Eternal winter: a scary prospect for most but a welcome reality for an exclusive club of skiers and snowboarders like Charles Beckinsale, who, by choice, hasn’t experienced summer in 11 years.

Perhaps it helps that for the first half of his life, the Whistler Blackcomb terrain-park builder and groomer experienced the seasonal flip side—endless summer—while coming of age in Australia. A decade ago, the then–17-year-old journeyed to Whistler, specifically to polish his skills in Blackcomb Mountain’s Highest Level terrain park, where the stars of the slopestyle world hone their chops.

How does one practise slopestyle in a terrain park? Imagine platforms of snow terraced on a steep, open hillside interspersed with metal railings and assorted accoutrements more suited to an urban-street setting than a downhill ski run.

In slopestyle events, such as the upcoming World Skiing Invitational/AFP World Championship at Whistler, competitors sail skyward off such ramps, or booters, performing aerobatics while gracefully arcing earthward to touch down on groomed aprons of snow. Equally important ingredients in a performer’s overall choreography, scored by a panel of judges, are the balancing skills demonstrated atop fixtures while linking one transition into another in the space of a minute.

In 2009, injuries cut Beckinsale’s competitive career short. Eschewing thoughts of summer, he segued into a career as a terrain-park snow sculptor, both at Whistler during winter months in the northern hemisphere and for six months at one of Australia’s largest alpine resorts—the Snowy Mountains’ Thredbo—in the southern hemisphere, where his mother works as a ski instructor.

In advance of this month’s slopestyle competition during Whistler’s World Ski and Snowboard Festival (April 12 to 21), the Georgia Straight visited the 27-year-old on Blackcomb Mountain. When asked what swayed his decision to hop on a snowboard instead of skis, he replied: “I grew up surfing and skateboarding, so when it came time to learn how to slide on snow, snowboarding came more naturally to me.”

As to when he first became aware of slopestyle, Beckinsale cited a televised contest from the 2000 Winter X Games in Colorado. “It was exciting and more than just a one-hit trick like a big-air competition. Slopestyle holds your attention for a longer period of time, especially if you’re a park rider. The rail aspect and other man-made features are influenced by skateboard trends. In turn, the snow-jump portions have inspired the megaramps seen today in skate competitions. There’s a bit of give and take now between the two sports.”

One local skier excited to be participating once gain in the WSSF’s slopestyle competition is Yuki Tsubota, who placed third there last year. In late March, the 19-year-old arrived home in Pemberton at the end of her first season on the international circuit. Vancouver-born Tsubota’s rookie results have well-positioned her for a spot on Canada’s national slopestyle ski team that will compete next January in Sochi, Russia, when the youth-driven sport makes its debut at the Winter Olympics.

Over the past month, the Straight interviewed Tsubota by Skype in Rome between world-championships and Euro X Games appearances as well as rendezvousing with her on Blackcomb Mountain, where she grew up skiing with the Whistler-Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Club.

“My parents skied, so that’s where I started,” she explained. “I tried snowboarding, but I found it way more difficult, plus easier to get hurt.” Not that skiing halfpipe, her original passion, was any less risky. “I had a few falls and realized the consequences were tougher, so I switched over into mogul racing.”

Well on her way to bigger things—including an appearance at 13 in a prestigious Sports Illustrated–sponsored mogul event in Colorado—Tsubota switched to slopestyle three years ago when the International Olympic Committee added the sport to its 2014 roster. “I’m really happy I did, especially as I’ve been surprising myself with how well I’ve done so far at the elite level.”

Progression in slopestyle requires mastering bigger and bigger jumps, including megafeatures that Beckinsale called “money booters”, on which competitors gain the largest amount of air time to execute the greatest number of rotations and flips. “Competitions shouldn’t be about how big the jumps are,” Tsubota observed. “At the world championships in Norway, the jumps were ridiculous, whereas the Euro X Games were the perfect course from both girls and guys. We want nice, decent-sized jumps where we can progress. So many girls have been injured this season with blown knees and backs. That’s not what we want to see.”

For his part, Beckinsale said his aim in building the course at the upcoming Whistler competition was to please everyone by finding a balance between abilities on both sides of the gender fence. “After practice, I’ll gather feedback from the riders’ meetings and find a happy medium.”

Slopestyle is a spectator-friendly sport; the entertainment value lies in viewing an athlete’s “flight curve”. At the WSSF event, find a vantage point either in the Highest Level terrain park or from the Easy Out trail that curves gently past the park. Better yet, hop aboard Blackcomb’s Catskinner chairlift for an elevated view to appreciate the new axiom that to air is human, to touch down, divine.