JANUARY SKIING SECRETS

1st January 2020

Last modified on May 16th, 2021

SKIING SECRETS STORIES FROM DECEMBER 2019

WEDNESDAY 29th JANUARY
‘DRUNK’ MAN ARRESTED FOR DRIVING UP A SKI SLOPE

A man has been arrested after trying to drive his Range Rover up a ski slope in Vermont.

The incident happened late at night at Magic Mountain in Londonderry, according to Vermont State Police.

They were called out after an employee of the Black Line Tavern at the foot of the slopes saw the vehicle move away from a parking area and up a ski run.

The Chester Telegraph newspaper reports that a 59-year-old man from New York State has been charged with driving under the influence.

He is due to appear in court in March.

The newspaper quotes a witness as saying:  “He got a couple of hundred feet up the terrain park and turned around.”

The resort’s groomer was able to repair ruts in the snow caused by the Range Rover.

MONDAY 27th JANUARY
MUSIC ON THE SLOPES

Have you ever seen this before?

We have skied on slopes with music playing and fun parks often pump out some tunes.

But a slope with a juke box so you can choose you own music.

Oliver Weinzerl from the Tritscher ski school in Schladming explains all.

And what a choice of music 😉

SUNDAY 26th JANUARY
ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF SOME SKI WAXES

Should more be done to reduce its impact, especially in Nordic and cross-country skiing?

Wax helps gliding. Image © PlanetSKI.

The chemicals in some ski waxes, especially fluoro waxes, are harming the environment according to this in-depth article in Outsideonline.

We have earlier written about eco-friendly ski waxes here on PlanetSKI.

Plant based ski wax hits the US Market

Eco wax for skis

And reported that the International Ski Federation has already decided on  banning fluorinated ski waxes

THURSDAY 23rd JANUARY
GB SNOWBOARDER AIMS TO BREAK OWN SPEED RECORD

Jamie Barrow broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest speed on a snowboard while being towed by a vehicle, a Maserati Levante, in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 2018.

This week Jamie plans to break his own world record and become the fastest snowboarder on the planet by riding in excess of 200+ kph on an expedition up in Norway.

“I want to go faster than anyone has ever been on a snowboard and after months of planning we are now just days away.

As speed snowboarding downhill is now banned we need to use a car and we are preparing a 4km purpose built track in the midst of the Arctic circle.

All my strength conditioning is now done and I can’t wait to get up there with the film crews, break another world record and show what’s possible on a Snowboard”

We’ll let you know how he gets on….

Here he is in Switzerland.

TUESDAY 21ST JANUARY
RADICAL MOMENT IN FWT20 IN HAKUBA

The Freeride World Tour is in Japan at Hakuba, where it’s looking awesome.

The best action so far comes from New Zealand’s Hank Bilous who took second place at the event ?

Hank Bilous earns the first Peak Performance Radical Moment of the FWT20 for this massive transfer in the middle of his run! #FWT20

Loving Hank’s mid-air ski-dance!

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SUNDAY 19TH JANUARY

Good point, well made

THURSDAY 16TH JANUARY
WINNING BONUSES FOR WORLD CUP SKIERS

Sometimes winning and staying at the top of the game just doesn’t seem enough.

And we’re not talking about financial bonuses, some competitions offer more unusual prizes.

In Levi, Finland, winners are presented with a reindeer that they name and own.

Only the indigenous Sámi people in Finland are allowed to own a reindeer so it is an honour to be presented with one as a prize.

The animals, though, remain with the Sámi, cared for within their original herd and in their natural environment.

Both Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin now own small herds of reindeer.

At the last count Mikaela has 4, named Rudolph, Sven, Mr Gru plus her latest reindeer won in 2019 who is named Ingemar (after Ingemar Stenmark the iconic Swedish skier who, for nearly 33 years, held the record for most career world cup slalom victories with 40, that is, until Shiffrin won No 41 in 2019).

But in Bansko, Bulgaria the bonus is a set of keys to some fine real estate.

Winners are presented with an apartment at the nearby Pirin Golf club.

Lindsey Vonn won the Bansko Super G in 2009 and 2012 and she now owns an apartment close to the Pirin Golf club in the region, though it remains unclear how often she has visited it.

Some other winners and owners of apartments in the same area include two Austrians Marcel Hirscher winning GS in 2012 and Mario Matt who won Slalom in 2011 and Italian skier Christof  Innerhofer.

We wonder who will win the keys in Bansko at the World Cup event next week?

We’ll let you know ?

TUESDAY 14th JANUARY
RACE IN THE WORLD CUP – ON YOUR PHONE

The International Ski Federation has launched a new mobile alpine racing game.

The free app allows you to ski race ‘live’ against others skiers anywhere in the world .

You can choose downhill, super G, giant slalom or slalom.

You get to pick your own skis from HEAD, Fischer, Rossignol, Völkl, LEKI, and Atomic; protective gear from Leki and speed suits from Helly Hansen or Halti.

There a leaderboard to check your progress against skiers locally or globally.

“The World Cup Ski Racing mobile game opens up new possibilities for us,” says Jürg Capol, FIS Marketing Director.

“We can introduce the FIS World Cup to new fans, and our existing audience can be more directly engaged through the game.

“The increased engagement will also be maintained year-round. We’re really excited about the game and how the launch will be received.”

World Cup Ski Racing has been produced by Session Games, which says it ‘delivers the speed, realism, and precision of the fastest non-motorized sport in the world’.

And if you don’t fancy giving the racing a go, there’s a ‘spectate’ feature that enables you to watch the top two racers from the leaderboard  go head-to-head on any course in real-time.

It looks like it could be fun..

SUNDAY 12th JANUARY
GOOD POINT, WELL MADE

SATURDAY 11th JANUARY

HANSI HINTERSEER – SKITWIST

We have posted it before and we’ll likely post it again.

Love it!

FRIDAY 10th JANUARY

TWO TEENAGERS BURNED HOMEWORK TO STAY WARM AFTER GETTING LOST IN CANADA BACKCOUNTRY

The boys, both aged 16, failed to return after snowboarding earlier this week at the Whitewater Ski Resort in British Columbia.

Nelson Search and Rescue searched into the night and a helicopter was brought in as dawn broke.

Rescuers found the boys at 8:45 a.m. in the Qua Valley, just south of the resort, and flew them to safety.

They built a fire to stay warm overnight and built a shelter.

“One young person had homework in his backpack and that definitely helped keep the fire going,” said Jim Kyle, manager of Nelson Search and Rescue.

THURSDAY 9th JANUARY
WATCH IN AWE…

Have you ever been along to gym and thought, nope, it’s not for me?

One man did.

Not any old man.

He happens to be Danny MacAskill.

If you’ve not heard of him, he is to cycling what Candide Thovex is to skiing.

In other words a genius.

It’s nothing to do with skiing but whether you are a cycling fan or not, this is really worth a few minutes of your time.

Utterly, utterly brilliant.

TUESDAY 7th JANUARY
WTF!

This begs several questions…

The first one is ‘Why?’

MONDAY 6th JANUARY
ARE WE ADDICTED TO OUR MOBILE PHONES?

One man from Canada thought his son was and here’s what he did about it.

This Dad took his son ski touring (amongst other things)  to Mongolia just to get him off his phone.

See this story on the BBC.

SUNDAY 5th JANUARY
FASCINATING HISTORICAL STORY FROM VAL D’ISERE

A Jewish teenager avoided death in occupied France thanks to the kindness and bravery of a doctor in a small Alpine resort.

But it’s a story local people seem reluctant to remember.

Check out this fascinating article on the BBC.

SATURDAY 4th JANUARY
WOW!

Is this save of the season?

And we’re not talking football.

Vincent Kriechmayr makes an extraordinary recovery in Bormio Downhill.

FRIDAY 3rd JANUARY
HOLLYWOOD VETERANS SKI TOGETHER

72-year old Arnold Schwarzenegger and 89-year old Clint Eastwood have been making a few turns together.

We know they are iconic actors, we know they both had political careers (one as Governor of California the other as Mayor of Carmel) and now we know they ski.

Arnie posted the picture on Instagram.

“Name a more iconic duo. I’ll wait,” he captioned the shot with Eastwood.

WEDNESDAY 1st JANUARY
MOSCOW WELCOMES 2020 WITH ARTIFICIAL SNOW

The temperatures have been so warm in the Russian capital that the authorities brought in artificial snow to try to create the traditional New Year atmosphere.

It has been the warmest December since 1886.

The snow was made by breaking ice at some of the city’s ice skating rinks.

And the good news…..colder weather is expected shortly with real snow in the forecast.

BOWSTRING NEXT TO OTZI THE ICEMAN

Swiss scientists believe that a cord found next to the body of Neolithic hunter Ötzi the Iceman was a bowstring.

“Ötzi now holds another record: his artfully twisted string is the oldest known bowstring in the world and also the best preserved,” said the South Tirol Museum of Archaeology in a statement.

Neolithic bowstrings are unusual in the archaeological record.

More common are arrowheads, which are  made  of  durable  material,  such  as  flint,  stone  and  bone.

Ötzi’s mummified body was found in the melting ice of the Schnalstal glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991.

He has since undergone many scientific tests to find out why he died and more about his lifestyle.

GROUSE ATTACKS SNOWBOARDER AFTER BEING SPRAYED WITH SNOW

Now we don’t often post things  twice but we put this up at the end of December and you may have missed it.

Anyway it is worth seeing again.

Hilarious!

The 27-year old Russian snowboarder, Igor Popeliukh, was in the powder in the resort of Sheregesh in Siberia.

A wood grouse was minding its own business when Igor gave the bird a passing spray.

The bird was not amused!

The birds can weigh up to 9lbs and have a wingspan of as much as 4ft.

They can be up to 2ft 7ins in length.

Apparently the males are prone to be aggressive when they are lovesick.

Perhaps the bird was not amused at being dumped on by snow when he had just been dumped by his mate.