Big Sky, Montana – Mario Carr, a native of Big Sky, is taking his love of skiing to a new level by placing Frisbee golf disks on his hands to aid in his descent while skiing down the slopes.
“I thought about when I was a kid once, my cousins had longboard sliding gloves and we used those on the roads back home,” said Carr. “And so I just thought, why hasn’t anybody done that with skiing yet?”
The Big Sky Snow Reporter, Mario Carr, spends most of his time on the mountain. At the age of barely 18 months, he began learning how to ski. This year, he has skied 141 consecutive days.
Carr uses telemark skiing, a style that mixes alpine and nordic skiing by pushing with the front foot to generate a cutting turn while using the back foot to maintain balance. all the while sporting solely toe-attached bindings. He claims that he was looking for a solution to turn low without utilizing poles.
“The simplest solution so far has been Frisbee golf discs with duct tape handles,” said Carr.
About three years ago, Carr invented this novel technique for skiing utilizing Frisbee golf disks. Since then, he has grown his Instagram following for his talent and is attracting attention on the slopes.
“Feels really good, looks really cool, you know, turning heads on the chairlift all day, that’s what Telemark skiers live for,” said Carr.
A skill like this, he claims, is not without difficulties.
“The biggest challenge using the discs is really relying on the skis to make the carve happen,” said Carr. “You have to be a good enough skier to get low enough to where you’re actually dragging your hand on the ground.”
Every day, he gains more knowledge.
“I’m figuring out new stuff almost every day,” said Carr. “I’m riding with, you know, sometimes it’s just dragging one hand, sometimes it’s dragging two hands, or spinning around.”
Carr is confident that he will be granted a patent this year for his invention of a hand sliding while skiing.
