Aerial skiing

Somersault jump in freestyle skiing

Aerialists ski off jumps, usually built of wood, sometimes metal and then covered with snow, that propel them up to 40-50 feet in the air. Once in the air, professional aerialists perform multiple flips and twists before landing on a 34- to 39-degree inclined landing hill about 100 feet in length. The top male aerialists can currently perform triple back flips with up to four or five twists. Quadruple back flips have been performed on snow (purposely) by five men: Frank Bare, Matt Chojnaki, Elijah Cox, Eric Bergoust and Nicholas Fontaine. Currently quad flips are not legal in competition.

There are two varieties of aerial skiing competitions: upright and inverted. In upright aerials, movements in which a skier’s feet come higher than his or her head are illegal. This is the most common type of aerials competition for junior competitors. In inverted aerials, skiers execute elaborate flips and somersaults.

Mogul skiing

Ski ballet

No longer a part of competitive freestyle skiing, ski ballet (later renamed acroski) was a third freestyle discipline. Competitions were conducted from the late-1960s until the mid-1990s. Ballet involved a choreographed routine of flips, rolls, leg crossings, jumps, and spins performed on a smooth slope. After the mid-1970s the routine was performed to music for 90 seconds. A panel of judges scored the performance. It was a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics.