The worst part about skiing? The agonising wait to get from the bottom of the hill to the top. Which is why I’m so glad we’re finally introducing jetpacks to the slopes! Specifically, the two engines from a decommissioned military UAV that Troy Hartman used to become a black diamond Rocketeer. Here, he hits 75km/h on flat ground – and that’s only at half throttle. Open ‘er up, Troy! Ski Patrol needs heroes.
Armed with a GoPro HD attached to his helmet, Stephen Ager recorded some absolutely stunning views of the top of the world. But it’s not all prancing snowflakes and fresh powder because later in the video, Ager loses his footing and tumbles down the wrong side of the cliff.
Provoking avalanches is an usual practice in mountainous zones all around the world. This video shows how they do it near Mount Cheget, one of the best ski spots in the Caucasus. For some reason, the video is narrated by the Swedish Chef.
When an adventurous skier tumbles backwards down the rocky side of a mountain his helmet-cam is there to record it all. According to his Vimeo account he was very lucky not to be seriously injured.
With a 200cc lawnmower engine, a handmade propeller, and some spare paraglider parts (that he just happened to have kicking around?), Russian tinkerer Sergei Khvalin created a cross-country skiing rig that can send him zipping across the snow at speeds of 40km/h.
The Vikersundbakken, a 134m record-setting ski ramp, opened this week in southern Norway. It didn’t take long for someone to put it to good use: earlier today, 25-year-old ski flyer Johan Remen Evensen set the world record with a mind-boggling 240m jump. Good thing he stuck the landing. [Wired]
Who wants to ski over snow when you can ski down a gigantic sea wave? That’s what fearless pro freeskier Chuck Patterson asked himself before heading to Jaws, the terrifying wave reef on Maui Island, Hawaii.
Skurfing looks like a lot of fun indeed. [YouTube via Kottke]
