I became aware of freeski culture at the height of the Skittle-thug era.
Magazines were packed with shots of folks in the Salomon Magic Suit and G Suit.
Skiing had an unmistakable style.
I remember battling my parents to not make fun of me for wearing XXL snow pants.
Id sneak an extra long basketball jersey into my pack to put over my hoody for spring steeze.
Skiing had a distinctive flavor, and I was doing everything in my power to match it.
Nowhere was this flavor more evident than in boot design.
Salomons SPK was still in vogue, complete with faux leather toe and graffiti/tattoo/trashy inspired font.
The park rats mostly rocked Wallisch boots, or Dropkicks with Wallisch tongues.
The tongues were the important part.
That pant sagged over the sneaker look was very in.
I distinctly remember wanting to dress like Tyler in 2014.
He was very cool.
you might find hints of that in every trend.
But at the end of the day, were all still playing dress up.
Sometimes its cultural appropriation, sometimes its wildly impractical, regardless, skiers like their costumes.
The patches on denim look is pretty fricking timeless.
Well, not really.
Even that performance apparel follows its own trends.
It came to a head for me when I saw spandex skimo suits printed to look like Canadian Tuxedos.
Skimo is supposed to beallabout performance, right?
Why else would you wear a skin tight onesie and ski terrible scary toothpicks in awful conditions?
But even here, at the most practical end of the sport, were still dressing up.
At times this winter has felt a little too serious.
Those are big, open ended questions, with few actionable answers.
But I decided I could make one change right away.
But my new touring boots are three-piece, with a big top cable.
So I threw my request out to the internet, and the internet provided.
So this spring Ill be touring with my tongues out, over my pants.
It’s called fashion!
Maybe thats why companies like Tipsy Elves can exist.
Skiers like dressing up, we love our costumes.
