Artistic Skiing????

[MR-FAN]

ummm, what IS this???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fvk4PpFORD4

And Why have I not heard of it before?? And why is it sooo... WEIRD???

[gingercrush]

Ski Ballet was then called Acroski. Was a demonstration sport at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics. Fell out of favour I guess when other freestyle sports took over. particularly moguls. He is using the same music Beillmann uses in one of her programs. Very artistic. I could have seen myself interested in the sport to be honest as I love all that gymnastic/acrobatic/figure skating stuff.

[MR-FAN]

Thanks!! NEVER heard of it!

I love how his name is Reitberger :P

[gingercrush]

LOl never thought of his name. What was the most interesting was the way they used the ski poles to pull off tricks. BTW the above was a regurgitation of wikipedia basically as I started reading up on snow/ice sports after the 2010 Winter Olympics.

[BigB08822]

OMG! Thank you. I remember seeing this in 1992 and being completely amazed but then I never ever saw it again. I even asked people about it and they all looked at me like I was completely nuts when I described it as being a mix of figure skating and gymnastics done on skis. It is really amazing and I wonder where the sport could have gone if it had retained its popularity.

[Skittl1321]

It must be really hard to find the right conditions to practice this.

You need a well groomed, not too steep slope, and for regular skiers (who have to be thinking WTF? Since it is incredibly obscure) to stay out of the way.

Very neat- and the jumps and tricks just come out of nowhere.

[Rob]

I wonder how you score it. It is kind of amazing. And when he turns out the front leg and places the ski down in the other direction -- someone could really blow out a knee doing that the wrong way.

I love his drama! The Toller Cranston of ski ballet!