Shred Goggles and Ted Ligety

For one reason or another, I feel the need to give a shout out to a skiing hero of mine, come on, I know ya'll have one out there and if you don't, you need a role model.

This one goes out to Shred Goggles and Ted Ligety, cheers bro for bringing some steeze back to a corner of our sport which needed it so badly. It all started when Ted won the slalom in the '06 winter Olympics wearing a pair of neon pink Uvex goggles which got just about as much attention from the media as his gold medal run.

Since Teds Olympic stardom, he has continued to progress his skiing to new heights but hes also progressed something else, his business. Shortly after the win in Turin, Ted realized the sport of skiing was missing something called Steezy Shred Credit (SSC). In order to make moves towards increasing the SSC per capita ski racer Ted started a company called Shred Optics. A fresh brand with a new flavor composed of athletes being the driving force behind the company.

I come from a traditional ski racing background myself and let me tell ya'll, I was just another fish in a sea of Euro-influenced Karbon jackets, Carrera bowling ball helmets and heinously ugly Briko goggles. In my years since ski racing I have focused my efforts on free riding and other aspects of the mountain which allow you to disappear, be yourself, and set your own course, no gate tool needed. Along with my new era of skiing came, well....sick gear: Fat skis, three buckle boots, baggy neon pants, big puffy coats and thanks to Ted some sick spectacles.

Ted Ligety has brought a breath of fresh air to the sport of ski racing which I still and always will love. The fact is, ski racing is cool as hell and turns out, hands down some of the best athletes in the sport. Now I'm not going to go walk around in my GS suit and think I'm hot shit but I'd go bash some slalom gates any time.