Freestyle Skiing - Part C - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on the book, “Winter Olympics:  An Insider’s Guide to the Legends, the Lore, and the Games”, Vancouver Edition, copyright 2008 by Ron C. Judd)

SPECTATOR’S GUIDE:

Freestyle skiing venues are the most man made of all sites for snow-sport events, with ski jumps constructed of wood and steel and then covered with snow, or deep moguls carved by machine and shovel into hillsides.  But, the results are spectacular, with enough big-air thrills – always set to rock music – to make the event a fan favourite at every Olympics.

Field of Play:

In aerials, athletes ski down a short, steep slope, reaching speeds of 25 to 30 mph (40 to 48 kph) before skiing off steeply banked jumps.  The jumps propel skiers 12 to 15 metres (40 to 50 feet) into the air, where they perform multiple acrobatic maneuvers all the way back down to the snow below, landing, it is hoped, on their skis.

The landing hill is at a pitch of 34 to 39 degrees and is about 30 metres (100 feet) long.  Top male aerials jumpers can perform triple back flips with as many as five twists built in.  Quadruple back flips have been attempted and landed by a handful of skiers, but to date, are not legal in competition on the World Cup or at the Olympics.

Moguls skiers, performing to raucous music of their own choosing, make their way down a steep slope studded with deep moguls, or bumps interspersed between troughs, and two man made ski jumps.  With their knees pistoning at blinding speeds and their hips pivoting from side to side, they essentially bounce off the tops of the moguls, their upper bodies appearing to travel straight down the fall line, with nary a bounce or jiggle.

When they hit one of the course’s prescribed jumps, they launch into the air and typically perform an aerial maneuver like a somersault or flip with one or more twists, then land on their skis and ski the next line of bumps to the next jump, until reaching the bottom – all, as a rule, in less than 30 seconds of frenetic activity.

The event itself is something like a cross between a rock concert and an elementary school field day with blaring music and a party atmosphere.

“There’s always a lot of energy flowing at our events, “ U.S. aerialist Trace Washington told the Washington Post. “We are kind of a beach volleyball of the wintertime.”

In ski cross, racers break out of a starting gate like horses and ski, in a pack of four, down a course with sharp curves, fast straight-aways, and a series of whoop-de-do bumps that send them flying skyward.  Good starts are crucial; it’s difficult, although by no means impossible, to pass other skiers on the course.  Wipeouts are fairly common, making ski cross an exciting visual spectacle.

The sport, which originated with the action-oriented Winter X Games, has been likened to moto-cross on skis.  Racers can reach speeds exceeding 50 mph (80 kph) and, while bodily contact is prohibited, accidental bumping is not unusual.

All three disciplines are now skied in the Olympics by both men and women, with ski cross debuting at the 2010 Vancouver Games at Cypress Mountain, on the outskirts of Vancouver.

copyright 2014, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.