xtremesport4u

Archive for the ‘extreme sport’ Category

We have been away for a few days, to the beautiful island of Majorca and had to come back via Zurich where it was snowing. This morning, a beautiful clear day in Provence, we could see the southern Alps covered with snow. The radio told us that resorts like Isola 2000 and Auron had a 40cms of snow at the station and 80 cms at the top. Winter has arrived and many of these resorts will be opening the second week of December.

2010 is of course the year of the Winter Olympics which start in February in Vancouver, Canada. Many extreme sports are practised during the games – snowboarding in its various guises, skiing…..where do we stop, but we suggest that ski jumping must rank as one of the most extreme.

Men’s ski jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since the first Games in Chamonix, in 1924. The large hill competition was added for the Innsbruck 1964 Winter Games.

Above – Todd Loddwick of the United States – photo courtesy AP Photo/Matthias Rietschiel

There are now three medal events at the Olympics – the normal hill individual, the large hill individual and a team event. The format for the individual events is the same: there are 50 starters being the world’s top 15 ranked ski jumpers and 35 who will have qualified at the games. The first round whittles this number down to 35 jumpers who then jump again in reverse starting order to the distance jumped in the first round.

Competitors are evaluated on distance and style and while there is a very close relationship between the two, the skier with the longest jump will often have the highest style points. An exception to this can be found in the landing portion of the jump as long jumps can make landing in a controlled telemark position more difficult. The quality of landing can be a determining factor in deciding the finishing place when the distances are similar.

The team event is comprised of four athletes and there are two rounds of competition. In the first round, one skier from each team jumps. Then, the second skier from each team jumps. Then the third, followed by the fourth.

In the second round, only the top eight teams from the first round compete. Similar to the individual events, the less proficient jumpers go first and the best jumpers go last. The team with the highest total score over all eight jumps wins.

Norway heads the list of all time medal winners at the Winter Olympics, holding a total of 280 medals including 98 golds and in Vancouver it will be Anders Jacobsen who will be trying to take that total of golds to 100.

In the video below from Silosaft you can watch Jocobsen win at Innsbruck in 2007, narrowly beating Thomas Morgenstern of Austria.

Good luck to all competitors – perhaps this is one extreme sport that you could not practise in Majorca!

Surfing is all about balance and skill and difficult enough to master with panache as it is – but TANDEM SURFING? Sort of like ice skating on waves? Now that really is extreme… does it classify as an extreme sport? That’s up to you to decide…

…

Tandem surfing is not something new, and in fact the photograph below is positively modern. It is known to have been practiced as early as the 1930’s.

Begun in Waikiki where men and women surfed endlessly (nothing’s changed!) it seemed only natural to try surfing together and so tandem surfing was born. To really show off, the Waikiki boys would take tourists out for rides on their boards and to give them a more exciting ride they would pick the girls up into a shoulder sit or shoulder stand. Actually, no-one was aware of this, but it was easier for him to tandem surf with an untrained girl if she was ‘off’ the board. It is harder to turn and control the big tandem board with her standing on the deck. As soon as she is hoisted up on to his shoulders, he can ride and turn the board as though he were surfing alone. And so a new competition event was born.

Initially, tandem lifts were very basic and relatively easy, so normal size girls could partner the man. Now, more than 50 years after competition events first began, the lifts have evolved into complicated routines with intricate balance that requires small athletic women or girls. The rules are strict though: the girl cannot be lighter than half the bodyweight of the man, so if he weighs 200lbs she can be no less than 100…

The sport really developed in the 1960’s thanks to people like Pete Peterson and the Steve and Barrie Boehne of France. Peterson brought many new lifts that he had learned from  Muscle Beach – a famous place at the time where acrobats and weight lifters used to work out. The lifts grew from the basic 6 to over 25 by 1970. The Boehne’s were the first to combine several lifts on one ride. They specialized in transitioning from one lift to another while Barrie remains in the air without restarting from the board, and so the sport became much more interesting to do and watch.

It is interesting to note that nearly every lift that is being done today had been done by 1970.

Tandem surfing briefly died out in the late 1970’s, but Steve and Barrie decided to actively recruit new people into it and subsequently spent 25 years teaching new teams all the techniques and secrets that they had developed  over their competition years. “We help anyone, even our competitors, because once there were no competitors and we have learned that it is better for the sport to grow than to keep our techniques a secret just so we can win contests,” they said.

By 1995, tandem surfing had returned to Hawaii and there were dozens of teams in California.

And by 2007 the World Tandem Tour was taking place in 5 different countries: Maui, Hawaii; Noosa, Australia; Seignosse, France; Huntington, USA; Santander, Spain.

2009 saw the World Tandem Tour maturing yet again. More competitions have been devised and a specification book has been created and coefficient (stars) will be given to the contests. Professional judging and prize money are the rewards.

ITSA is the official international standard board for the sport and each major country gets its own representative. The main goal of ITSA is to develop the activity of Tandem surfing, promote it and professionalize it. Thanks to rorycad for the above video.

I always thought fishing was rather a dull pastime, but I think these guys received their fair share of adrenaline on this day out!

Thanks NewSimpleadams for the great clip!

It is amazing how we, at xtremesport4u, keep coming across another area which has termed itself  ‘the  most popular rock climbing area in the world‘…. Hmmm, they can’t all be the most popular, but they do all have something unique to themselves, and Joshua Tree is one of those places.

There are about 4,500 routes (although there seems to be some controversy  here as I have read that there are as many as 7,000 routes) in about 100,000 acres of parkland. Well for a start that’s not bad – at least it’s well spread out and you’re not all climbing on top of each other, or, even worse, waiting for a space to appear before you can even start climbing. However, before I wax too lyrical – over 1 million people do visit the park on a yearly basis and a lot of these are rock climbers.

The routes closest to the parking lots and campsites are the most popular but it is worth investigating the climbs deeper into the wilderness as they are less cluttered and well worth the walk.

Although the type of rock found at Joshua Tree could be loosely classified as granite, it is actually  ‘Quartz Monzonite’ or ‘Monzogranite’. A million years ago, when Joshua Rock and much of California and Baja California were being formed, cooling rates varied enough to make dramatic differences in the rock texture. Some of the nastiest rock in the park is found at Jumbo Rocks, where relatively slow cooling allowed big, flesh-ripping crystals to form whereas formations like Echo Rock cooled more quickly, yielding smaller crystals and smoother rock and as the rock cooled it fractured creating wonderful joints which you can find on routes like Tiptoe, 39 Steps, and Pops Goes Hawaian.

Weather and erosion have played their part too causing huge slabs of rock to peel off the faces of domes. Rainfall collects in pockets, intensifying small-scale weathering and leading to the formation of potholes. Flash floods and wind transport grains away from the formations. Even climbers contribute on a small scale, accidentally breaking off handholds, and more commonly, dislodging loose grains.

And this partially explains why it has become one of the many “favourite climbing spots in the world”. It is certainly a climbers’ mecca and has become a favourite worldwide trad climbing spot and if you don’t believe me, check out the  clarkgrubb video of Cryptic, a 5.8 sport route which is a fun classic with some great moves and gives you an idea of what is on offer at J-Tree:

and then tell me that that doesn’t look fun!

And then of course, if you’re into free-climbing, this place really is your oyster:

Apologies if you find the words of the song offensive, but who says rock climbers, and freesoloist in this particular case, don’t push all horizons to the limit!

J-Tree has something for everyone – from bouldering to extreme challenging climbs.

The temperature at J-Tree can be variable although it is safe to say that it is generally hot in the summer (May-September) – up to 100 degrees Farenheit, and around about 50 F in winter. However, winter storms can cause dramatic swings in temperature with one day happily being 75 F and the next as low as 45…

There are some regulations that are worth taking note of:

• It is prohibited to initiate or terminate a climb in an occupied campsite without prior permission of the occupant of that site.
• The use of any substance, such as glue, epoxy, or cement, to reinforce hand or footholds is prohibited.
• “Chipping” or enhancing hand or footholds is prohibited as is removing vegetation or “gardening.”
• Climbing within 50 feet of any rock-art site is prohibited.
• If penetrating into the wilderness,  stick to the existing trails.

These regulations are, I would have thought, unneccesary to have to put in writing as I would hope that rock climbers are conscious of the pristine state of the landscape and terrain that they are climbing in – however, there’s always someone who lets the side down. So come on guys, think of others, and think of the natural balance of the land that you are actually trespassing in – and treat it with respect! And remember to carry out EVERYTHING that you take in. In fact, leave nothing behind but your footprints. Thank you!

The Desert Winds Expedition Race is a competition. It is also a journey, an exploration, and an adventure in Nevada USA. It will be extreme, you can bank on that.

The Mojave Desert is a huge desert stretching between the two largest faults in California: the San Andreas and the Garlock.

Named after the Mohave tribe of Native Americans, it occupies well over 22,000 square miles (57,000 km2) and its boundaries are generally defined by the presence of Yucca brevifolia (Joshua tree) considered an indicator species for this desert.

This race is to be an unsupported, 3 to 5 day, 310 mile adventure race of a 4-person co-ed, or all-female teams and will include all the traditions of expediton length racing along with a host of surprises and a backcountry tour which will take in the beauty of southern Nevada outside of Las Vegas.

The disciplines will include trekking, mountain biking, paddling, canyon descents, navigation throughout, and, as we said above,  some surprises… be prepared!

Reservations for this race are now open (contact them directly on www.desertwindsexpeditionrace.com and follow the links to registration) but please note that the race is not until 18th September, 2010! These things take some planning… It’s cheaper if you book your team place before 1st January, and it continues to rise in price the closer you get to D-day … if, of course, there are any places left by then.

The Mojave Desert is sometimes called the “desert of mountains”. The race course will showcase the beauty and diversity of the Desert with its flora and fauna and with its stunning desert and mountain vistas.

It might be worth noting that the weather in the Mojave Desert in the Fall can be unpredictable. You can expect hot days (not as hot as mid-summer), cool nights, and thunderstorms.

This will be another extreme adventure race on a similar scale to the events organised by RacingThePlanet, Southern Traverse, Sabah eco-challenge, etc. If you wanna do it… get moving!

Flowing 700 miles east across the Tibetan Plateau, the Tsangpo (called the Yarlung in Chinese) drains the north slope of the Himalayas before plunging into the gorge. Here it flows between two massive 23,000 foot-plus peaks, Namcha Barwa and Gyala Pelri, before hanging a sharp right and diving south through a corridor of almost vertical rock, eventually emerging onto the jungled plains of India as the Brahmaputra. From the plateau, the river loses 9,000 feet of altitude in 150 miles.

In February 2002, Scott Lindgren and six colleagues, powered their kayaks into a maelstrom of enormous boulders and deafening whitewater.

The Tsangpo was at its deep-winter low ebb. Still, the kayakers immediately felt the power of the biggest, most continuously fearsome water they had ever paddled—15,000 cubic feet per second, dropping 100 to 200 feet per mile in some sections.

Fourteen days after launch, when the seven kayakers eddied out just above the unrunnable torrents of Rainbow Falls, they had made history.

Extreme kayakers have developed new techniques to control their descents over massive falls. Boaters tuck forward like high divers, laying flat across the bow and angling their boats nose first, which reduces the surface area hitting the water and softens the impact. Some even attach fins to the back of the boats so that they drop straight down, like a dart. The most common injury, kayakers say, is a broken nose.

Sturdier equipment has spurred advances in the sport. Brittle fiberglass kayaks have been replaced by tougher, molded plastic boats that can absorb big impacts. Unlike their cigar-shaped predecessors, newer kayaks have flat bottoms like surf boards, allowing boaters to skip off crests of waves and bounce off rocks in a move kayakers call a “boof.”

It all sounds possible – but as you will see in the video below from EditorJud this is a terrifying and extreme journey that some will not come back from – in the video which was released earlier this year the story of Doug Gordon who was killed kayaking on the Tsangpo is retold. With respect.

Our blogs are becoming increasingly snow orientated – heigh ho, it’s that time of year ago. Only a light dusting of snow on our Southern Alps still, but hey, it’s only mid-November. We are hoping for great things again this year, and in that spirit, we found this wonderful film from Film IT and newpartisancinema on snowkiting which I think you will enjoy – beats taking a lift up the mountain any time…

Snowkiting is a fantastic combination of two already fantastic sports – kite surfing and either snowboarding or skiing. If you already love these sports and haven’t yet tried snowkiting, it’s time you gave it a go…

It’s similar to kitesurfing in as much as you use the kite, infact nowadays kitesurfers are using the same kites they use on water – the inflatable variety; but the footwear used is the same as used for snowboarding or skiing – no getting around those uncomfortable ski boots I’m afraid.

The wonderful thing about snowkiting, which puts it apart from other alpine sports, is that it is possible for the snowkiter to travel uphill and downhill with any wind direction.

I suppose one could safely say that snowkiting is the latest winter sport.

After all, it’s easier to learn than kite surfing…

It’s logical… you can stand on snow which you certainly can’t do on water – well unless you’re endowed with some extraordinary powers that is. You need less wind to drive a board across snow than you do with water, and holding an edge in snow is considerably easier than trying to do the same in water which makes wind progress much easier to master.

Hey, this winter, you, too, could be doing this…

Thanks bada55ba55.

We began with Jerome Josserand and so we shall end with him too, with thanks to ggkite for this video. Please everyone, if you’re new to snowkiting – this is NOT something you want to do on your first time out!

Snowkiting, like kitesurfing, can be extremely dangerous and should be learned and practiced with care!

With relative ease the Italian team Azzurra, skippered by Francesco Bruni, brushed aside the challenge of the New Zealand team to win the Louis Vuitton Trophy off of the Nice coast at the weekend.

They had won their place in the final after defeating the British TeamOrigin in Saturday’s second semi final. The confident Emirates NZ team, skippered by Dean Barker had earlier beaten the Russian team Synergy to claim the right to sail in the final.

The action from the semi finals can be seen in this video from louisvuittontrophytv

On the website for the regatta, the link for which follows – http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/home/ – Azzurra is described as a collaboration between Yacht Club Costa Smeralda whose president is HH The Aga Khan. The crew is made of of a menage of experienced sailors and young Italian racing yachtsmen with Tommaso Chieffi as senior tactician.

Unfortunately there is no video of the final on general release but from the reports on the website the Italians were able to command the waters winning the first two races meaning the third race did not have to be sailed.

But the race was not without mishap for the Italians – as they came to the top of the second beat in the second race the mid-bowman fell overboard but was hauled back on board and the yacht lost no time.

A terrific result for the Italian team – our most sincere congratulations. Below they can be seen in action.

What to do when there’s no wind….

Well, there’s always someone somewhere who will make a plan, and this time we have to thank tomasleeman for the entertaining video.

However, a cautionary tale here. My husband did something very similar in his mad and misspent youth, although in his case they were doing it off the back of a pick-up truck on a farm runway in the middle of the bush. He got up nice and high – 100 ft probably – when the driver of the truck, under the influence of a few too many beers, put his foot on the accelerator thinking this would send him higher. Of course all it did was snap the rope. All 100′ or so of it hit him in the face like a coiled spring and knocked him out. Luckily he came to just before he hit the ground, and having done some parachuting, went into the classic roll on impact.

But it didn’t stop him looking like the Elephant Man for several weeks!

During the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics many eyes will be focused on the snowboarding events that will be taking place. Although snowboarding only became an Olympic event at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, the sport has grown into one of the most popular Winter Olympic events over the past 10 years. The thrill of watching the competitors fly through the air in the half-pipe discipline and the array of insane tricks that come with that event has made snowboarding ever so popular all over the world.

Snowboarding was first developed during the1960’sand 1970’s in the United States. The first ever actual snow board was invented and manufactured in Utah during the 1970’s. It has now developed into a main stream extreme sport and snowboarding will be one of the most watched spectator events during the Vancouver Olympics.

Snowboarding has many different disciplines some of which are not contested during the Winter Olympics. The competition events for the Vancouver Winter Olympics will be half-pipe, snowboard cross as well as the parallel giant slalom, all of which include a men’s and women’s event.

Half Pipe Snowboard – the half-pipe event consists of one snowboarder entering the pipe for his/her run. During the run the competitor must include a number of different acrobatic jumps, twists and tricks on the inside of the half-cylinder shaped snow tube. The judging is based on the riders overall height and style of tricks.

Here is a video from alexpennywise which shows how exciting this discipline is – the action is from the last winter Olympics in Torino in 2006.

Parallel Giant Slalom – the parallel giant slalom has two riders who race down the course at the same time having to navigate through a series gates with the fastest rider advancing to the next round. In all, the top racers will run the course a total of nine times, the ninth run being the Gold medal opportunity.

The video below from canmanski shows parallel giant slalom action from World Snowboard Championships 2007 in Arosa. Action packed for sure.

Snowboard Cross - the snowboard cross event consists of four racers starting in a pack down the course, racing against each other over terrain, off jumps and off ramps. At the conclusion of the heat the top two racers move on to the next round.

It is a crazy event and in the video below from Bazajt you can watch the incredible final from the 2006 Torino final when poor Lindsey Jacobellis crashed out with only 100 metres to the finishing line when she had a commanding lead for the gold medal.

As they say – it ain’t over until the fat lady sings – but whatever the outcome in Vancouver you can be sure there will be plenty of action in the snowboarding event.

The snowboarding venue is located on Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver – there is good access to the venue and plenty of space for the huge crowds that are expected.

The schedule for each event is as follows:

• Men’s snowboard cross – Monday 15th February
• Women’s snowboard cross – Tuesday 16th February
• Men’s halfpipe – Wednesday 17th February
• Women’s halfpipe – Thursday 18th February
• Women’s parallel giant slalom – Friday 26th February
• Men’s parallel giant slalom – Saturday 27th February