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Archive for the ‘skiing’ Category

The countdown is definitely on – February 12 is the date for the opening ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games to be held in and around Vancouver, Canada.

As well as some of the iconic winter sports such as downhill skiing, ice hockey, skating in its many different guises, snowboarding and the like the 2010 games will host a new event – namely ski cross.

You may not have heard of ski cross but in essence it is the same as snowboard cross but on skis and according to Wikipedia it is involves a time trial or qualification round, every competitor skis down the course, which is built to encompass both naturally occurring terrain and artificial features like jumps, rollers, banks — whatever the course builder can imagine.

After the time trial, the fastest 16 (in women’s events) or 32 skiers (in men’s events) compete in a knockout (KO)-style series in rounds of four. A group of four skiers start simultaneously and attempt to reach the end of the course. The first two to cross the finish line will advance to the next round. At the end, the final and small final rounds determine 1st to 4th and 5th to 8th places, respectively.

Competitors are not allowed to pull or push each other during the KO finals. Any intentional contact to the other competitors will be penalized by disqualification or exclusion from the next race.

As is often the case pictures are better than words and this video from 20min, although somewhat dated demonstrates the action in this exciting and challenging extreme sport.

The 21st Winter Olympics are fast approaching and with the likes of ski cross our appetite for some serious action is truly whetted – bring them on!

The Japanese national team have set up a BAGJUMP in Cardrona, New Zealand which is allowing valuable training for themselves, the German, Canadian, American and Kiwi snowboarders in the run-up to the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in 2010.

“It’s a good opportunity to get the feeling on the take-off, get control in the air and being confident to land on my feet every time!“ Stefan Gimpl, pro-snowboarder.

This 15m x 15m multi-chambered airbag is giving riders the opportunity to practice new freestyle moves and double tricks. It is a revolutionary way to push the limits of extreme sports.

The BAGJUMP is the most cool invention ever and is not restricted to snowboarders. It can be used for  snowboard, ski, freeclimb, mountainbike, BMX, freefall, slackline, parcour, skateboard BigAir, SMX and pretty well anything else you can think of.

Imagine – instead of anticipating every bone in your body being smashed or at least bruised when trying to master a new trick – with the BAGJUMP you can practice ever more impossible tricks because you know that your landing will be on a soft absorbing cloud!

It allows jumps up to 50 meters (164ft) and off-center landings and it even has an adjustable landing softness. It looks such fun!

The material is strong and very resiliant – witness this video with BMXs using the BAGJUMP

“… being able to try new tricks for big air contests with the assurance of the BAGJUMP I’m more concentrated on my take off and airtime” Georg Engel, pro-biker

Thank you to Bagjump for the videos.

Because of the high-tech design, developed by pro-snowboarders and stuntmen, there is no way you can break through the bag onto the ground or bounce  off it like on a trampoline.

As well as being a training aid it is also a fun-device for all freestyle orientated athletes of ANY skill level and for this reason resorts, sports centres and campus’ around the world are beginning to invest in them.

Air bag training is the wave of the future for high level action sports athletes attempting to raise the standard in a controlled environment and national teams from around the world are lining up to get training on air bags in an effort to prepare for the Olympics.

Cardrona, on New Zealand’s South Island and an hour’s drive from Queenstown, has one of the very few halfpipe’s open at this time of year… and the world’s best snowboarders and skiers are taking advantage of it as they train in the lead up to Vancouver 2010.

It has had the most epic season with record amounts of snow, record number of visitors and Olympic Medalist Shaun White (USA) making history in the pipe and establishng its position as one of the top favourite resorts for winter extreme sports.

Cardrona was coming to the end of its season when they were approached by national teams from all over the world looking for a training facility during October.  They were happy to oblige and retained the services of John Melville, Cardrona’s Parks & Pipes manager. The pipe camp began on the 5^th October and will continue through to the 24^th October.

Shaun White (USA) flew back to New Zealand specifically for the first week of the private Pre-Olympic Pipe Camp and was grateful for the training opportunity. “I had a great time, it’s awesome to be able to rely on a mountain to have great terrain during the summer time when there’s no snow in the U.S,” he said.

The Japanese national team is bringing in a 900kg inflatable stunt bag this week (the Bag Jump) and with the support of the park crew will build this into the snow to practice double cork and spin combinations that are the emerging standard in competitions.

Although there is still 135cm on the upper slopes and 65cm on the lower ones, this resort is now officially closed for the season.

Enjoy this  video (caryv1) from the 5 Star Burton New Zealand Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort, New Zealand in August 2009… the video ends with some bold and adventurous spirits pushing the boundaries of what one can do with a snowboard…

Living legend Hermann Maier, one of Alpine skiing’s greatest, yesterday announced his retirement from competitive racing. Maier, who picked up the nickname ‘The Herminator’  won four overall World Cup titles – 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2004, two Olympic gold medals at the Nagano Olympics in 1998,  three World Championship titles – 1999 x 2 and 2005  and a total of 54 races on the World Cup circuit.

His racing career nearly ended following a motorcycle accident in August 2001 when he collided with a car on his way home from a summer training session in Austria. Doctors nearly amputated his lower leg, but instead Maier underwent massive reconstructive surgery. Most believed his racing career was over when he had to sit out the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

His first full season back was 2004 when he reclaimed both the Super-G and overall titles, a feat widely seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. In 2004, Hermann Maier received the Laureus World Sports Award for the “Comeback of the Year” and it was at this time that he picked up his nickname for his indestructible nature.

Hermann Maier in action.

Maier had victories again in the World Cup series in 2005 and 2009 but after surgery  on his right knee in the offseason he has decided to hang up his boots.

“I am healthy now and that’s the way I want to live on,” Maier said, fighting back tears at a news conference. “I wanted to become fit once more and I’ve accomplished that now.”

We are pleased to bring you this video from petrduchac of Maier in action at Kitzbühel in Austria which could be considered his own back yard for it is Maier who holds the best results ever recorded at Kitzbühel from the Super-G races, with 5 victories and 2 seconds in the 7 times that he competed there – an extreme performance in this extreme sport – without precedent – deserving respect.

Hey guys, just look at this. Couldn’t resist putting this photo on – this is SQUAMISH yesterday – click on the ‘view full size’ …. and check out my blog about Squamish on 12th September.

And the rumour was that there’d be snow at Whistler last night…

The ski season might be closer than we think.

The opening of the games could not have been more auspicious with clear blue skies and perfect dry powder for 43 of the world’s best skiers and snowboarders who were  fired up and ready to compete in the ‘Freeride Day’, one of three days of heli-access competitions held over a two week period. The athletes claimed it as “the most innovative, unique and cutting edge event ever”.

“The World Heli Challenge offers the athletes the best conditions in which to ultimately test their all round ability as a snow athlete. The unrivaled camaraderie among athletes, the two weeks of continuous adrenaline activities that the Wanaka region is renowned for and the incredible helicopter skills of Harvey Hutton and the Back Country Helicopter pilots make this event quite simply one of a kind,” event organizer Tony Harrington exclaims.

September 8th saw the “VnC Cocktail Downhill”. Brilliant weather and snow conditions heralded the dawning of the VnC Cocktail Downhill. This race taps into the child in all of us. Everyone has grown up racing their best mates down a hill – well, this race is all about that except it’s taken to another level. Dropped off by helicopter high on a ridge line above the Makarora Valley,  the skiers and boarders race each other to the finish line at the bottom. It is an adrenaline high race of competitiveness and camaraderie. There are no rules and no regulations.

Honors in the event went to Ted Davenport (ski), Jackie Passo (Ski), Ralph Backstrom (Snowboard) and Maria Kuzma (Snowboard) and topped off 3 incredible days of competition.

The “Freeride Day” preceded this and was all about finding out who are the best performers of aerial manoeuvres in back country environment. The athletes were lifted by helicopter into some of the most spectacular landscapes on earth and let loose on the mountain. Some of the competitors were jumping in excess of 60 ft through the air performing “Misty 720 Flips” (2 rotations with a twist) and there was a stand out double front somersault from Lake Tahoe, California’s Mike Wilson.

The outstanding performers of the day were: skiers Mike Wilson (U.S.) in 1st, Chris Booth (Australia), Tim Dutton (US) in 2nd and Tim Myer (Australia) 3rd and snowboarders Quentin Robbins (New Zealand), Andy Finch (US) and Matthew Annettes (US).

In the female ski category Janina Kuzma of NZ took first with USA’s Jackie Passo 2nd and Ingrid Backstrom in 3rd. In the women’s snowboard Maria Kuzma (NZ) came in 1st, Amber Schuecker (Australia) in 2nd and Susan Mol (USA) in 3rd.

Ye gads!

And then there was something completely unexpected – an “Expression Session”. This was a jump that had been specially built for the occasion and had people flying everywhere, including Mike Wilson who threw a triple back somersault. And then, to everyone’s amusement, surprise and enjoyment, instead of being helicoptered back down to the base, everyone was dropped off on the bank of the Makarora River to awaiting jet boats for a fast and furious ride back to the staging area.

With the completion of the final event, the overall World Heli Challenge titles were awarded to Ted Davenport (Men’s Ski), Andy Finch (Men’s Snowboard), Janina Kuzma (Women’s Ski) and Maria Kuzma (Women’s Snowboard).

Ted Davenport (U.S.) recaps: “The World Heli Challenge has been amazing! We were blessed with epic weather, epic conditions and incredible venues. Every day I was blown away by where we were dropped off at, I felt like a kid in a candy store!”.

The 3-day heli-event might be over, but this was a 2 week affair. There was no ways anyone could have predicted the perfect weather conditions allowing the heli-challenge to be completed at the start of the 2 weeks. From now on it’s fun, fun, fun with plenty of adventure related activities such as sky diving, bungy jumping and this Saturday nights grand finale music lineup of Matt Reardon, Drew Campbell and the Slur Tones headlining the “Afterburner Party” at Lake Hawea Hotel.

The 100% inaugural New Zealand Winter Games came to a spectacular close at Coronet Peak on Sunday.

“It has been highly rewarding that this inaugural 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games has reached all the objectives that we set. Not only did we get the targeted number of competitors but the quality far exceeded expectations and we had a number of Olympic and X Games medallists. Most satisfying is the incredible international media interest and although the weather has been against us, we have still achieved fantastic still and video images for international audiences”, said Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap.

He said the international coverage of the event had been outstanding with expected global TV audiences of 500 million and extensive print and internet coverage.

Canada was awarded the prize for the top performing country with 10 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze medals. The USA was runner up, followed by Japan.

Over 800 athletes, 40 countries, 400 volunteers and 37 events over 10 days marked the first 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games which was heralded a success by athletes, stakeholders and organisers alike.

After the slalom race on 30th August which was completed in extremely tough conditions, top women’s seed Anja Paerson said the conditions were difficult, changing throughout the competition, but it was a good race, made possible only through the hard work of the Coronet Peak race department and the volunteer course workers. “They have been incredible and all the athletes want to thank them,” she said.

The Games also made history as the first elite snow sports event to have able bodied and athletes with a disability compete together.

The 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games provided the opportunity for both able bodied and athletes with a disability to race alongside each other in the alpine skiing and cross-country skiing disciplines. However, with valuable points available for Olympic and Paralympic qualification, the scoring system was separate under FIS (Federation International de Ski) and IPC (International Paralympic Committee) regulations.

The closing ceremony featured aerials and a parade of nations down the mountain. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said he was proud to showcase New Zealand to the international athletes and said it was testament to the commitment of the athletes that they were prepared to compete in spite of the challenging weather conditions. The Games were brought to a final close by Ngai Tahu elder, Sir Tipene Regan,  followed by a celebratory fireworks display.

And on a different competition, but still in New Zealand:

THE WORLD HELI CHALLENGE…

There is no update at the moment as the weather has been so bad, that the competitors are passing time in a very different manner…

Stormy and snowy conditions in the Makarora and Mt Aspiring National Park ranges meant that competition was temporarily put aside, but these guys are self-confessed adrenaline junkies and rather than hang around doggedly scanning the skies, a handful of the athletes decided to take on the challenge of the raging river through the Kawarua Gorge with Queenstown Rafts. The winter storms that were delaying the skiing and had made conditions challenging for the NZ Winter Games meant that the rivers were flowing at full force – perfect conditions for people seeking a little excitement…

We’ve said it in the past and we say it again: if you have any desire to participate in extreme sports… go to New Zealand.

Friday sees the beginning of the WORLD HELI CHALLENGE, the most exotic and extreme free ride and free ski event on the international snow sports calendar, August 29th – September 12th 2009.

This is a 3-day Heli Challenge over a 2 week period to ensure the best weather and best conditions possible. Athletes will vie for top honours in Extreme, Free Ride and Downhill events and the coveted overall World Heli Challenge Champion.

QUIKSILVER, that name synonomous with the heritage and culture of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, are the official sponsors for this legendary invitation-only competition.

“To have a partner like Quiksilver on board is epic,” said World Heli Challenge director Tony Harrington. “Quiksilver is a company who shares the same passion and vision that we hold for the World Heli Challenge. It’s a perfect fit. Quiksilver’s history and credibility in the industry is legendary and it typifies adventure lifestyle sports and the social environment of the Challenge itself.”

There are only 50 spots available for athletes, divided into 18 male snowboarders, 18 male skiers. 7 female boarders and 7 female skiers. Hmmm … hardly seems fair to me! No, no, don’t fret – I’m just funning… but as a woman…. just kidding!

The World Heli Challenge brings together a host of athletes representing various backgrounds in ski and snowboard disciplines. A cross breed of alpine racers, terrain park, half pipe athletes and all round free skiers and freeriders meet together where their ability is pushed to the limit across three days of helicopter accessed snow sports competition. The event is held in the Mt Aspiring National Park, adjacent to the magnificent Lake Hawea and Makarora Valley near Wanaka, in New Zealand’s South Island.

Riders will battle it out in “Big Mountain”, “Freeride” and “Downhill” divisions in terrain that is only accessible by helicopter in the Mount Aspiring National Park region of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Every competitor will be tested both physically and mentally in the challenge, which is unique to every other snow event in the world. The overall goal of the World Heli Challenge is to find the best all-round skier and snowboarder.

Some of the athletes who will take part in the World Heli Challenge include:

• Matthew Annetts, Jackson Hole: Overall title winner of the 2009 North Face Masters;
• Ralph Backstrom – 4th place overall North Face Masters World Tour;
• Janina Kuzma – Ski winner of the Engadine Snow in St Moritz;
• Rachel Sheidow – 2 x Dicks Ditch J.H. winner and former 3rd Alyeska Extremes, Alaska;
• Chris Davenport – 2 x World Champion and inaugural World Heli Challenge Champion;
•  Maria Kuzma – 3rd in the Engadine and 5th in the World Tour Finals in Verbier, Switzerland;
• Australia’s Chris Booth, Andrea Berchtold, Charlie Timmins and Boen Ferguson;
• plus Kiwi sensation Jossie Wells along with his protégé brother Byron – two of the hottest ski kids in the world making big waves.

Event organiser Tony Harrington says: “The World Heli Challenge offers the athletes the best conditions in which to ultimately test their all round ability as a snow athlete. The unrivalled camaraderie among athletes, the two weeks of continuous adrenaline activities that the Wanaka region is renowned for and the incredible helicopter skills of Harvey Hutton and the Back Country Helicopter pilots make this event quite simply one of a kind.”

The three major events are:

The “Big Mountain” event tests an athletes ability on very steep terrain where huge cliff drops and technical prowess provide a “wow” factor unlike any other discipline in snow sports.

The “Freeride” event is held on undulating terrain where freestyle and aerial maneuvers tests the acrobatic skills of an athlete – basically the person having the most fun is certain to take the most points.

The “VnC Cocktail Downhill” event is the grand finale of the competition where athletes races head to head together down the mountainside, the first to the bottom and across the line wins.

This competition will test every competitor both physically and mentally during the challenge. It is unique to every other snow event in the world. The overall goal of the World Heli Challenge is to find the best all-round skier and snowboarder.

Tony Harrington, the organiser of the event and the talent behind these wonderful photographs, has always been on the cutting edge of what is humanly possible. The result is the best adventure and action sports content in the world that has featured on TV networks, magazines and online environments globally including NBC, National Geographic, FOX Sports, CNN and other major networks.

“If the riders go three metres up in the air right now they’ll end up in Wanaka!” said head judge Ola Sundequist

From which you will have gathered that the winds were extremely strong on the day of the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Halfpipe final, part of 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games.

The semi-finals were cancelled in the morning due to the strong northerlies which made conditions too dangerous for the high amplitude of jumps that were anticipated during the competition.

Notwithstanding this, Liu Jiayu of China and American legend Shaun White of the USA eventually blew the field apart taking gold with heart-stopping displays at Cardrona’s Olympic halfpipe.

Liu took victory with her first run that finished with a front-7 to a cab-7 scoring 44.1, nearly nine points ahead of her closest rival. American Kelly Clark came good to grab silver with the best second run of 40.5, while consistent quality from compatriot Gretchen Bleiler secured bronze with 37.1.

Shaun White easily took control of the men’s competition with his first score of 47.1. However, superb perfomances came from Iouri Podladtchikov from Switzerland with a storming display scoring 44.4 for Silver and Kazuhiro Kokubo gave his vocal Japanese fans plenty to cheer about with 43.2 and Bronze.

What is exciting for this sport is that it is continually expanding its creativeness. You think that every trick possible has now been explored, attempted and conquered, but this is not the case with top performers pulling new tricks out of the hat on a regular basis.

As Ola Sundequist said when summing up the action: “It turned out to be a fantastic day which I wouldn’t have believed this morning. The women’s result was closer and exciting to the end. Shaun White won because of amplitude off the jumps, level of difficulty and the fact that he’s creating new tricks. We haven’t seen that in the sport for a few years. What we’ve witnessed at Winter Games NZ here today clearly demonstrates the progression being made by both men and women.”

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games continues tomorrow (August 27) with skier cross at Cardrona, men’s giant slalom at Coronet Peak and curling at Naseby.

At the same time the Super G was successfully completed, but the adaptive skiers were not so fortunate and their race had to be cancelled due to the high winds which affected the erection of safety netting.

Not entirely sucessfully… poor Ganong was forced to have a re-run after being literally blown out of the course on his first run by a strong gust of wind!

It was a head-to-head clash in the women’s event between third seed 29-year-old Britt Janyk , Canada, and 23-year-old Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden. Jaynk managed to claim the gold medal when she clocked 1.04.74, a mere quarter of a second ahead of Pietilae-Holmner who crossed the finish in 1.04.98. Third place went to Jaynk’s team mate 22-year-old Shona Rubens in 1.05.01.

The men’s race was even tighter than the women’s but American Jake Zamansky 28, confidently grabbed the men’s title with a blistering run in 1.03.26 edging out Felix Neureuther 25 of Germany who stopped the clock at 1.03.64. Twenty-one-year-old Olivier Jenot of Monaco completed the tight finish finishing in third in 1.03.73 only a split ahead of Travis Ganong of USA in 1.03.74.

Zamansky, who has recently returned to the US team, was ecstatic about the race. “It was awesome, not too rounded and the conditions were great,” he said.

The following video (east2daweside) is from the Burton Creek competition just before the NZ Winter Games, but it’ll give you an idea of why and how we captured the gold today…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af8un2peLjY]

The NZ Winter Games continue today with the Snowboard Slopestyle at The Remarkables, the cross-country classic skiing at Snow Farm, the start of the curling at Naseby and the final ice hockey test match in Dunedin…

Ten days, 34 events, 15 sports, 800 athletes, nations from around the world and an audience of millions -  Winter Games NZ, the only event of its kind outside the Winter Olympics, got off to a good start with a beautiful clear day.

Yesterday, the first day, was a particularly good one for New Zealand’s home grown boy, Jossi Wells, who came second in the freeski slopestyle event. He was justifiably delighted to have taken second place in such a strong international field and in his own home town…“it is cool to have a competition at home and be able to bring all my mates to come down and do a competition in my backyard,” he said.

Thomas Wallisch from USA took first place and third place went to USA’s Bobby Brown. The top 3 scores were very close with 82.80,  82.40, and 80.60.

Australian, Anna Segal took first place in the women’s event with a score of 86.80. “I was pretty stoked with how it all went today. It’s not as big as we are used to hitting but this allowed us to get more creative,” said Anna Segal. Second place went to Rosalind Groenewoud of Canada with a score of 77.60 and third place went to Dania Assaly with 76.00.

The Remarkables slopestyle couse was very original, particularly something called the ‘barrel bonk jump’ which was something the riders hadn’t seen before but gave them the opportunity of trying out all sorts of tricks.

Winter Games NZ is to be the ultimate testing ground for elite winter athletes to experiment and explore performance limits against world-class competition.

Every four years, the Games will act as a direct lead-up to the Winter Olympics giving athletes an invaluable training opportunity. Many of the medal winners on the podium in Vancouver in 2010 will have honed their skills on the slopes of the Southern Alps.