Ed Andrews: Corked out
It seems that snowboarding is awash with a buzzword, or more accurately, two. One is ‘double’ and the other is ‘corked’. It’s become the new Holy Grail. But instead of being plundered by sexist archaeologists and blundering medieval knights, it’s being felt up by dudes sliding about on trays. Red Bull built Shaun White his own half pipe in Colorado to perfect doing them back-to-back, Marko Grilc just won the Air & Style by doing them switch and Nike 6.0 have been fluffing up airbags for their new super-team to nail them.
I don’t wish to get bogged down in nerdy jargon, but for those unfamiliar with the trick, a double-corked 1080 is basically two consecutive off-axis flips with three full rotations. In simple terms, it’s fucking hard. And to just put on another layer of difficulty, it’s most commonly done in big air comps or half pipes, therefore, ice! Yeah, fucking ice. Really, it should be done by stuntmen on ropes, not fresh-faced kids barely out of high school who don’t even have the common sense to wear a helmet while doing them.
People have been going mad for them ever since David Benedek put the first one down in a competition at the 2006 Air & Style. But speaking as a pretty average snowboarder, I just cannot relate to them.
Firstly, maybe due to some mild brain deficiency, I find myself having to watch the most basic spin about twenty times to figure out what exactly I just saw. To explain it to myself, I have to form some kind of Powerpoint presentation in my mind complete with Post-It note annotations and Matrix bullet time replays. I usually have to shut my eyes as well and may even start dribbling a bit too.
And secondly, I was doing double corked 1080s off cliffs, in-between nosepressing handrails, in Amped 2. For me, they belong in the realm of video games and pornographic snowboard fiction, not as a staple of any major snowboarding event.
Double corks are something that only a handful of snowboarders can do. As I was recently told by one very notable snowboarder (who I’m not going to mention by name because it would make me sound like a name-dropping douchebag), if you can’t do them, there’s no point even entering a top flight contest anymore. It’s very much a case of, ‘Cork it or get the hell out, bro!’
Everyone always talks about progression in snowboarding, but is this really progress? Well, of course it is but it’s progress Dubai-style. It’s elitist, look-at-this-massive-fuck-off-skyscraper-you-will-never-be-able-to-afford-to-live-in progress fuelled by energy drinks and sports psychologists. It’s not inspirational, it’s mechanical, inaccessible and, ultimately, it leaves me numb.
I’m not trying to be some snowboard Nazi saying what is right or wrong for the sport. There are far too many clichés floating around about what snowboarding is or isn’t and I don’t wish to add to them. Don’t get me wrong, I massively respect the anyone who can do them and am in awe of their talent (the same way I am in awe of microchip technology and space travel) but it just doesn’t work for me on any emotional level.
What really gets me aching for my next snowboard trip are things like TJ Schneider’s awesome The Snowboard Realms. These DIY snippets feature all the things that I love in snowboarding; talking shit on lifts, ducking under the ropes, ollie-ing off bumps on the piste, buttering cat tracks and, of course, hitting the snow face first. It’s snowboarding you can touch, taste and smell. Snowboarding you feel that one day you might actually be able to do.
Well, probably not, but you can dream anyway…
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Comments (5)
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There has to be parameters in which to award points and push progression - amplitude, rotations, corks - otherwise you can't hold contests, plus the non-snowboarding public need some kind of calibration to understand the skill level.
Films will always be where artistic free-spirits thrive - rather than the competitively minded - and inspire because they're from a completely different, left brained, sphere: comparing the two is like lumping the X Factor and Radiohead into the same category - or the Tour de France with a Fixed film. Polar opposites of one creative medium.
Agreed: a double cork 10 may seem dull if a person finds it difficult to comprehend, but when you compare tricks from the Air and Style five years ago to today, the standard now is insane. Especially when you realise the guy who took gold was a completely surprising, outsider wildcard, who's riding has improved exponentially in the last year, and who beat all the top five favourites.
P.s. what's with all the swearing?
Can you name a freesport where progress is not elitist and narrows down the playing field to those who are truly committed and willing to risk death in order to be at the forefront of the sport? Comps have always, and will always, be about spin to win and go big or go home.
Bmxing competitions are all about who can do the biggest spins and most inverted tricks. In rollerblading it is all about triple backflips and flatspins on vert and the biggest spins into and out of grinds and skateboarding well.... whole other level compared to five years ago. In short, all sports are the same.
Also, when have competitions ever 'worked' for anyone on an emotional level?
Competitions have only ever been about two things: Recognition and money. Athletes use these events as a means to an end. Get some sponsors. Get some cash. Plain and simple. The true icons of bmxing, skateboarding and snowboarding have always been the ones in groundbreaking videos that show the viewer something completely unique, not Shawn White murking the world's best in his tender teen years.
I'd take a lazy afternoon sessioning a makeshift kicker (read: a shoddy pile of snow plumped down with the back of your board) over watching an event, any day.
the more established pro sports are finding other plateaus which make them hard to predict what's next in terms of their actual sport development
take rugby where the athletes are becoming bigger, like human battering rams and the skill of the game is sadly on the wane and being replaced by territory advantage, much like american football....or football where the most notable events in recent times are one of the greatest players head butting another player or the most exciting part of the season is actually seeing who has the most money in the transfer window. a simplified view but you get the point hopefully....it's all about winning and the green ($)
snowboarding is young in comparison and the limits of what's possible in landing moves has obviously not been reached, but where else is there to go for these young athletes other than going one better?
as they get older their need for something more fulfilling will take over, then they can go for a freeride with that old sage of the mountains ed andrews (if they're physically still able to)
Thing is, you’ve only got to look at the fact Red Bull have just dropped half a mill on building Shaun White his own private half pipe in the Colorado wilderness (so he can “push the sport further”) to realise that those two worlds are light years apart… especially when, instead of a drag lift, he prefers the combo of private chopper and skidoo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....h2JC_XA
Does it really ‘push the sport forward’ if Shaun White hammers his pipe non-stop (easy tiger!) until he perfects the, what... triple cork… quadruple cork? Not for me it doesn’t. Granted, it’s an intriguing spectacle to watch on Youtube for a couple of minutes, but how exactly has it ‘raised the bar’ for me and other intermediates out there?
Having said that, if Red Bull wanted to build a private fun park for me and my mates I’m sure I’d be the first man on that chopper… all in the sake of progress of course.