Skis of Glory: The Rise, Fall and Return of Ski Ballet

Before slopestyle skiing and the X Games, one sub-species of freestyle skiing ruled them all: ski ballet. You heard right—ballet ... on skis. In the 1980s, fans flocked to see their favorite skiers put on ski ballet clinics with high-difficulty jumps, flips, twirls and spins—all on skis. The sport was so popular that it even featured as a demonstration sport in the 1992 and 1998 Olympics. But then, it all came crashing down. So what happened? We enlisted the help of Olympic gold medalist and freestyle skier