We’ve been blessed with the biggest snow storm of the winter! Even here in Helsinki we’ve got like 20cm of new snow. It’s almost April already but for me this late winter snow and cold weather is more than welcome.
So, after a long work day (and the usual routins with kids) I couldn’t manage to get any lift served skiing. I was pissed. At last we have some snow and I couldn’t enjoy it (our hills are really small but at least we can ski on proper snow now) . Then I got an idea – about 150m from our house is the old ski jumping hill that has one actually quite steep slope, only about 70m long or so but you can squeeze a few turns there. There are often some jumps / jibs built by the local boarders too (as younger I was often building those same jumps btw.). And, yes I have an old snowboard, perfect to be ruined on light snow on some bare rocks…
Well, I had a few turns, couple of good ones actually, and it felt good to be on a board again after a while. I also had lots of scratches to by board’s base. What I got even more was some very loooong stares from some teens/twentysomethings that were on the same hill doing some sledge rides. I guess they couldn’t believe some old(er) dude would show up and try to board that….there wasn’t even any jumps built (=very louzy winter this far) and to be honest no base at all, I was cruising right on the rocks…
I didn’t mind the stares. Actually I kind of laughed inside all the time (still do). I’m used to being a freak. I mean, at the office, no one ever understand all the skiing talk and day dreams about faces, couloirs, epic tree skiing etc. Sure people claim that they ski (and usually claim to be very good skiers too) but often that means max. ten days per year and focus on mostly partying on any ski trips… (I admit this is a rough generalazation though)
Ok, this thought lead me to a idea for this post: do we have the ”freaks”/”weirdos” in skiing world? Sure we do…let me introduce a few…
1. Duck Stance Skiing
Well, this is a mild case and actually have a good reasoning and some physiological fact behind it. Still, you don’t see too much of these around (yet?). Some boot manufactures, like Fisher, have taken this thinking to their models though…so, I wouldn’t say this is completely freakish stuff – after all everyone’s body is so different, there is no absolute truth on this issue. The duck stance might work perfectly for someone.
Image source: http://plywoodorama.googlepages.com/duckstance - check out the link for a very good article about the issue! I love the Seth quote in it: “mount normally and stop sucking..”
2. Teleboarding
Telemarking allows for more freedom - free the heel and your mind will follow, right?
Combine that with a stance and a board very close to an alpine snowboard. You get teleboarding. Kind of an oxymoron? You have tele boots but will lock yourself into one board…
Still, it kinds of look fun. And the guys in the following video are pretty skilled. And the powder looks delicious at least. You be the judge…
If you got intrested, check this site out: http://www.teleboardusa.com/
3. Rax ski
Now, we’re getting into some real strange stuff.
A modern version of the old Austrian ”firngleider” (=basically a ski without a tail that you ski back seated, “braking” by leaning back).
These guys state that this should be something groundbreaking.
Well, they might be onto something but judging by the following video, I don’t expect too much…(I’d love to be wrong after a few years. But still I wouldn’t be betting on this one!)
4. Skwal
Totally French/Euro. Totally dork…or avant garde, after all?
At least these guys know how to carve! This actually pretty impressive, I have to say…
Some might even say ski blading / ski boarding is pretty freakish stuff too. But I’d day those blades are just a short ski. And a good training tool, actually.
Monoskiing is also considered pretty weird and passé by many. My opinion is that on the right person’s feet, on a right day and in right terrain monoski can be just killing it! If you don’t believe, watch this video: http://www.tkbfilms.com/film-e-viva-mono.htm
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