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snow? No problem for these hardcore skiers. They simply ski on rocks:
The warmest weather in half a century means that many European ski resorts are without snow later in the year than any time in recent memory. Some, dedicated skiers are turning to rocks to get their fix.
In Europe, there's a shortage of snow this winter.
That's meant people in Austria have had to come up with another way to get in their skiing fix. They turned to rocks.
"At the moment we're having problems because it's too cold to make artificial snow and real snow hasn't started falling yet," said one Austrian skiier, who'd just come down a rock quarry.
Even super heroes like to take time for a little recreational skiing! This picture was taken at Sea World in Orlando, Florida during the mid 1970s. Link -via Mostly Forbidden Zone
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Vasaloppet {wiki} is an annual 90km cross-country ski race that is billed as the largest in the world. This year’s race took place March 6th between the towns of Sälen and Mora in Sweden. See a video of the more than 15,000 people who took part this year. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend
Go skiing with a parasail down Mt. Superior in Utah! A helmetcam puts you in the action. I watched with my thoughts bouncing between “This is awesome!” and “This is where I get caught on a tree and crack my head open.” -via reddit
They won’t teach you how to ski, but these GPS ski goggles will do just about anything else! Measure your speed, direction, latitude and longitude, altitude, number of runs, current temperature, and distance. The data is displayed on a 2″ LCD screen inside the goggles. And -dare we say it- if you are injured or lost, you’ll know exactly where to tell rescuers to find you. Link
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Photo: Nationaal Archief / Het Leven / Spaarnestad Photo [Flickr]
This week’s photo comes from the Commons, an amazing archive of photos on flickr.
If you can think up a funny caption, post it in the comments below. The funniest (as determined by me) will win an original drawing of a monkey (also by me). You have 24 hours to bring the funny.
UPDATE: We have a winner! It’s pismonque, with “Adding insult to injury, Larry’s wedgie was so massive it actually amplified his humiliation while slowing his escape from the bullies.”
Yeouch! Thanks for playing, everyone! See you next time!
This is Nissan’s prototype for a personal mobility device. Just step on to the footpads and lean in the direction that you want to go:
The device has two foot boards, both of which are balanced on two wheels. The device’s tilt sensors detect when you shift your weight to turn, traveling at a maximum rate of about 5kph. The foot boards have handle bars attached to help you maintain balance, and can be connected in a variety of positions or separated.
When separated, the device only moves forwards and backwards. To turn, you simply lift and turn your leg as if you were wearing stilts. The overall effect is one of ski-less skis.
A ski lift mishap at Blue Sky Basin resort in Vail, Colorado left a 48-year-old man hanging upside down without his pants on New Years Day.
It appears that the chairlift’s fold-down seat was somehow not in the lowered position, which caused the man to partially fall through the resulting gap. His right ski got jammed in the ascending chairlift, and that kept him upended since his boot never dislodged from its binding. As seen in the photos on the following pages (which were snapped by fellow skiers), the Skyline Express lift was stopped shortly after the pair’s botched boarding resulted in the man dangling from the lift. The exposed skier was stuck for about 15 minutes before Vail personnel backed the lift up and successfully dislodged the unidentified man from the four-seat chair.
Link -via YesButNoButYes
Norwegian skiier Fred Syversen unintentionally dropped 107 meters (351 feet) off a cliff while attempting a different cliff jump -and survived with hardly a scratch! The jump was nearly a year ago, but video evidence has recently led to measurements that confirm how high the jump really was.
Fred Syversen realized that he missed the correct line. Instead of braking he decided to drop as well as possible. He knew that braking could lead to uncontrolled flying, which could actually kill him. Just before jumping he made a little turn in order to avoid crashing into the rocks on his left side. His position looks well controlled, although (for a moment) he was sure he was going to die.
Syversen’s landing buried him in two meters of snow. He was dug out by the helicopter crew and taken to a hospital, where he was found to have suffered only minor liver damage. Link (with video) -via Arbroath
