David Wise Calls Out “Spin-to-Win” and Quad Cork

David Wise is a lot of things: Olympic gold medalist, husband, father, and perhaps the most outspoken pro in the freeskiing world right now. He notably spoke out against FIS in January for scheduling the World Championships at the same time as the X Games.

Wise made a Facebook post on Monday addressing the recent progression of the quad cork, landed for the first time on a snowboard last week. 

“Ever since I saw the Billy Morgan clip I have been waiting for someone to post this. Essentially the same landing, haha.

 

Brings up an interesting conversation about an individual riders responsibility to the sport as a whole. I know and understand how truly awesome it feels to do something that has never been done by any human before, but is the price that the sport pays too high?

There is no question that incredibly high levels of difficulty and danger WILL make a sport shrink. The more dangerous a sport, the more niche it is bound to be because less and less people will desire or even be able to do what is being done. Look at aerials. I honestly do not want to get in to that sport, because it is super gnarly and hard on the body, and for me the risks don’t outweigh the rewards. Many people say the same about halfpipe, and I respect that. To each, his own. With halfpipe, the rewards outweigh the risks for me, but if people start doing triple corks in the pipe, I might change my mind.

I love pipe, the feeling of both intense gravity and utter weightlessness make it my favorite thing to compete in. I want as many people to experience that as possible. I feel that if my competitors and I start doing triples in the pipe, it will further alienate our sport from kids who are just getting in to park skiing, and lead to the eventual downfall of the sport.

So to answer once and for all a question that I get a LOT: could I do a triple cork in the halfpipe? Unquestionably yes, I could. I could do triple corks both forwards (triple 16) and switch (sw trip 14) in the pipe. That might sound arrogant, but it is true. I have been competing in pipe at a high level for most of my life. I landed my first double in the pipe in 2008, and the first ever dub 12 in the summer of 2009, so I have had a lot of years to build muscle memory, and learn how to pop and snap just right. I am also a member of the US Freeskiing team, so I have access to every type of training imaginable; airbags, foam pits, water ramps, super tramps, private slushy pipes, etc. So of course I COULD do it. It might even be good for me personally to do so. It would get a lot of media attention and hype wouldn’t it? “First ever triple in the pipe performed my David Wise.” My PR team would say it was a “good move.” But I believe my responsibility to the sport is greater than that. My responsibility to the sport extends beyond what is just good for me. Kids getting in to pipe riding don’t have 14 years of experience riding pipe, or access to the training opportunities that I mentioned above so what are they going to think when they see me doing triples in the pipe? Probably some variation of: “that looks like the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, I’ll probably never be able to do that, nor do I want to.” So, will I ever do a triple in the halfpipe? I really hope not. I am a competitor, and I will do what I have to do to remain competitive. I just hope and pray that the sport never goes that way. I can’t promise that the sport won’t go that way, I can only promise that I won’t be the one who takes it there.

I encourage my fellow riders, both skiers and snowboarders to think about the long term effect that you are having on the sport. I am not trying to squash progression by any means. Trust me, you will be seeing me continue to progress. Progress is essential to me as a rider, I can’t stand doing the same old thing over and over. Just be mindful of the way that you are progressing the sport. Lets get as many young people out there shredding as possible!”

David is no stranger to dangerous tricks. In 2011, he was the first to land the “unnatural double cork 1260”: two off-axis flips with three and a half rotations in the skier’s unnatural spinning direction.

Will the “spin-to-win” mindset be the downfall of freestyle skiing and snowboarding? Is the risk worth the reward?

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