For a sport that was the fastest growing by some margin at the turn of the 21st Century, skating sure has taken a dive towards the underground. In the past 8-10 years, ‘Aggressive Inline’ has become almost invisible to the casual observer, though when I’m in the city between ski seasons, I can see signs of a slight resurgence.

From the skiing side, there’s always been a reluctance to associate inline with skiing. But the fact remains there IS a strong relationship between the two sports. We face the same way, we do royales, backslides, fastslides and makios (though we don’ generally call makios by their name). We both have a history of being looked down upon by our sideways sliding neighbours and at times shared brands like D-Structure, Salomon and K2 too. Oh and it’s no coincidence that some of the smoothest skiers have an inline background or take to skates in the offseason because that shit teaches you a precision on both rails and landings, that only a select few learn on skis alone. The two activities feed off of each other and that is rarely clearer than in what has to be considered the greatest ‘summer edit’ ever seen on NS from skier and pro blader, Dima Makrushin. To check out his skills on snow, watch any Life Steeze Media Film. […]

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