Posts Tagged ‘Colorado’

It looks like the 20th annual international snow sculpture competition which is held in Breckenridge, Colorado from Jauary 26th to 30th is going to be a give away to the very strong team from China.

But the competition comes from around the world with thirteen teams from around the globe competing from seven countries including the Czech Republic, Canada with 2 teams, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia and the U.S. as well as the Chinese.

The United States has 5 teams from Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Snow Sculpting is attended annually by more than 30,000 people of all ages from across the U.S. and the world.

The four-person teams are assigned 12-foot-tall, 20-ton blocks of machine-made Colorado snow. These teams work within a five-day period to create their sculptures. From these blocks of snow, the teams often craft enormous pieces of whimsy, although some deliver powerful political or social commentary.

The finished pieces are achieved after a total of 65 intense hours of work without the use of power tools, internal support structures or colorants — just the ingenuity of the sculptors and a medium that lends itself, if only temporarily, to the persuasion of hand tools. When the sculptures are finished on Saturday, Jan. 30, a panel of well-known artists and patrons of the arts serve as judges. Awards are presented to the first, second and third place sculptures on Sunday, Jan. 31.

Last year it was a team Canada for taking first place with their sculpture titled ‘Family Reunion’ and the Chinese could only manage second place with their sculpture entitled ‘The march of Spring’ – as seen in the photo below.

Awards are also given for People’s Choice, Kids’ Choice and Artists’ Choice. There are no cash prizes; the artists instead revel in the reward of hard work, forged friendships, freedom of artistic expression and the satisfaction of long hours of preparation that lead to the event.

But if the annual International Ice and Snow Festival  which has just begun in Harbin, northern China, featuring giant luminous ice sculptures and a fireworks display is anything to go by the other teams have no hope. Check out what the ‘land of the many’ can do, in the video below from ReutersVideo , when they turn their energies to sculpting ice – impressive.

Back to reality – the Snow Sculptures at Breckenridge are located in the area around the Riverwalk Center at 150 West Adams Avenue, Breckenridge, CO 80424. If you want further information we suggest you visit the website http://www.gobreck.com/events/townevents/budsnowsculpture/

Its gonna be a lot of fun!

The 14th Winter X Games are coming to Aspen, Colorado at the end of this month – January 28th – 31st to be precise. What a feast of extreme sports will be on display.

Winter X Games 14 will feature new events with two new disciplines making their debut – Skiing SuperPipe High Air and Snowmobile Knock Out - it is just getting more and more extreme.

The action is on skis, snowboards or snow mobiles and with extra coverage from sponsors ESPN you are guaranteed to see most of the competitions even if you cannot be in Aspen.

There will be snowboard big air, snowboard slopestyle and snowboard superpipe for both men and women. The skiing will involve big air, superpipe high air, slopestyle and superpipe events. The snowmobile schedule will include best trick, freestyle, snocross both knockout and adaptive. And with mono skiier X, skiier X and snowboarder X all featuring on the X course you are bound to see some thrills and spills.

See for yourself in this crazy action packed video of the 13th X Games kindly provided by marcgb10 . The best in the world are coming to Aspen with names such as Scotty Lago, Charkes Reid, Peetu Piirionen, Shaun White, Kelly Clark and Jamie Anderson among a very international list of invitees the competition is going to be very fierce.

Don’t miss it – January 28th to 31st on ESPN - for further information go to the following link:

http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/2010/wx14/index

Silverton Resort in the San Juan Mountains,  Colorado is what is known as ‘a perpendicular resort’. Strictly skilled skiers only.

It offers a remarkable choice of off-piste and hike-to terrain, heli-skiing and snowcat skiing. Its terrain spans 1,819 acres that descend 3,100 vertical feet through 45-degree chutes, huge powder bowls and a zone called Nightmare. For any extreme thrill seekers out there – this is the place to come.

Silverton Mountains’ webpage says it all: “Imagine a place where the average total snowfall of over 400″ exceeds the amount of daily visitors. Advanced and expert only riding, no groomers, no clearcut runs and a real mountain experience with plenty of adventure on tap. All thrills no frills.“

Am I successfully whetting your appetite?

“Silverton Mountain” says Chris Davenport, professional skier and Red Bull athlete, “is pretty close to the most pure skiing experience one can find today, an epic mountain, bountiful snowfall (the deep and light Colorado kind!), and none of the distractions of other ski areas (crowds!)”

There are no groomed runs, no cut trails, just loads of nature’s finest black diamond skiing in the U.S.A.

Ben Gibson from Canaccord Capital Corporation, Montreal,  Canada is equally impressed with Silverton, “Silverton Mountain is a fantastic mix of the modern steep and deep free-riding experience and a simple throwback to the days of skiing lore when ski areas were the sole domain of passionate snow-sliders. Silverton offers a unique guided backcountry skiing experience similar to cat-skiing at the cost and safety levels of lift-accessed skiing. Silverton defines the pure essence of snow-sliding: great terrain, great conditions, wonderful people!”

You’ve got to carry a shovel and a probe at Silverton, and it is essential that you make good decisions. This is a no frills resort – a throwback to the forties when ski areas just had a lift and a hut. But, you get what you came for… 100% off-piste skiing in awesome powder. You might only get 5 runs a day, but each one will be memorable and you will be exhausted at the end of the day.

	Chris Davenport (courtesy of Aaron Brill/Silverton Mountain)

It’s not all perpendicular. Silverton backcountry offers some wonderful snowkiting opportunities too, with thanks to zooter67 for the video.

This is also the resort where Red Bull built a half-pipe for Shaun White to practice on…

We recently wrote about two endurance marathons -  Furnace Creek 508 and the  Simpson Desert mountain bike race – about which more later – and so thought we would do some research into the subject. These extreme events are gaining in popularity – does this suggest a rather macabre side to the human psyche?

Our own experience of marathons is on foot and we hated almost every yard of the actual run but when you finish, when you have bested your personal best, achieved your goal and maybe even raised a few bob for your local charity the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction is huge.

It must be the same for the marathon mountain bikers…….and having made some enquiries we have found some information on the north American endurance mountain bike races which we thought you would appreciate.

UCI

The world of mountain biking comes under the jurisdiction of the UCI – Union Cycliste Internationale (International Cycling Union) which is based in Switzerland. They run/manage all world championship events such as the recent UCI mountain bike and trials world championships that were held in Canberra, Australia. The UCI were established in 1900 but it was not until 2004 that the UCI held marathon mountain bike championships. The 2009 event was held in Austria with Roel Paulissen from Belgium winning the men’s event and Sabine Spitz  from Germany winning the women’s event.

Non-UCI events routinely cover much longer distances. The typical event in the USA is either based on time, usually 6, 12 or 24 hours, or distance, the most common being 100 miles (161 km) Events based on hours typically allow either people to compete individually or as part of the team. Distances events are almost all solo events. The number of these events and those taking part in them have grown greatly. The first such events began to be held routinely in the early 1990s Typical each year there were less than 10 events each with less than 50 racers. In 2006 nearly 100 events were held and most had more than 150 racers.

It is these non UCI events that we will report on today.

Montezuma’s Revenge is a 24 hour endurance mountain bike wilderness race held in Colorado each August. Competitors are required to climb a 14,272-foot (4,350 m) mountain-Gray’s Peak. The course varies from year to year but is always extremely demanding. The winner is determined by who covers the most distance in the 24 hour period.

Wilderness 101 Mountain Bicycle Race is a 101 mile (162 km) race held annually in late July. The race starts and ends in Coburn, Pennsylvania. The course is a single loop covering roads, forest roads and trails. The total climbing in the race is approximately 10,000 feet (3050 meters.)

Chupacabras is a 100 km race in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.  The annual race has taken place every October since 1997. It is sponsored entirely by the private sector and draws hundreds of competitors each year, primarily from Mexico and the southern US.

Leadville Trail 100 MTB is one of the oldest of a growing number of 100-mile (160 km) races. It was first run in 1994 and has become one of the best known marathon events in mountain bike racing. Entry is by lottery, with entries due by the end of January each year for the race that is run the second Saturday in August.

Breackenridge 100 is an endurance mountain bike race held annually in mid July Breckenridge, Colorado. The race offers two distance classes, 100 miles (161 km) and 100 km (62.5 miles). No awards are presented to those doing the shorter version, it simply offers easier alternative for those riders not ready to take race the full 100 miles.

Mohican MTB 100 is an endurance race of 100 miles (161 km) held annually in early June in North Central Ohio. The course contains over 11,000 feet of climbing on singletrack, doubletrack and dirt roads. This course is very scenic, almost entirely tree covered and more than 90% on dirt. This course is only one lap and is almost entirely in the 5,000 acre (20 km²) Mohican State Park.

Lumberjack 100 is an endurance race held in June at Michigan’s Big M Cross Country Ski and Mountain Bike Trail in the Manistee National Forest.  The race course consists of four 25 mile laps in the Udell Hills area.  The course contains over 8,000 feet of climbing and is 99% singletrack. Due to venue limitations, only 250 racers are allowed to participate.

Shenandoah 100 is a 100 mile (162 km) endurance race held annually on the Sunday during Labour Day weekend. The race course start and finish points are near Stokesville, Virginia and is mostly contained in the George Washington National Forest and has nearly 12,500 feet of vertical climbing over the 100 miles.

Endurance 100 is an endurance race of 100 miles (162 kms) held annually in late August in Utah.

So there you have a brief compendium of the main endurance marathons held in the US – we hope you will get yourselves motivated to take on this challenge – get yourself fit and then glow in the aftermath personal satisfaction and achievement. Below is some action from Utah in the video from BrianHeadInsiders

We promised to update you on how the crazy guys are in the Simpson Desert classic – day 3 and its getting tougher – still one man with 100% – thanks to Sue George of www.cyclingnews.com for this extract.

‘Once again the Simpson Desert threw in a bag of tricks for the riders. A change from the normal race route has been necessary as the Warburton Crossing leading onto the Birdsville Track is impassable. Day three was diverted up the little used sand track, known as the K1 Line.

Good conditions were experienced for the first few hours of the stage. However, by around 10:00 am riders were pushing into a northerly headwind while slugging through soft sand. By 10:45 am, the wind blew up a massive dust storm that has continued through most of the day and evening.

Nevertheless, 13 riders completed the morning stage, including the one remaining 100% rider, Alan Keenleside from NSW. Keenleside was well supported throughout the day by 2008 winner Lynton Stretton, who despite suffering a knee injury, is doing everything possible to help him remain undefeated by the desert.’

We thought we would put a blog out about extreme polo today and so we started researching the subject. Our YouTube search came up with this extraordinary act which not surprisingly is called extreme polo by enriquepolo.

Ok so it may not be exactly what we had in mind to present but we thought it was so amazing that we must share it with you.

Globe of Death by Extreme Polo features five men riding their motor bikes in a minute transparent steel globe which would appear to not have enough room to swing a cat. But these five blokes – Enrique Polo, Sergio Ayres, David DaCruz, Nildo Mendes and Pedro Robatini somehow manage to achieve the impossible and drive their bikes within the globe without crashing. Impressive stuff.

So our search had to continue and eventually we found the real thing. Polo on horse back but played in the snow – in this case in Aspen, Colorado – but it doesn’t look a great game, too slow with the ball being held up in the snow which inevitably gets churned up by the horses. See what you think in this video by sourtoefilms.

So our research did find some interesting and extreme forms of polo but we will save those for another day. Not wanting to leave you disappointed we thought you would appreciate watching this video by BlackWatchPoloTeam of the Black Watch Polo Team who are one of the preminent polo teams in the North American Polo League.

The team is captained by Nacho Figueras with Bautista Heguy, Matias MacDonough and Francisco de Narvaez being the other players. The Black Watch Polo Team is owned by Neil Hirsch from Florida.

The best polo players in the world come from Argentina and we were wondering why there was no polo competition at the Olmpic games until we asked an Argentinian friend who said, ‘there would be no competition, despite the handicap system, for a national Argentinian team’. Bold words but he is probably right. However we note from Black Watch’s website that they are entered for the 2012 summer Olympics in London…….this requires further research but polo at the Olympics would be a welcome addition….sounds rather more exciting and extreme than synchronised swimming?!!

Here is Nacho and his team mates talking about the Black Watch Polo team.

With the snow fast receding on the mountains of the Alpes Maritimes it is perhaps untimely to be talking of skiing and snowboarding but one of the reasons we write in this blog is to enthuse people of all ages of the wonder and beauty of the great outdoors so they will get off their fat asses and go and try ‘it’ for themselves. We don’t mind whether it is a ski or snowboard, a bike or base jumping, a surf board or scuba, a hang glider or a mountain to jump off or climb – the important thing to us is that you get out there and give it a go.

Look – the fact is there are far too many of us who do the square root of sweet fanny adams (whoever she was?) other than sit on our over extended backsides drinking some sugarised soda and munching on candy. Tick tock, tick tock, tick………..oh, oh the clock has stopped and there you go – just another number, another statistic for those bespectacled boffins who count and interpret numbers and tell us that we are an obese society dying too young because we have too much cholesterol in our systems.

We were therefore pleased to see that the Winter X games and ESPN have won the award presented by the National Ski Areas Association for bringing the thrill and excitement of skiing and snowboarding into the living rooms of millions of television viewers worldwide. The NSAA Industry Impact Award recognizes significant contributions made to the ski industry by an individual, business, or other entity.

Here’s some video actiom from m21d95 of the men’s super pipe final held at Aspen, Colorado in 2008, including Shaun White.

“We’d be remiss if we didn’t formally recognize the impact that the ESPN Winter X Games has made on the ski industry,” said NSAA President Michael Berry. “There is little doubt that the exciting action that these games deliver into the homes of viewers both young and old has caused them to pick themselves up off of their couch, and give skiing and snowboarding a try for themselves. Clearly the industry as a whole has benefited greatly from ESPN’s exposure.”

Watch Simon Dumont, in iamn8’s video, win the 2009 big air, beating Jon Olsson with a double front – some style, some class.

The Winter X Games have been held every January for 13 years. Debuting at Snow Summit, Calif., the event has subsequently been held at Mount Snow, Vt., Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Colo., and finally Aspen/Snowmass, where it’s remained for the past eight years.

We add our congratulations to Winter X games and ESPN and find it somewhat ironical that the award is being made on Marco Island, Florida on Thursday. Maybe the NSAA too – like the Alpes Maritimes – have had enough snow for one year!!