What is Freestyle Aerials Skiing?
The sport of Aerials was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1988. Since then it has become one of the most exciting events of the Winter Olympics. The aerialist skis down a ramp launching themselves up to 50 ft. in the air performing acrobatic maneuvers. Athletes are judged on 3 different factors: air, form, and landing. Once these factors are calculated they are then multiplied by a degree of difficulty. In order to do such acrobatic maneuvers they must be performed hundreds of times on the water ramps. Water ramps are where we do our summer training and they are built to simulate the same jumps that will be used on snow. We ski down plastic and land in swimming pool equipped with a bubble system which takes away some of the impact. There are 2 training facilities in the US: Park City, UT, and Lake Placid, NY.
