NORDIX - extreme XC ski race in Austira

Looks like they are going beyond sprints to draw masses' attention to XC.

From what I know it was a 900 m course, with jumps, trampolines, etc, etc.
Photogallery and videoclips are pritty impressive.

http://www.redbull.at/homepage.action
http://www.redbull.at/gallery.action...183-1512020181
http://www.redbull.at/article.action...960-2092678868

No, it would be too late for an Apr 1st joke, plus videos are very convincing.

Andy Newell would rip at this. The kid is insane on his xc skis.

the Next Wave.

Twenty years ago they would have been showing off all those moves at a
"Telemark festival".

Then Telemark boots and skis got mature and heavy, so it turned into just
another variation on alpine downhill skiing.

Now we discover a new niche of flimsy-gear one-up-man-ship: The
light-weight performance of XC skate racing boots and bindings has made it
possible to do lots of high-visibility ski tricks on equipment that weighs
like half of what lots of people used for those moves twenty years ago.

Ken

P.S. Forty-five years ago, a competition where young male skiers were
showing off combinations of those same moves would have been called . . . ?
what ?
_______________________________________________
Andrey wrote
Looks like they are going beyond sprints to draw masses' attention to XC.
From what I know it was a 900 m course, with jumps, trampolines, etc, etc.
Photogallery and videoclips are pritty impressive.
http://www.redbull.at/homepage.action

(revyakin) wrote in message . com...

Looks like they are going beyond sprints to draw masses' attention to XC.

One way or another they managed to draw the attention of
quite a few real skiers: Anders Aukland was there, so was
Kris Freeman. (Peter Schlickenrieder was the winner.

All great fun to participate or to watch, XC skis are not
only for the tedious, sweaty stuff:-)


But there wasn´t anything "extreme" about the event in
the sense of "long distance adventure team" sport - which
is the other common definition at least this side of the
pond.

For a real extreme XC ski race that is guaranteed not
to draw either masses or their attention is the "Utin
kaukopartiohiihto" in Finland, which is a "long range
patrol" ski race: there are several distances to choose
from, beginning from a 30km sprint, but the longest is
300km - to be covered in forest skis, with a 20kg back-
pack and in 48 hrs.



Anders

Cool... it reminds me of the XCZONE movies/DVDs which popularized
nordic skier cross with cross country racers (a.k.a. the xczone
airforce) pulling off 360s, double overhead 720s, backscratcher
cossacks and rodeo 540's, while going head to head in a sprint course
set through (up and down) a snowboard park.

I saw it at the Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour...
it made the snow boading films seem tame.


photos from the xczone site are found at:

www.xczone.com/unlimitedx.jpg
www.xczone.com/unlimitedL72.jpg
www.xczone.com/txczoneairforcecross13.jpg
www.xczone.com/tbolexaction68.jpg
www.xczone.com/tbolexaction69.jpg
www.xczone.com/txczoneairforceintrees.jpg
www.xczone.com/txczoneairforcemodified.jpg

- JM

The world of real skiers is way beyond World Cup XC race events.

Anders Lustig wrote
they managed to draw the attention of quite a few
real skiers: Anders Aukland, Kris Freeman.

(Leaving aside that most _real_ skiers I know are too busy with more
exciting skiing to be bothered with races . . . )
Races for _real_ skiers are way beyond the World Cup cross-country events.
I'll bet that Anders and Kris are indeed real skiers, but if they want to
_show_ it, let them try doing a serious _real_ ski race.

North America: see a list of _serious_ real ski races at:
http://life-link.com/race.htm
Europe: for a serious European race, see:
http://pierramenta.com
.. (click on "Etapes" to see course profiles for real skiers)
Utah: two weeks ago Americans competed against the Europeans in a serious
real ski race:
http://bdel.com/powderkeg
.. (surprised by the results?)

Serious races for _real_ skiers:
-- have real long climbs
like 1000m / 3000ft vertical continuous uphill.
-- have real steep climbs
that require removing skis in order to boot up them, like up to 45 degrees
steep, sometimes even requires stopping to put crampons on the boots.
-- have real steep downhills
like 40 degrees and more (unlike the World Cup XC downhills, which are
literally _novice_ slopes for real skiers).
-- are on real snow
with bumps + crust + ice.
-- require real serious equipment
wide metal-edge skis, heavier boots, climbing skins, helmets -- and other
stuff _required_ by the rules.
-- require skiers to be fully self-supporting.
carry all their own water + food, and their own safety gear.
-- require carrying real gear in a backpack
lots more weight than the "little King Hakan" packs in the Birkebeiner.

And now there's serious World Cup race series for serious _real_ racers:
http://www.uiaa.ch

Sorry, this proposal that the elite cross-country racers are more "real"
than lots of other skiers did get my attention.

Ken

corrected link for
Utah: Wasatch Powderkeg real ski race sponsored by Black Diamond:
http://www.bdel.com/powderkeg
or http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/powderkeg/

more specific links for the real skier's World Cup series:
http://www.uiaa.ch/?c=206
race results for this season:
http://www.uiaa.ch/?c=209

For a Canadian perspective on the real skier's World Cup:
http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/ccc/ismc.html

C'mon Ken that's just mountaineering and ski-turning. : )

How FAST do these real ski RACERS go down those steep slopes? A slope any
steeper than WC grades requires SLOWING turns, thus impeding the racing.

The luggage, equipment and rocks impede the REAL SKIING as well. It becomes
more about safety than skiing.

That stuff is cool anyway though.

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of do-it-yourself culture ... bikes, skis, boats & more ...
... with radically relevant novels from the ULA's LiteraryRevolution.com
....
... free music ... tons o' articles ... travel forums ... WOW!

As far as REAL skiers goes, I say to each his own (or her own).
But I'm reminded of the brave friend-of-a-friend cyclist, who
had the guts to flaunt his T-shirt in front of a bunch of
Hell's Angels or whatever motorcycle thugs. It said:
REAL MEN ARE SELF-PROPELLED.

Best, Peter

Ken Roberts wrote:

(Leaving aside that most _real_ skiers I know are too busy with more
exciting skiing to be bothered with races . . . )

I tend to agree with this.

Except excitement and speed aren't the same thing. For pure speed, you'll
need a race and groomed conditions---you don't wanna be worrying about
smacking into things or people.

But I agree that the realest skiers are the most all-aroundest.

The wildest and most interesting stuff surely cannot be organized.

A race is always a mediation.

(That's a postmodern thing, right?)

That's why I thought it was friggin hilarious that one of the first big
Adventure Racing websites (and mags?) called itself "Pure Life"---what's up
with that? Apparently AR has quickly turned into religion for many of its
followers.

But dang the idea of AR seems kinda cool: test your all-rounder skills and
push beyond usual limits. Not bad.

Mike Muha and I are thinking of doing one. : )

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of do-it-yourself culture ... bikes, skis, boats & more ...
... with radically relevant novels from the ULA's LiteraryRevolution.com
....
... free music ... tons o' articles ... travel forums ... WOW!