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Video (40sec): Freestyle Skiing Team in Taos New Mexico. Taos Freestyle Team shows off their skiing skills and tricks.

Freestyle skiing began in the 1930s, when Norwegian skiers began performing acrobatics during alpine and cross-country training. Later, non-competitive professional skiing exhibitions in the United States featured performances of what would later be called freestyle. Aerial skiing was developed in about 1950 by Olympic gold medalist Stein Eriksen.

Freestyle skiing began to develop further throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, when it was often known as "hot-dogging." Bob Burns pioneered this style in Sun Valley, Idaho beginning in 1965.[1] In the late 1960s other followers of the style included Wayne Wong, John Clendenin, and Tom LeRoy. Some people thought that this style of skiing was too dangerous and did not want it to be an Olympic sport. The free-form sport had few rules and wasn't without danger; knee injuries became a common phenomenon for professional freestylers.

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