Skiing the Internet

New Schoolers: Giving skiers a chance to one up each other

Story and photos by Andrew Beam

You just pulled a 900 off of a 15 foot kicker.

You took a video of the trick, but you don't plan on uploading it on YouTube where it will be lost in the fray of men trying to imitate the evolution of dance.

You decide to upload the video on New Schoolers (NS) where other skiers will either hail you with praise or call you an amateur.

Shredding rails at a railjam in Montreal

NS is a community based website that provides a resource for skiers from all over the world, majority being from Canada and the United States, to interact and share their stories, favorite tricks, post pictures or even videos. When going on the website, on the left hand side is a list of users that are currently on the website. It stretches past the amount of text and links on the page. The numbers usually exceeding the 300 mark along with another 600 guests online. Their articles have 3,000 to 4,000 views in the summer, 6,000 to 7,000 in the fall and 15,000 in the winter.

Doug Bishop is not really sure what his title is. Jeff Shmuck, the current news director, refers to him as the president of the company. "My actual title is General Manager or Publisher," Bishop says. "I used to do only ad sales."

Another way to look at his job is as a current a professional ski bum, but he doesn't see the problem in that at all. Skiing has taken all different forms, and right now there is a new phase. "I've always worked with providing a place where people all over the world can see what's happening in our segment of skiing," Bishop says. "It's the new movement of skiing."

Snowboarding at one point was the rebel of the snow sport world for a time. Now things are starting to change. "Skiing is not always about racing," Bishop says. "What it is now is free skiing or general recreational skiing." This form of skiing, he says, is a way of breaking free from the "stiff" and embracing the fun of the sport. "People always ask me, 'What is the difference between skiing now and skiing in the 80's?' I say this is the answer to snowboarding. It's for the people who haven't tried snowboarding and want to keep skiing." It is the style of skiing that is displayed predominantly on the site. There are several videos of skiers pulling different spins and grabs on the front page. "It's about riding the terrain park, and having a good time vs. winning," he says.

"I've always worked with providing a place where people all over the world can see what's happening in our segment of skiing. It's the new movement of skiing."

The site originally was an idea spawned from the head of Matt Harvey in 1999, who currently writes for Free Skier magazine. "He put the very first version of the site up as a way of communication with his friends," Bishop says. "At the time it was only like ten people." Bishop started visiting the site around 2001 and began to understand the true meaning of the site. "It's always been a community," Bishop says. "It brings skiers together." Bishop became an employee in 2004 when he began doing ad sales. This was when it wasn't just a community, but a business as well. "It's hard to get people to work full time and not get paid," Bishop says. They were soon approached by Sportnet, a media sales group based out of Los Angeles, where Bishop goes once a month for meetings, and the website began to expand. "If you want to take things to the next level, you need money," Bishop says of them being bought by Sportnet. "Its fun having the resources and being able to have Jeff get the news that's out there. It's much more serious game. I would say it's a good thing."

Along with all of the blogging and posting pictures on the website, there is a news portion on the site. Schmuck, who graduated with a journalism degree from Langara University in British Columbia looks over what he calls, "an extremely accomplished team of 30 writers."

"They pitch me story ideas and I say yay or nay to them," he explains of the process. "They are my number one most valuable resource."

Schmuck used to be the marketing director for the Line team in Canada. With this job, he began skiing all over the country and schmoozing with various pros. This he says, made for a very easy transition to working for NS. "It made it easier to approach these guys (ski pros) on a whim," Schmuck explains. "I will be talking with one of them and just ask to do an interview just for the hell of it." Articles will range from competition coverage, review of certain types of gear or updates on what ski pros are doing or the different ski teams are up to. "Stories like TJ Schiller joining the CoreUPT staff, The Hunting Yetti series, and other stuff that I find on the road."

NS readers are looking for certain type of news. News that isn't available on news sites like CNN or FOX News. This is something that Schmuck constantly keeps in mind when it comes to writing stories. "I'm very conscious of the NS audience," Schmuck explains. "It took quite a bit of time to figure out who their favorite skier is. There are a handful of skiers they respond to well." Skiers like Tom Walsh, Ian Cosco and Tanner Hall are just some of the NS favorites. "Tanner actually approached me for an interview one time," Schmuck says with a laugh. "Everyone loves Tanner."

With Free Skier being their biggest competition, Schmuck makes sure that what he isn't writing the same thing that they are writing. "If there is something they've been hyping up a lot, I'll take a step back from it," Schmuck says. "It's just so it's not all the same. You need to be conscious of what other people are doing."

The website is filled with the different opinions of skiers, where they can leave comments on either the message boards or the different media elements. "The internet is the ultimate media source," Bishop explains. "It is able to get the voice of the skier out there." The problem with opinions is that they can sometimes be negative, sometimes evolving into a negative attitude of the site. "People say there's too much hating on NS. I say that's fucking bullshit," Bishop says. "People who are reading ski magazines are saying these same things to themselves. NS just brings a voice to the ski community."

"They're the first influence, people believe everything they write. It's the same as watching the news at night."

The office environment is no where near similar to what an investment banker's office would look like. The door to the office is covered in NS stickers, with a giant gold emblem sprawled across the top of the blood red door. The inside is all white walls with various colors produced by a sharpie signature of all the pros, ski companies, friends and family members. Shmuck's mom even signed the wall. "See there," he says pointing to a green sharpie signature with a wide smile on his face. "It says 'Jeff's Mom loves (displayed by a heart) New Schoolers." There are five people currently working in the office. There is Schmuck, Jason Mousseau who runs the online store, Chris O'Connel who works on the site design, and then there is Bishop, or Mr. Bishop (written above the door).

There are nearly a dozen bottles of Boreal Rousse beer cluttering Bishop's coffee table. His computer desk is a collection of more beer bottles, a pyramid of Red Bull cans and a white board with a To-Do list. Bishop has his headset on as he rifles through emails; a daily routine performed by everyone in the office. His eyes are half-opened as he looks around the office. Shmuck is sitting on the couch as Bishop stands up to stretch.

"Are you going to rage tonight?" Doug asks Shmuck

"I don't know. We have the concert tomorrow night; we're probably just going to rage after that."

Schmuck is talking about the Lukas Rossi show, the winner of Rock Star: Supernova. He is going to the show to interview him and then post the interview in his blog.

"As a website, you need to exist in the real world. No one treats it like its real," Bishop says. "Jeff is out there making it real." The site has a major impact in the skiing world. Since most of what is in print is also available online, they realize the urgency they must undertake to get an article online. "Free Skier put their first three issues online this year," Bishop says. "We are basically at the forefront of the movement, and it will be a slow burn."

Some of the Pro skiers will check the site to see what most of the kids have been saying about them. "Jon Olsson was hated on because he is very rich looking and does the same trick over and over," Schmuck explains. "Then there is Tanner, and Tanner does what Tanner wants. It's always easy to criticize the ones at the top."

Hall was booed after winning the X-Game this past winter, but due to his posting on blogs on NS, Hall was welcomed with open arms on the site. "Tanner sat me down after he was booed, and he told me how everyone on NS had his back," Schmuck says. "He wanted to do an interview to thank everyone for the support. A lot of athletes took notice of that."

Currently in the office, Schmuck and Mousseau are sitting down with East Side Killaz Media team discussing their current American cross-country trip, where they will be skiing urban areas. NS will be helping them out with stickers covering the van and also gear to have in their video. Mousseau suggests that he can join them to take pictures and video. "Skiing is all about fun," Schmuck says. "And we want to portray that in everything we do."

"Without NS skiing wouldn't be where it is now," Nick Brassard says, one of the two videomakers in the ESK crew. "[The site] keeps everyone updated on different ski companies and film crews. The new up and comers can post videos." Brassard put the first video they ever made on NS with no expectations. Their next movie, The Hat Trick, ended up winning Best Cinematography at the IF3 festival in Montreal. With their latest movie, they know how important it will be to work with NS.

"If they put a front page story about ESK, everybody who reads it will know who we are," Brassard says. "They're the first influence, people believe everything they write. It's the same as watching the news at night."

For people who love skiing, working for NS can seem like a dream job. Bishop and Schmuck get to do a lot of traveling all for the purpose of their job. "I can inform our readers what its like to ski Japan," Schmuck says. "We get to show our readers what is out there, how great it is and how welcoming they are in Japan." The NS crew is certainly laid back, proven by Schmuck's description of how he came to work with NS.

"I was super wasted with Doug and I opened up to him about how I wasn't making much in the marketing world and how I was looking for writing jobs in Kenya and Nepal," Schmuck says. "And then with a snicker in his eye he says, 'You have a journalism degree right?' and I told him yes. Then he said, 'Call me in two weeks."

What do you know about New Schoolers?