Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25059
PHOTO: SCOTT MAR KEWITZ PH OTO: TONY DEMIN , . � knows is that he's a freestyle skier-a bumper-and maybe, somewhere inside, he knows what his coaches know, that he's part of a sacred line, a part of the future of American skiing. I have been skiing since I was five and am more than twice Tanner's age and no matter what else, this kid is a better skier than I, worlds better; and I have no doubt that a part of me would trade it all in to be Tanner, to be 13 again, to be a part of that same tradition. If you are wondering why, well, that's one of the reasons for this story. Let's start with the facts: You are not the skier you want to be. You slap your boards, you slide your tails, and you have no independent leg action. You can't carve the troughs or get your legs to go from dead vertical to a neat 90- degree angle-like a man seated in a chair-or if you can you can't do it in the fraction of a second that it takes. No matter what else you want to believe, you can't ski bumps like bumps are meant to be skied. If you don't believe me, spend part of this coming summer at freestyle camp. Spend July at Nelson Carmichael's Freestyle International on Mt Hood or atop the Beartooth Pass with Mickey Price at Montana Mogul or take the plunge and head to Whistler, BC, and hang out with Cooper Schell at World Mogul, because these are the places behind the fantasy. This is where the hard work takes place. Mogul skiing is a relatively new sport. It began around 1970 and has gone from being a part of the outer edge of the outer edge of the sport ing world to being the outer edge of the outer edge; and yet, at the same time, it has gone through enough permutations and rebirths to make Darwin's head spin. In less than 30 years mogul skiing has changed dramatically. Originally, the course was one long field of moguls and skiers raced down the hill in a dizzy, acrobatic display that allowed them to ski the tops, the backs, the in-betweens of the moguls; to launch themselves into the air whenever and wherever they felt like it. This meant that watching the sport was an intense free-for-all and the judging was based on a series of critical assumptions that could well serve as parameters for a Twilight Zone episode. During the last 10 years, bump skiing moved from the tops of the moguls to the rut line. The rut line is the line of divots betV)'een moguls, the fall line in a bump field, the fastest way to go from pOI n t PHOTO: TONY DEMIN