Has “Soul” Become the New “Extreme”?

It has been recently been brought to my attention that if I was looking for soul, I could discover it at Squaw Valley this summer.  Pausing for a moment, I took in the significance of this.  Skiing apparently also has a soul, and he currently calls the valley home as well, or as much as could be confirmed by the marketing department.  Little is known if the two souls are in fact related in any way, nor was there any information regarding their status as full time residents or second home owners.  It does seem clear, however, that Squaw Valley has become some sort of exclusive enclave for soul looking for respite.

In fact, some indicators suggest that soul accounts for at least a 27% net increase in existing structure real estate transactions over the last five years.  Soul has shown much weaker numbers in new construction, although, none of this information could be independently verified… by anyone.  I just couldn’t shake the notion that really this all stretched the limits of plausibility.  Skiing and Summer soul are neighbors?  Fall was looking at a place but decided he was more suited for the Adirondacks?  I’m not convinced.  The real question begs, how much soul is too much soul?

Is soul played out?  Has soul really become the next extreme?  Where did it even begin.  The “soul patch?”  I never really picked up on what made that particularly soulful or even all that appealing for that matter.  There certainly came the influence of the “soul skiing,” or at least what has become the popular notion of it.  I’ve never really been all that comfortable with that label either.  “Soul Skiing” seems to become the popular perception of a more pure form of skiing.  Sometimes that seems to imply backcountry or side country or really long traverse country or some kind of form of perhaps warranted backlash against the over “goproification” of the sport.  Sometimes tele-markers seem to think that what ever it is they are really doing is inherently soul.  Mono-skiers probably grumble amongst themselves about the same matter.  I am supremely suspicious of applying the term to any one discipline of skiing.  There’s plenty of skiing soul to be explored deep in the mountains.  Yet the same soul can be found on a snow gun blasted icy November slope in Vermont.  Cold, frozen and deafened by the shriek of the snowmaker, hiking the same lonely rail.

I digress, the reality is that “soul skiing” is so hot right now.  Is it still soul if everyone else is doing it?  It’s kind of like when Old Navy started selling skinny jeans and all the mod indie rocker kids I went to college with suddenly became so much less cool, or more cool, I suppose, but not in the least bit how they intended it.  I never really thought they were that cool in the first place.

Rossignol of course produces a whole line of Soul skis.  If you want to find out what soul skiing really is, I suppose these must be the perfect tool for the job.  Will this be the new norm to any skier’s quiver?  Powder ski? check.  Park ski? check.  Groomer ski? check.  Soul ski? ___?

The resurgence of soul is certainly not limited to the ski industry.  Kia produces a rather silly box like looking car called the soul.  It might be more appealing if you live in a city where it might not stand out as being quite so silly and box looking.  I’ve never driven one so who knows, it could be like a hyperbaric chamber of rejuvenation on wheels.  Skip yoga, just take the soul for a spin around the block.  It’s ad campaign features hamsters driving the cars which must be appealing… to someone.

A new film is coming out featuring the story of James Brown who is of course the “godfather of soul.”  He’s dead now, so there is no chance he’ll be claiming Squaw Valley home anytime soon, which is too bad.   

I predict that before this is all said and done we will see a major movement towards soul food, Paula Deen scandal aside.  

Will we ever see soul chips?  Action drinks?  Coca Soula?  Red Bull Soul?  Why not?  Who doesn’t want to eat a bag of Fritos that are laced with soul?  I swear that bright blue Power Ade has little bits of Arctic Blast in every bottle.  Soul Gatorade would be like the fountain of youth or something.  I’ve heard that Kale is chock full of soul.

As most overzealous co-opting of vaguely heavy terms such as soul the original meaning of the word will… has been blurred.  Eventually soul fatigue will set in and we’ll move on to the latest industry buzz.  Perhaps there isn’t much buzz left, we’ll just recycle extreme and its rowdier cousin xtreme.  Meanwhile, the various souls will be residing in peace at the beautiful Squaw Valley Mountain Resort.