There’s this new killer mag out called freeze, started by The Skiing Company, the people who publish a couple of the old-school ski mags like Ski and Skiing. If you’re an old asshole, say over 35, and therefore don’t have a clue about skiing, let me tell you about it. You need it.
You kinda get a look-in on the front cover, where the blurbs feature “Fear & Loathing,” “Ski Scum,” “huckin’ for dollars on the extreme tour” and “dirtydozen—12 of the sickest skiers.”
freeze, in its own words, “is the magazine for freeskiers who are into big air, sick lines, and all-mountain skiing.” Most of the pages are filled with the exploits and sayings of about 20 really cool bros and sistahs who are the top freeskiers. They travel all over the world at the expense of their many sponsors, ripping sick lines and hucking off cliffs at places like Las Leñas, Crested Butte and Valdez. Associate Publisher Michael Jaquet assembled seven of them in Boulder—what he describes as “the equivalent of freeskiing’s Dream Team.”
Writes Jaquet, “We focused on what the contents of the magazine should be . . . ‘You gotta have real skiers in here,’ proclaimed one of them, Brad Holmes, his bleeding nipple. . . lending some awkward type of legitimacy to his statement as he held the latest issue of an old-school ski mag over his head. ‘All you have here is a bunch of models in stretch pants.’”
The first feature in the start-up issue is by the same Brad Holmes, described by Jaquet as having a not-unfounded reputation “as a punk.” The editor tells us that Holmes “decided to grace the pages of freeze’s premiere issue with his ranging thoughts on topics like skiing, snowboarding and religion.” A sampling:
- What kind of person is Brad Holmes?—”I think I’m kind, considerate, thoughtful, and gentle. There’s a lot of rumors, but I’m actually a nice guy. I only care about my friends, and everyone else can f–k off. . .”
- The ski industry?—”Well, one of the positive things in the industry right now is that skiing is finally changing over to a younger generation, something I tried to tell them to do about six years ago, and now they’re starting to listen. The negative part is a bunch of old men run the industry who have no clue about skiing—conservative Republicans.”
- Squallywood?—”Squaw Valley? It’s my favorite place to ski in the world, but the people who run it suck. They treat their athletes and the people who have been there for years like shit. For instance, they didn’t even give me a pass. . .”
Many of these elite freeskiers are into such killer sports as kayaking, BMX racing and freeride mountain biking. They also seem to be into partying. Big time. Like Kent “007” Kreitler, one of the Dream Team, who boasts, “When we got back to Jackson Hole, we had one final night of partying, and we just went off. I mean we almost drank the entire town dry. We raged all night.”
What they’re not into is work, which sucks and interferes with skiing. The alternative is to get enough endorsements and, like, ski all year.
Some, like Brad Holmes, are one-time Ski Team stars. We are told he became “disgruntled with the bullshit pretty-boy politics of U.S. Skiing [and] made a move to the Pro Mogul Tour.” Surprisingly, the 27-year-old plans to be in the 1998 Olympics. “Back when I stopped,” he is quoted in freeze as saying, “I was so far ahead of everyone and I think they are just catching up now.”
Another refugee from the Ski Team is Wendy Fisher who “burned out big time” just before the ’94 Olympics and quit the team. “I was fried on everything, I was miserable.” Today, she is one of several betties who have earned “full respect” from the bros in the world of elite extreme skiing. “Competition changes me,” she is quoted as saying. “Race days come and it’s unbelievable, I have, like, total balls. I just rip it; I don’t know what gets into me.”
The world of these athletes and of freeze is a tight, cozy, mutually supportive one. They enthusiastically plug each other and each other’s sponsors, so the magazine has no problem putting a Rip Curl ad featuring Brad Holmes (day-glow red hair and all) facing Brad’s interview. The bros have nothing but good things to say about each other, at the same time that they rag on the dorks who don’t ski at their level and clutter up the extreme championships, hucking off cliffs and “leaving bomb holes at the bottom.”
This frustration is echoed by another writer on the freeze masthead, Tom Winter, who contributed an article titled “Die Tourist Scum.” It starts, “Tourists suck!” He goes on to regret that as a Vail rental shop employee he has to “be nice to all the gapers and S.P.O.R.E.S [Stupid People on Rental Skis].”
Perhaps most compelling are the 12 color pages of extreme skiing photography called “freezeframe.” It highlights Alaska and, like, it’s breathtaking! Enough to send an area risk manager staggering to the bottle.
The ads in freeze are schizo. Some are in-the-face like the magazine itself: “Get Sick” (Dynastar), “Not all fantasies deal with sex” (Jackson Hole). Even staid old Winter Park came through with a sexually implicit message: “Tame Me!! . . . My dream man, like my powder, has to be fresh and deep. If you fit the bill, call Mary Jane at Winter Park Resort.”
But hip conglomerate American Skiing Company (ASC) promotes “Family Adventureland: dedicated family skiing and riding” at Sugarbush, Vt.; and the raging young dudes who read freeze learn about Killington’s Learning Center with child care and that it is “the only place that gives you an entire mountain dedicated to families.” No shit.
Graphically, freeze shares with the snowboarding mags a rowdy attitude toward layout. Images are obviously important; words are not. Otherwise you wouldn’t put them on top of dense photographic backgrounds that make them, like, unreadable. Hey, who needs them?
There will be just one issue of freeze this season, but starting next September, four issues a year have been announced. Subscriptions will cost $7.95 (single copy $2.99). You can save some serious coin if you pay by credit card.
