Posts Tagged ‘extreme skiing’

Erik Roner has been a professional skier and avid BASE jumper for the past 6 years. He’s been published in over 30 different magazines world-wide, starred in over 10 major ski films, participated in numerous TV shows on Discovery, National Geographic, NBC, Showtime, FUEL TV and others. Each winter he travels the world and films a progressive big mountain ski segment with Teton Gravity Research from which the following video comes from (TheErikRoner):

Here, Erik, Teton Gravity Research Big Mountain skier, BASE Jumper & Nitro Circus athlete becomes the first person to Ski BASEjump off Cajun Coulior in Jackson Hole, WY. Cajun Coulior is near the popular Corbet’s Coulior.

Erik started skydiving and BASE-jumping in 2000 and quickly developed a passion for BASE-jumping. He has helped pioneer ski BASE-jumping, skiing numerous first descents all over the globe. Ski BASE-jumping is where you ski down a line that ends or closes out in a 200ft-2000ft cliff. The line is only ski-able if you ski off the cliff and deploy a parachute.

Roner, 31, first came to the publics’ attention when he ski-BASEjumped in the 2005 film, Tangerine Dream. Although generally hanging out at and around the Tahoe ski scene, if you see a guy wearing skis and a parachute floating down off the gnarliest cliff at your favourite resort, chances are Erik has come to visit.

What sort of a man is he? Well, when a friend asked him if he’d like to “ come BASE jump dirt bikes into the Grand Canyon?” His immediate response was, “I’ve never even been on a dirt bike but, yeah, I’m in!” and that’s the sort of man he seems to be… up to any stunt in the book and if it’s the first time it’s been tried – hell yeah, why not!

We’ll end with another visually breathtaking video of Roner, Morrison and Jones doing some seriously extreme skiing on some seriously extreme mountains (NewRISC):

In keeping with my comment over on Twitter, “Skiing:  the art of catching cold and going broke while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk” – I couldn’t resist broadcasting these extreme skiers and their even more extreme exploits (ZiGGAH):

Almost definitely not to be recommended if you’re planning a nice little ski weekend up in Gstaad!

And just because I can’t resist it, I’ll show the last jump again (skitchysays) – it was, after all, a world record at the time:

And then along came Fred Syversen determined to outjump Jamie Pierre and succeeded with a magnificent 107 m (351 ft) jump (homeboyskidotcom):

Hats off to them, and rather them than me!

We haven’t even had a look at the winter season in Japan yet, but know it’ll be worth a mention – last year we were amazed at the wonderful quality and quantity of snow they received…

And 2010 is no different.

An interesting fact is that snowmaking is banned in Japan, but fortunately that’s not a problem for the island of Hokkaido. Indeed the only complaint has been ‘too much snow’, with some visitors complaining of snow falling for weeks on end.

It is perhaps a little known fact that Japan has more than 500 ski resorts, and those on the northern island of Hokkaido experience more snow than anywhere else in Japan. Sub Arctic storms race out of Siberia across the Sea of Japan  and dump vast loads across the island of Hokkaido. It is some of the lightest, driest powder snow found anywhere in the world.

Mt Niseko is one of Japan’s most popular ski resorts. The mountain is home to 5 different resorts: Annupuri, Higashiyama, Hirafu, Hanazono and Moiwa, and your lift pass is interchangeable between them all except the smallest resort of Moiwa.

The prevailing weather pattern means that this resort receives dump after dump of great snow throughout the winter. Barely a day goes by without new powder snow coating fabulous slopes on which enthusiastic skiers can lay fresh tracks.

In addition, Niseko has the largest floodlit night skiing area in the world. The lifts are open from 8:30 in the morning until 9:00 p.m. at night 7 days / week.

A very efficient lift system  of  gondolas and covered chairlifts will get you to the top of each mountain quickly and in comfort. The terrain is varied. There are legendary tree runs like Strawberry Fields and Miharashi, and some huge powder fields off The Peak which will blow your mind. There are some great steep runs at the Alpen Super Course and under the Kogen gondola. For beginners, there are beautifully groomed slopes at the base of the mountain. All runs are long and the 900m vertical drop ranks Niseko up there with other world class resorts. The longest run is a fabulous 5,600m.

Being at a low altitude, 1,200m only, it rarely experiences true white-out conditions, although when it is snowing, visibility is reduced to around 200m.

The expected average snowfall during any given month is mind boggling: 1 metre in December, 3 in January, nearly 4 in February and over 4 in March.

Ski Rusutsu is about an hour from Niseko and has 3 main mountains – East, West and Mt. Isola. Together there are 42 kilometres of runs, including a long cruiser of 3.5 kilometres. Despite its low altitude by the standards of Europe’s Alps or the Rockies, Rusutsu is particularly well known for its remarkable natural snowfall.

Here you’ll find untracked powder runs,  amazing variety of terrain and some awesome natural terrain features not found in other resorts. It has the best tree-skiing in Japan, particularly on Mt. Isola, and the backcountry is superb. The uncrowded groomed runs are amazing,  resembling gigantic freeways with long consistent fall-lines. Add to this one of the best half-pipes and snow-parks in the area and you’ve got a resort that offers everything you could ever want in a ski resort.

And then there’s Furano, located in the middle of Hokkaido at the foot of Japan’s mountain range. It has a wide selection of varied terrain for every level of skier and snowboarder with cruising trails, beautiful views and high speed lifts plus the added advantage of a vertical drop of over 950 metres making it one of the steepest mountains in Hokkaido. It’s a powder skiing mecca, and usually receives an average 8 metres of the lightest, driest snow each ski season, and yet has more blue sky sunny days than any other resort in Hokkaido.

And we will end with Hakuba…

… which means ‘white horse’ in Japanese This is an epic valley with 10 different ski resorts and hundreds of kilometres of trails spread over a huge variety of terrain. Hakuba boasts the longest vertical run in Japan and other runs exceeding 6 km.

There is something here for everyone – skiers and snowboarders, beginners to experienced skiers alike. You’ll find perfectly groomed cruisers & super-long meandering trails for beginners, plenty of powder bowls for high alpine riding and powder laden forests for the more advanced. There are 4 terrain parks with jibbers and super pipes, rails and jumps to satisfy even the most spoilt adrenaline junkie, and for the powder buffs, waist-deep powder is pretty common here.

The town of Hakuba is nestled in the middle of a huge valley, towered over by huge rugged peaks, 10 ski resorts and spectacular alpine scenery. Cortina consistently receives the highest snowfalls in the Hakuba valley and the whole area sports a long season from mid-November to early May.

We did manage a day in the Alpes Maritimes at Isola 2000 last week – it was good to be back on skis – but…………well OK, we were spoilt last year when we were blessed with 3 metres of snow and so it was rather disappointing to find like only 50cms. It did however snow hard in the afternoon and so skiing for amateurs such as ourselves was none too easy.

We were looking at YouTube and found some evidence that we thought we should share – firstly this excellent compilation on how skiing is practised by the very best at their chosen sport – when skiing last week it would have been useful to have had just some of the skills that these guys are blessed with – respect!

Thanks to thesnowfiles for the video

Yes rather impressive you must admit – but, and there is always a but, the following video from roggezzinho demonstrates what can happen when you get it wrong – something we were so close to doing as the snow fell last week, visibility was reduced to zip – oh no it was not a good idea. Thankfully we survived as did the guy in the video.

And of course in researching for this blog we found another video from thesnowfiles which further shows the very terrible consequences of getting a bad line when out and about in the mountains………………………please be careful….but have fun.

The sort of silly things we’ll hopefully be doing in a few days or so… with thanks to danigga544 for the fun video…

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.