In the context of the aesthetic sphere, aesthetic pleasure is linked to the taste of the senses. The aesthetic skier is motivated by their body image—by how they see themselves and how others see them—because aesthetic pleasure is purely contemplative.
Skiing produces an aesthetic emotion, which is composed of aesthetic enjoyment as a sensible element and is always present in the aesthetic feeling. It also encompasses the admiration that aesthetic skiing arouses, along with wonder and respect for the person executing it. Lastly, it includes sympathy, a purely social component, regarding the communication of one’s own aesthetic emotion to others, making them participants in that admiration.
Saint Thomas defined beauty as “that which pleases when seen.” The aesthetics of skiing are accessible to the senses, as the eye enjoys the beauty of the plastic forms of the technical gesture. Aesthetics are a source of pleasure and, being delightful, they also inspire the desire to ski. In itself, aesthetic skiing is a constantly renewed source of pleasure. The artist-skier aims to instill the aesthetic pleasure of their skiing in others.
In aesthetic skiing, the mastery of manual skill is appreciated. The skier produces effects in the use of their tools—their skis—through technical craft; without it, their work would be nothing but pure hesitation. The virtuous skier is not only an artist but also a skilled craftsman, since, in their trade of carving semicircles in the snow, they master the use of their skis as tools.
If the technical concept is what defines us as skiers, then aesthetic harmony—that is, the perfect integration of all technical elements—will be well defined, as there will be a sort of order and regularity in our movements. Conversely, if the technical concept is absent, the examination will focus on common observation. Therefore, the harmony of skiing will remain undefined, since it is the technical concept that defines a technically virtuous skier.
Here we might wonder whether we consider skiing an aesthetic practice. If we are guided by an aesthetic philosophy of skiing, it is because we seek the pleasure of the senses. However, this leads to constant dissatisfaction. When contemplating aesthetic skiing, the intellect intervenes as a perception of that beauty, given that all perception implies a judgment, and this judgment proceeds from intelligence.
Nevertheless, aesthetic judgments are not objectively valid, as they are based on subjective factors. What is pleasing and pleasant to see belongs to the sphere of our emotions. We tend to evaluate the way a technically virtuous person skis from our subjective point of view. It is evident that skiing, as an aesthetic activity, is a means to communicate a form of movement. Now, is postmodern skiing aesthetic or simply technical-efficient? Are we facing the death of aesthetic skiing? Modern skiing was based on the aesthetics of movements and postures, whereas postmodern skiing focuses on the efficiency of those movements and postures. And what would happen if we tried an efficiently aesthetic way of skiing, or better yet, an aesthetically efficient one?
