Thru the Lens