Hot Dog Skiing

Hot Dog skiing is a style of snow skiing in which a Hot Dogger performs some sort of challenging maneuver in order to impress an audience or to achieve an adrenaline rush. A Hot Dogger is a snow skier who performs these maneuvers. Hot Doggers came AbOUT in the early 1970’s with a radical new style of skiing. These Hot Doggers were very unique in their style. Some of these skiers even made a name for themselves. While Hot Dog skiing is no longer a modern skiing discipline, its roots remain firmly implanted.

The Origin

Snow skiing has been discovered to be in excess of 6000 years old, and what was once a tactical military tool and means of transportation has significantly evolved into a large recreational activity. Currently, the most rapid progression in the sport is seen in freestyle skiing. Freestyle skiing is a discipline within skiing that focuses on the skier performing a technical maneuver on the snow, on a rail, or off a jump. The root of freestyle skiing can be found in a group of 1970’s thrill seekers. These daredevil skiers soon became known as “Hot Doggers”. Thanks to the outgoing, and unorthodox, nature of these skiers, they developed a new discipline within skiing (Hot Dog Skiing) that provided a thrill for the athletes and their onlookers as well.

The Characteristics

Hot Doggers collectively created a new ski culture with unique characteristics. While the attitude, character, and energy behind Hot Dogging is hard to describe, the appearances of these Hot Doggers does much of the talking. These Hot Doggers were often seen in vibrantly colored ski outfits with crazy hairstyles and sometimes large sunglasses.

Many Hot Doggers would be found skiing mogul runs at rapid speed in order to get airborne so that they may perform their Hot Dogger moves. Mogul runs are ski runs that are covered in many bumps of pushed up snow. These bumps create many ramps for Hot Doggers to launch off of in order to get airborne.

The Maneuvers

Since there were so many different Hot Dogger moves, a naming system for these maneuvers was developed. Many of these names were exotic and unheard-of, some of which (and their descriptions) are as follows:

  1. Worm Turn: One of the only moves performed on the ground. It involves the skier laying down (while skiing) in mid-turn and rolling over their belly to stand up and be turning the other direction.
  2. Twister: This trick is performed in the air and involves a twisting movement. The skier will twist their skis/lower body in one direction while twisting the head and upper body in the other.
  3. Daffy: Another aerial trick where the skier extends one ski in front of them and the other behind them.
  4. Iron Cross: While airborne, the skier nearly perpendicularly crosses their skis requiring a slight bend in the knees.
  5. Helicopter: This aerial trick is actually a group of recently renamed tricks. All this trick is, is a skier performing a spin while airborne.
  6. Spread Eagle: While in the air, the skier flairs out and extends their limbs straight outward.
  7. Zudnick: For this aerial maneuver, the skier bends in half while airborne bringing their legs and skis up and their upper body down.
  8. Cossack: This trick is an elaborated form of the zudnick where the skier spreads their legs and extends their arms and poles downwards between their legs.
  9. UFO: This move is the same as a Helicopter, but with knees completely bent and ski tips pointing downward.
  10. Javelin Turn: This is another trick performed on the snow where the skier lifts one ski off the snow and completes turns with just one ski.
  11. Back Scratcher: In this aerial maneuver, the skier bends their knees while remaining upright in order to touch their back with the tails of their skis.

Famous Hot Doggers

Some famous Hot Doggers include:

  • Glen Plake
  • Scot Schmidt
  • Wayne Wong
  • Scott Brooksbank
  • Mike Shea
  • Alan Schoenberger
  • Bruce Bolesky

The Future

While Hot Dogging is no longer a prevalent form of skiing, it is lived on in the sport of freestyle skiing where progression and change are seen nearly every day. For example, some ski resorts host Hot Dog days where the skiers are encouraged to wear 70’s style snow gear and a crazy hair style for the day.