Video: Freestyle skiers show off prime tricks
His intro is promising, if not optimistic.
"Will Wesson is a machine. That kid can do anything," says a grinning man bundled with parka and goggles before the film clip rolls.
The scene: late afternoon in Manhattan Square Park in downtown Rochester, N.Y. The park's metal sculpture and high-rises tower over Wesson, who is poised on top of concrete stairs, wearing skis. There's also a metal guardrail and a raised concrete block. And finally, an 8-foot drop onto more very hard, very cold concrete.
He pauses for the crew to frame a good shot and takes off on his bumpy ride - over the rail and down to the concrete - before ending up in the bottom of the park's bowl. He skis back up the steps and with a dramatic pause kicks his legs back to balance on his front ski tips. In a ballerina move, he grabs his back ski tips and pauses in mid-air for his encore.
Meathead Films, a pro outfit that specializes in freestyle ski films and videos, stars Wesson, 21, the Dadali brothers - Ahmet, 19, and Giray, 17 - and a handful of others who dream up new tricks to try in resorts, their backyards and "no man's lands" all over the Northeast.
No slopes? No worries. As Wesson shows, rails, PVC pipes and a whole lot of other things will do. In other movie scenes he flies over three picnic tables stacked on top of one another and does some fancy turns on a hand-rail outside a school.
"You go into the streets and see what you can make of manmade features," says Wesson, a Victor, N.Y., native studying in Vermont. "Wherever there's snow, you can do something."
At all times, Giray Dadali keeps a pair of skis and a shovel handy - "in case I see something good."
Last week, he was at Manhattan Square Park showing off some moves. He and his friend, Evan Bogart of Bristol, N.Y., surveyed the concrete risers and got to shoveling snow under a ledge for a soft landing. As they packed wet, heavy flakes, some teens snowboarding rails offered them their shovel to make for faster work.
Dadali climbed to the top, strapped on his skis and climbed onto the guardrail. He balanced standing on the rail, gave a thumbs-up and dropped off the ledge for a clean landing. It led to another jump onto a small platform and then the last 8-foot drop.
<object width="425" height="355">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c95WvZyOGqo&hl=en" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />width="425" height="355" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c95WvZyOGqohl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object> If you ask Dadali what freestyle skiing is, he has to think a minute. "I'm trying to think what exactly freestyle skiing is," he says. That's it, really - it's a style that is undefined. Skiers dream up their own moves. It's freedom. "Most people just overlook things like this that we set up," says Dadali. "That's the beauty of the sport. You really have to have a creative eye." Some of their latest tricks, like those at the park, are featured in "Wanderland," the latest Meathead Films release. They are now shooting footage for the new film, which debuts this fall on a 60-city tour in the Northeast. The quick film clips pay homage to talent and chutzpah. Giray Dadali skis up the side of a garage. Wesson later shows off more tricks most skiers never thought they'd see on a slope or in a city streetscape a decade or so ago; he goes from ground to garage roof in a single fell swoop. It's safe to say people should not try these stunts at home, but someone had to; that's how these guys got so good in a time when freestyle skiing was not well-known. As such, they break new ground. "I think they are really determined in their skiing ... and they really try to push it that extra bit," says Meathead Films President and cinematographer Geoff McDonald. "They also have some unique skill sets other skiers don't." That includes mastery of riding rails - skiing backward and forward and doing tricks on handrails and other metal objects. Wesson won the Rail Jam at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills earlier this month, and both Dadalis have competed in slopes style events - which combine a big jump with rails - at the U.S. Freestyle Skiing Open. They also compete in Big Air - one big jump over which they can fly as far as 100 feet and as high as 30 or so feet. McDonald thinks their make-do edge comes in part from growing up in the East, where there are smaller hills and less snow. Western skiers who get deep powder and long runs might not spend as much time on rails and other things. "You work with what you got," says McDonald. The Dadalis built their own mini-terrain park across the street from their Bristol home, using "junk" they found around, says Giray Dadali. Wesson and his friend Andy Parry - also a Victor native - are keen on building backyard obstacles.In "Wanderland," the pair scavenge discarded wood from a Dumpster at a new housing development, then build something that looks like a Rube Goldberg machine, fit for sliding and getting some air, even in summer. They don't get paid by Meathead Films, but it's free travel, free skiing and a ticket to uncharted territory. A back-country ski guide in "Wanderland" believes the Meatheads are the first to ski the rocky mountains in remote Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland because it has a reputation for bad, unpredictable weather. The corporate sponsors help with gear (skis take a beating on wood and metal), and on the road the freestylers ski all day and experiment with friends, then stay in mom-and-pop hostels, hang out, eat and wake up for more "roadside attractions" - skiing whatever looks good from the side of the road. "It's really fun. It's basically a trip to go skiing with your friends," says Wesson. "It doesn't get much better than that."<em>Daily Messenger