Research a Leader Mike Douglas Who is Mike

Research a Leader: Mike Douglas

Who is Mike Douglas? Mike Douglas is a skier from Whistler, British Columbia who was a major contributor to the creation of “freeskiing” in the early 90 s, and is widely regarded as the “godfather of freeskiing”. • Freeskiing is a branch away from traditional forms of skiing that was created in an attempt to break away from strict rules and regulations that governed the sport. • In the early to mid-90 s, the FIS was starting to enforce strict rules into freestyle mogul skiing that essentially sucked the “freestyle” aspect out of the sport.

Who is Mike Douglas? • As a result, a small group of Canadian mogul skiers, including Mike Douglas, responded to the strict rule enforcements by breaking away from the competitions and creating their own new form of skiing, called Freeskiing. • They saw the freestyle aspect in snowboarding and began doing the same things on skis, and knew they could ski in the same way snowboarders did.

Pioneer • Mike Douglas is a pioneer because he was instrumental in creating the first twin tip ski, which is a ski industry standard today. • Douglas wrote up a 30 page proposal to Salomon in 1997 with design concepts of a twin tip ski that would allow for a skier to ride and land backwards.

• Mike Douglas, along with fellow Canadian skiers, promoted the freeskiing and advocated for competitions. • As a result the US open of freeskiing was created in the late 90 s featuring slope style and super pipe competitions. • Skiing was added to the winter X-Games in 2002, with super pipe, slope style, and big air competitions.

Accomplishments Summary • A part of the first Freeski movement with the New Canadian Air force • Credited for creating the first mass produced and marketed “twin tip” ski, the Salomon 1080 • Helped get skiing into competitions (US open, X-games) • Has and continues to promote Freeskiing through multiple films

Inspiration • For me, Mike Douglas is the reason I ski today. If it weren’t for Mike Douglas and the New Canadian Airforce, the sport and culture would have never been born. • The reason I love freeskiing so much is because it is an unrestricted creative expression of freestyle skiing. The opportunity's and progression, that began because of Mike Douglas, are endless. • For me, and every freeskiier in the world, we attempt to progress the sport in ways that reflect and emulate the original concepts of early freeskiiers like Mike Douglas, JP Auclair, JF Cusson and Vincent Dorion. .

Inspiration