what is the name of the type of skiing they do at the competition?
the ballet like stuff...thats pretty hot.
back then, it was called freestyle skiing, which was 3 disciplines: mogul, ballet and aerials.
these days, the ballet is gone and moguls and aerials are now winter olympic events...
http://www.skifactz.com/skiballet/ski_ballet.htm
Yes, it was a (thankfully) short-lived fad in the mid 80s called ski ballet. Not much info on the internet about it, though.
Actually it was pretty sweet stuff.
~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~
It wasn't a mid-80's fad, albersbrian. It was one of the three official disciplines of hot dog/freestyle skiing for approximately 20 years, from the early seventies until the early nineties.
At the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games all three disciplines were introduced as demonstration sports. Ballet was again a demonstration event at the '92 games in Albertville, but following these games ballet was dropped and moguls and aerials continued on as official Olympic events (due primarily to judging criteria issues, from what I was told). Freestyle had long developed to the point where national and international federations were involved and national teams existed, but when ballet didn't get picked up as an official Olympic event after 1992 it faded away because there was no longer a reason for national federations to focus on it.
Ballet pretty much faded into history... and now we have Ski Cross - which is close to Chinese Downhill!
shareI remember Ballet skiing. I even bought a pair of Olin Ballet Skis back around 1988...they were full rockered design before that was even known. I tried to learn some of the tricks, but never caught on. I don't regret having those skis though...they were great in Moguls because of their flexibility...horrible edge grip though on steeper slopes. But anyway, I am sad to see the artform of Ballet Skiing fade away. It is great to see it again whenever I watch this movie.
Jeff K
Full time dreamer.
"Excuses are like buttholes - everybody has one and they all stink."
Here's a link to the winning ballet run at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games, by Hermann Reitberger. Love the huge hair...LOL
http://youtu.be/fvk4PpFORD4