Speed Skiing

Yeah, on every blue run I can find

wtf is that

if it's not the switch, I don't do it

xRAPHAELxwtf is that

It is where there is a run cleared like a ski jump take off with a thing even built at the top to drop the skiier straight down. But you don't jump you just go straight and go something like 150 mph.


They were only going halfway up Verbier.


Basically ski jumping with no jump. One huge figure 11.

Never officially, but the whistler app tracks your top speed, so I always have fun trying to set a new high score on that, still haven't been able to top 100km\h yet, high 90's several times, but can never get that last few kms in.

It's basically drag racing on skis, although you do it solo
on a super straight, smooth course.

- Skiers wear crazy tight fitting rubber suits (as not to allow air to flow through it). You can't put a suit on without assistance.
- Skis are normally around 235-240 cm.
- Helmets? Yes, but with an aerodynamic design.
- Spoilers are worn behind the ski boots.

- American Steve McKinney (1953-1990 - used to ski at Squaw) was the first human being to go through the 200 km/h barrier (120 mph) in 1978.

- Today's fastest man is the Italian Simone Origone. His world record at 252,454 km/h (156.867 mph).
- World's fastest woman is Sanna Tidstrand of Sweden with a world record of 242,59 km/h (150 mph).

- Presentation of the Origone brothers who are in the top of this... sport:
(first YouTube clip is in Italian but it comes with subtitles - you need to click to get them, though)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW5HtJ5tou8


- The breaking of the world record in Vars, 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZunJRTlQ6DY

The slope has been the problem. They used to ski in Cervinia, then moved on to Portillo, Chile (where McKinney broke the 200 km/h barrier), later they found a fast piste in Les Arcs, but now the ski resort of Vars in France maintain a slope exclusively for speedskiing.

As you see in these clips, speedskiing isn't exactly a spectator's sport, but I think the idea of it all is pretty cool. And these guys are still the fastest non-motorized human beings on earth.

:: hkn ::

PeppermillRenoIt is where there is a run cleared like a ski jump take off with a thing even built at the top to drop the skiier straight down. But you don't jump you just go straight and go something like 150 mph.


They were only going halfway up Verbier.


Basically ski jumping with no jump. One huge figure 11.

That sounds like a waste of a mountain. This is also the image that a lot of non-skiers think of when they here about skiers going fast, same thing with "jumps", they think of ski jumpers... shits stupid af