Matt Harvey points to the cover of the latest ski magazine to hit the American market. It’s a picture of a concrete staircase flanked with steel handrails.
“That’s what we hike,” says the editor of the just-published Ski Times. “Isn’t that an awesome rail?”
In a market swollen with ski magazines sporting powdery backcountry vistas and vying for “most soulful” status, Ski Times – published by the Freeskier magazine crew – stands alone.
Tell Harvey – a bushy-haired Canadian jib skier who founded the wildly popular newschoolers.com website in 1999 – that you don’t get Ski Times and he’ll smile. If you’re over 30 – heck, if you’re over 21 – you are not supposed to “get” Ski Times. If the adults like it, Harvey explains, he’s failing. The first issue features a Q&A with such probing queries as “When was the last time you choked on something?” and “Where were you the last time your cell phone rang?” The inaugural issue also includes photos of handrails – lots of empty, snowless handrails around Boulder in a spread that looks like it belongs in Staircase Construction Magazine. The gear guide offers treasures such as a $1.99 Pocket Gameboy and a 99-cent New Kids on the Block Christmas video. The actually insightful interview with metal masters Iron Maiden is surely a first in ski magazine history.
While you may not “get” Ski Times, recognize that it fills a void and is an irreverent voice for the rail-riding, twin-tipped jibber crowd. “Corest magazine ever,” they say. Those kids who populate the terrain parks and drool over shots of metal-railed stairs are forging a new direction for skiing, like it or not, and Ski Time is the guidebook for the new school.
Get it — Get a free subscription at www.skitimemag.com.
