rail slide , I always wanted to do a Red Bull project . I ’ ve been on the Red Bull team for almost five years now . Ever since I came on the team , I had been trying to come up with what I wanted to do . I was actually inspired by a video I saw of a dirt biker who tapped on a shipping container upside-down while doing a backflip . I thought that a similar trick would be really cool on skis with a rail . I started drawing with a sketchbook and figuring out features , which I ’ ve always done ever since I was a younger athlete . I drew a sketch of a rail that was hanging on the side of scaffolding and pitched it to Red Bull , and they were really stoked about it . After that , we started the process of getting it finalized and figured out . The biggest hurdle for me was figuring out what I wanted to do , and what trick would work the best so I could slide upside-down . I thought of a couple of tricks , like a forward under-flip where I flipped it upside-down , a switch 540 °, and a switch 720 °. It was all predetermined that I was going to do those tricks . I didn ’ t know if it would work or not . The scariest part was looking at the rail right at my feet when I was upside-down and having to deal with it feeling so wrong . It was a really cool experience , and it all comes back to why I love the sport . I can push myself in directions like that , and I can take the time to plan it out months in advance , visualize it , and execute the trick in a way that ’ s in line with my vision .
Q : Planning , manifesting , and visualizing are all core tenets of the artistic and creative process . In line with that , your new film project with Faction , Abstract , centers around the question of whether or not freeskiing is an art . It also explores the artistic range of freeskiing in beautiful ways . What was it like to work on that project , and how did it push your athletic artistry forward ?
Forehand : I like to say that freeskiing is certainly an art — the slopes are your canvas and your skis are the paintbrush . Whether you ’ re doing a trick on a jump , a rail , or anything else , it ’ s all about the conceptualization and figuring it out how to express yourself on the slopes . Faction makes films every two years , and I ’ ve been in a couple other ones , mostly with jump shoots and things that I ’ m familiar with . This year , I got an e-mail in the fall from Faction . They said they wanted to go to Japan to film a movie . When I think of Japan skiing , I think of powder . I said , “ Oh , we ’ re going to go ski powder ?” They responded
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