{"id":1931366,"date":"2026-05-12T14:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1931366"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:07:53","slug":"sami-ortlieb-shaping-the-direction-of-the-post-park-skiing-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1931366","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e4mi Ortlieb: Shaping the direction of the Post-Park Skiing era"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

S\u00e4mi Ortlieb has never followed a conventional path. Across a run of standout film projects,<\/a> he carved out a reputation for a style of skiing\u2014and filmmaking\u2014that felt entirely his own.<\/p>\n

While he spends less time in front of the lens these days, S\u00e4mi\u2019s influence is arguably greater than ever, shaping the way people approach skiing from the ground up.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Scott Naismith: Hey S\u00e4mi, we\u2019re at the Nines in Niseko, when did you start getting involved in that? And what\u2019s your role here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

S\u00e4mi Ortlieb:<\/strong> I believe my role is head of park design, I guess. In the summer of 2024, Nico Zacek approached me asking for some input and ideas on the course\u2014consulting you might say. We had a first meeting where I gave feedback on what they had and showed him alternative ideas. He then asked me to invest two weeks into it and after that he told me to take the lead on the park design.<\/p>\n

After last year, the feedback from the riders was very positive. I think ride-ability wise, athletes agreed that it was their favorite park they\u2019ve had at the Nines. So for this year, Nico gave me the reins.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Here in Niseko we\u2019ve been unfortunate with the weather and haven\u2019t had the opportunity to see the setup ridden to its full potential. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This year we\u2019ve come up against two things. One is that the snow condition and the weather didn\u2019t allow us to get the most out of the setup. And the other was not having any prior experience with the slope here. We didn\u2019t fully know how wide of a slope we actually had to work with. We had geo data, and we were here in October, but in October there was no snow and there\u2019s six-feet high bamboo everywhere so it\u2019s pretty hard to tell.<\/p>\n

So I think for 2028, we\u2019ll be able to improve just by knowing the slope, knowing how wide and how steep it actually is. I think it was okay, but there were things to change that would have improved the flow of the course a lot.<\/p>\n

The course was super accessible and a lot of the feedback from the riders is that it was really fun to ride, even if the weather did not allow the main jump to be ridden a lot, the rest of the course made up for it.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

The fifty meter PVC was designed in a way that it\u2019s the \u201cnon-frustrating long rail\u201d, because if you fall off, you can jump back onto it. You shouldn\u2019t be done with it just because you fall off. And the same on the hover jumps, the side take-offs, I have never seen a jump as safe. You hit it with any speed and you\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n

Johannes Goegele is the reason that the jumps are as safe as they are\u2014he is a wizard when it comes to building jumps. Johannes builds it in this 3D computer model that the shapers can take the GPS data out of. So he measures everything and the shapers build exactly what Johannes designed in the model. Every angle is right. When I\u2019m shaping it\u2019s more like \u201cyeah that seems about right,\u201d but Johannes can really measure that stuff.<\/p>\n

I guess that makes it easier to turn an idea from \u201cI think this might be possible\u201d, into reality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah absolutely, but there\u2019s been features that were too complicated to do the actual math on, like the oververts this year, the dugouts under the jump. I don\u2019t think he was able to fully do the math on it\u2014it was more of a brain experiment.<\/p>\n

There were a lot of features that were trying to prove a concept and some of them will stick and we will develop into something that really works. The long PVC was a feature that I haven\u2019t seen in that way before. Now I know what needs to change, what needs to be extended, what needs to be lower. The PVC, the oververt take-offs and the snow wallrides that we had on the side of the quarter-pipe will all definitely evolve into something in the future.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Is shaping a way of expressing your vision for skiing by designing something that rides in a certain way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For sure. I think I have a similar approach to it as I would with backcountry jumps or street features, where you interact with the terrain or the architecture, but at the Nines it\u2019s more of a blank page. I think I constantly gather ideas of how you could build something or what a feature could look like. And the Nines is a place where you can go a bit nuts with it and build stuff you couldn\u2019t build otherwise because there\u2019s neither the budget nor the infrastructure.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

For a long period, it felt like you were a ride or die for Line Skis. How did the transition to Salomon come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nico Vuignier was starting a new project at Salomon and he asked if I would be down to join. As you said, Line was part of my identity, but at that point what I really wanted to do was develop skis. With Line, that was super hard with the geographic distance. They are in Seattle, I\u2019m in Europe. If everything worked out, I would be there maybe once a year. Salomon is in Annecy, so is way more feasible. But the decision was super hard.<\/p>\n

Switching to Salomon, you never really know what you\u2019re signing up for. But immediately working with them on this product was completely different. They are genuinely interested in what the athletes think. There\u2019s a lot of companies that claim, \u201cthis is by the riders for the riders\u201d, but with Salomon it really is like that.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

It feels like what you have created with Depart is an arm almost apart from Salomon\u2014a brand within a brand that has its own identity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It definitely feels like a sub-brand. I think we were heavily inspired by how Sportstyle did it within Salomon\u2014with sneakers they do, they look technical and they\u2019re actually technical, they speak to a certain group and they work. That part of Salomon was small for a long time and now it just exploded. We had that blueprint to make something that is niche, for a core culture, and make it successful.<\/p>\n

It sounds like the creative freedom to build a ski from the ground up was yours to play with.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For sure, definitely. I think it also has parallels to how the 1080 was made. That\u2019s also where some of the shape inspirations came from, especially the Depart 0.2\u2014 it is kind of close to what a modern 1080 is.<\/p>\n

When we were designing the shape of the ski, we wanted to find something that was aesthetically pleasing, but also performance-based. How well that pointy nose works in soft snow is incredible\u2014I\u2019ve never seen a ski cut snow in that way. In powder it floats way faster because it takes less to break the snow surface and it rises easily. Same as wind crust, it cuts through it differently, and in the slush it\u2019s super surfy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Generally, the goal was to make a ski that looks different to most traditional, or what is now traditional, freestyle skis. When I started freeskiing, in the early 2000s, when you saw somebody on the mountain with twin tip skis, you were like, \u201cOh, you are my friend because you have that type of skis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowadays in the snowpark, it didn\u2019t really feel like that for me anymore. There\u2019s a lot of people who are doing a \u201cprofessional sport\u201d with twin tip skis, which was never really freeskiing for me. I feel like extreme sports like skiing, skateboarding, surfing, whatever it is, are for the people who don\u2019t function in real professional sports.<\/p>\n

Having that different ski shape, when you see someone on the mountain or in the park, you can recognise that you would vibe with them. You\u2019re making friends quickly and easily, whether that be a Depart or a Simply or a Season.<\/p>\n

You can spot someone and associate what they\u2019re riding with a brand of skiing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just a twin tip ski with a little logo on it\u2014it actually has a different silhouette. That\u2019s the same with what twin tips represented for me in the early 2000s. From a mile away, you could see that the person\u2019s skis were bent up at the back and you would be friends.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

What\u2019s new with the Depart 0.2? How does it differ from the 0.1?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s a misconception that it\u2019s an evolved ski from the 0.1\u2014which is not. Our goal from the beginning was to make a lineup of skis, so the 0.1 and 0.2 have different characteristics\u2014they will run simultaneously because they\u2019re different skis for different things.<\/p>\n

The 0.1 is wider with a 106mm waist and is stiffer; it\u2019s a really good ski for any day out of the year. It performs best skiing side-hits and I use it for ski touring a lot, in the sense of walking to go build a jump. If I had to ski one ski for the rest of my life, it would be that one for sure.<\/p>\n

Then the 0.2 is narrower with 100mm under foot and it\u2019s much softer. It\u2019s way more playful, more for doing butters, like a more traditional park ski for skiing in a park and street skiing.<\/p>\n

Down the line we will come out with a third model which will be more powder oriented.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

The whole concept was to make a lineup of skis that works for, what we refer to as, \u201cPost-Park Skiing.\u201d At least in Europe, what we have experienced is, since we started there were fewer and fewer snowparks. In 2005, every resort had a snowpark and everybody could participate. Now, very few resorts have snowparks and the snowparks that are there are often professional training grounds or even private parks, like Stomping Grounds or Prime Park.<\/p>\n

We want to make freestyle skis that are good for park skiing, but you don\u2019t need a park to get the most out of them\u2014it\u2019s not a necessity. We tried to figure out what our skis should cover and we came up with these \u201cdisciplines\u201d, built around S.O.O.N. Skiing (something out of nothing) referring to street skiing, side-hit riding and freestyle skiing around the resort and non-peak oriented ski touring, such as backcountry freestyle. We are trying to create a lineup of skis that covers all of those \u201cdisciplines\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your time S\u00e4mi.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

As freeskiing evolves, influences like S\u00e4mi\u2019s feel increasingly important. He is not adapting to where freeskiing is going, but actively shaping it by giving alternative parts of the culture both the spaces and the tools to develop\u2014championing the Post-Park skiing revolution.<\/p>\n

Check out the depart.systems<\/a> and depart.zip<\/a> websites for more easter eggs about the Salomon Depart range.<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tAlways get<\/strong>
\nfirst tracks
\n\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

Sign up to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news, videos and happenings in freeskiing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S\u00e4mi Ortlieb has never followed a conventional path. Across a run of standout film projects, he carved out a reputation for a style of skiing\u2014and filmmaking\u2014that felt entirely his own. While he spends less time in front of the lens these days, S\u00e4mi\u2019s influence is arguably greater than ever, shaping the way people approach skiing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,279],"class_list":["post-1931366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-downdays-eu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1931366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1931366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1931366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1931366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}