10 ICONIC AND CURIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED ON SKIS
Skiing has always been a completely open training slope - as if it were an American kitchen -, in which it is the skier himself who sets the limits (as well as his doors and windows). Far from this comparison with architecture, we can say, moreover, that thanks to the daring of the bravest, records have been broken year after year, even discovering modalities that until then were unknown to humans. For this reason, as passionate about white sports that we are (and that we know that you are too), we have made a brief compilation with the most iconic achievements in the world of skiing that involve different modalities within this sport. Do you stay to find out?
1. BRIK RUUD (2022): RECORD SCORES IN BIG AIR
We start with the last 2022 Winter Olympics where an impressive jump was made in Big Air. Brik Ruud took gold by finishing the competition with an excellent score of 187.75 thanks to the first two rounds. Above all, he excelled in the first one that reached an incredible score of 95.75, thus beating Colby Stevenson (silver) and Henrik Harlaut (bronze).
2. MARTINA VALMASSOI (2021): GREATEST ACCUMULATED DIFFERENCE IN SKI TOURING
The skier, Martina Valmassoi, dared to ski the old-fashioned way. Going up and down the mountains without using chairlifts, just your backcountry skis. He achieved the record for the highest accumulated unevenness in 24 hours, specifically 17.645 meters of unevenness. The place where Valmassoi made history was at the Dolomiti Superski station.
3. GORDON PRECIOUS (2019): OLDEST PERSON TO HELISKI
The very veteran and professional skier Gordon Precious broke a record at the age of 94 in March 2019, not because of unevenness or risk, but for being the oldest person to practice heliskiing. Precious was lifted by helicopter to the Cariboo Mountains with her ski guide. He descended with the confidence of a young person down the slopes of British Columbia without issue. Thanks to this challenge, he managed to leave Stan Friedberg in second place, the American who did the same at the age of 91 in 2018.
4. MATTHIAS GIRAUD (2019): HIGHEST BASE JUMP IN HISTORY
No one before Matthias Giraud had achieved what Giraud did in 2019. This French skier known as "Super Frenchie", on what seemed to be any June 24, not only became the first athlete to jump from Mont Blanc, but he also achieved the most amazing thing: the base jump altitude record, 4.359 meters.
5. LUIS ALBERTO HERNANDO AND SERGIO LAMAS (2019): VERTICAL SKI RECORD IN 24 HOURS
Following the line of ski lovers who endure a whole day with their boots on, we have Luis Alberto Hernando and Sergio Lamas who wanted to reach a new absolute record of vertical skiing for 24 hours without stopping at the Astún station . Perhaps this station is not one of the largest in the Aragonese Pyrenees, but it has about 50 skiable kilometers.
The challenge started at 8:00 in the morning on a Tuesday and ended the next day at the same time. A real pass!
6. STEFAN KRAFT (2018): RECORD SKI JUMPING
The greatest height reached by a ski jumper is 252 meters. Can you imagine? This is what Stefan Kraft achieved in 2018 at the Winter Olympics. Previously, it had been the Russian Dimitri Vassiliev jumping at 254 meters, but it was invalid due to not staying upright when landing. As a curiosity, there are ski resorts that still have a springboard, such as La Molina and Astún. The springboards were built during the 1980s, but due to the lack of interest they had for skiers, they have been gradually withdrawn.
7. IVAN ORIGONE (2016): SPEED SKI RECORD
The Italian Ivan Origone reached the maximum speed in the history of skiing with a mark of 254.95 km per hour. The aerodynamic suit that he used meant that he could reach this speed and that the acceleration was greater than that of a Formula 1. It's a real pass!
8. SAMMY CARLSON (2015): WORLD RECORD IN BACK JUMP
On the other hand, Sammy Carlson broke the world record for backjump with an old trampoline in the United States that had to be conditioned to be able to perform a jump of such caliber . The height of the springboard is already impressive on its own, we don't even want to imagine how crazy it must be to jump backwards.
The trampoline is located in Michigan and was built in 1970 but was later abandoned. In recent years, he has been waiting for him to return to the ring, since the last competition was held more than 20 years ago. It has a 300-ton structure and owes its name to an old copper mine that years ago was in the same place.
9. JAIME PIERRE (2006): HIGHEST JUMP IN FREERIDE
Another of the great stories of skiing is starred by Jaime Pierre who jumped into the void from 78 meters high in Wyoming in 2006 to break the jump record doing freeride. Freeriding became a way of life for this skier. As surprising as it may seem, his fame began to go viral when he appeared in some extreme ski movies from the turn of the century. For Pierre, fear was not an impediment, as he loved what he did and wanted to push himself to the limit: jumping a 78 meter high off-piste ravine at Grand Targhee Resort, a ski resort in the National Forest in Alta, Wyoming. As you can see in the following video, the freeride professional miraculously made it out alive. In 2011 Jaime Pierre died due to an unexpected avalanche, although he said goodbye to his life in the way he liked best.
10. CANDIDE THOVEX (2000): ICONIC FREERIDE JUMP
One of the greats in the history of freestyle is Candide Thovex one of the pioneers in combining freestyle with freeride, and one of his best jumps was in the mythical session of Chad's Gap in the year 2000, with a double spin 720.You can see it in this video that we show you below in which, after a few failed attempts (whose blows reveal the daring and passion of the skier), he makes history.
The passion for the sport and the adrenaline that is felt with these types of disciplines have made them go down in history. We hope that you have been as fascinated as we were to see the extreme limits to which sport can reach and, above all, skiing!!
