the SPLIT-MONOSKI is here!

If you have not seen it before ...take a clooser look!

We always say "don't split your ride in two"...but maybee we have to modify the phrase a bit:
"don't split your ride when going down, but split it when walking up..."

Snowshark is manufacturing one model , and Aluflex is producing one as well.

Another way to walk up the deep snow, is to use an extra short fat ski on one foot and put the other foot in the wrong binding on the monoski, in this way you can actually "skate" up the slop by pressing down the inner edges...

With a split MONO you add a MARKER DUKE binding and get hold of some climbing gear, contact Havard in Norway, and you will have soo much FUN in EARNING you RIDE!

MONO, MONO...everything must be MONO!

I could not stop myself from sharing this clip...a MONO WHEEL!
Nothing to do with snow, but I can sense the ESPRIT and the MONO feeling of balance and pure joy!

link

sista åket för säsongen med Zebr!

en härligt galen esprit film med MONOSKI! Zebr klättrar uppför berget och träffar på en "Monoskus Randonyss" ... en ganska ovanlig art i de franska alperna ;-)

the film...

Real esprit de glisse!

The Apocalypse Snow movies filmed at Les Arcs by Didier Lafond, has a simple plot: two teams have a competition to win the “esprit de glisse” – “the ultimate feeling for gliding on snow”.

Yes, Monoski is a great invention to experience this ultimate feeling for snow. With your feet stuck together, you have to ski with your whole body, trust gravity and enjoy the enhanced feeling of freedom and joy!

But esprit de glisse can be practiced everywhere, and in any situation in life!
Let me give you some examples:

My father is an arts dealer and he has a friend, a painter, who recently bought a new set of houses ideal for expos and the making of art. He just turned 92! WOW!

I also have a memory from Chamonix that still is clear and vivid in my mind. And it is NOT a powder memory or an image of a beautiful French lady…it is about an old man and his snowboard. At 82 he started to snowboard!

That is the real esprit de glisse! Defy gravity, defy old age and most importantly …defy all the restricting “DO NOT”: s that often comes with age, family and work.

Even nature can show you some “esprit de glisse” of its own: look at this marvelous picture from a French monoskier.

For me one of the best illustrations of Esprit de glisse is by Wulffmorgenthaler: the old man in the wheel chair doing the skateboard half-pipe…
(See more of their excellent stuff at: www.wulffmorgenthaler.com).

The challenge is to make a conscious decision to have fun and to enjoy life and gather WOW-feelings, no matter of age, job position and what illnesses or injuries you have.

When I am 65, I promise you all that I will start many new associations: Parcour for pensioners & old age acrobatics, wheel-chair free ride, etc…

If you have other inspiring images or stories share them as a comment!

Make it fun!
/Stefan

HAVARD - winner of the derby at RVM-Nortern Light 2010!

Havard battled with RODO for first place in the Derby at Bjorkliden 17 april. The derby was not technically challenging but very, very fast. You had to trust your 6th sense for highspeed decision on this one.
The first 500 meters were interesting, as some of us followed a track made by the pist machine that had gone up to the top just before the start of the race. Fantastic to have newly prepared surface at the top….only problem was that some of us found ourselvess 50 meters outside the pist …the pist machine had taken a shortcut over moguls and stones…so the start was really scary!
In the end Havard Derby was first to cross the finishing line!

The price cermony was held together with the Swedish Alpine Championship, and Havard got a standing ovation (and Anja Pärsson was in the crowd!)

Real life experience tips to enhance your derby experience:

1. Never trust a prepared path recently done by a pist machine, it is VERY possible that the pist machine has taken a shortcut from outside the pist to get to the top, and when you follow the nice prepared path you will suddenly find yourself OUTSIDE the pist going way to fast for rocks and moguls…
2. If you see someone falling in front of you, do NOT change you initial path too soon. If you react too quickly to the things in front of you it is a good chance that skiiers BEHIND you (they may not have seen the reason for you turning) will ski right into your back/head
3. Always wear helmet AND backprotection!
4. If you slide and fall, try to fall on different sides avery time…it is the getting up from lying down that kills your muscles and puts a lot of strain on the upper body rotation muscles connected to your ribs.
5. Do not forget to breath….and only concentrate to breath OUT…the breathing in will come naturally. When it is going really fast …breath out like crazy! It will limit the tension in the body and you will not hold your breath or hyperventilate…
6. The more afraid you are, the more you try to stop the speed by turning and breaking, but this gets you tired real quickly. A paradox again: the more you relax and the more speed you’ve got (up to a certain limit of control), the easier it is on the legs!
7. If there are icy spots on the way down: if you are afraid, you tend to raise your body “away from the ground”, and what happen of course is that you take away all power of gripping into the ice, and you are in real trouble! When it is icy, the best thing to do is to just race straight forward, looking for a spot far away where you can eventually make a slowing-down-turn of some sort.
8. Do not forget to enjoy the ride…laugh and smile!

Monoski Derby…from the highest top to the valley…as fast as possible!
A derby, or a “Chinese downhill”, is a race in which everybody starts at the same time from the highest possible place, and then race down to the lowest possible place in the valley!
The first derby was held in 1985 in Vars in the Southern Alps. Everybody
raced down off-piste simultaneously. The Chamonix derby at Grands Montets became mythical for its extreme off-pist area and moguls, with a total height difference top-bottom of more than 2000 meters!

The famous derby in Chamonix
The derby-format in Chamonix was that 3 riders formed a team. In a team, the members naturally pushed each other to go faster than ever, and the crashes were awesome. During the competion the medics and the security controlled and monitored the dangers, but many did practice-runs outside of the competitions and the full-speed-no-turning-mentality eventually caused the death of an innocent skier in the slopes. The Chamonix derby was banned after the tragic accident.
Alain Revel formed a Monoski-team that made everybody hold their breath. Couloir Philippe, at the mid-station at Grands Montets was a famous extreme skiers test run, in which have fallen and broken their necks. Team Revel took Couloir Philippe in just a few turns, leaving the other teams long behind in the ordinary pist. The time from to bottom for Team Alain Revel, is one of the fastest ever!

Derby in France, Sweden and Norway
Today there is an ongoing derby circuit in France, and at every monoski meeting the main event is the derby. Either you can have a free-route Derby, in which you are free to take any pist, off-pist or mogul way to get down, or you have a predefined derby route that you must follow. The pre-set route is off-course the safest, because the responsible behind the competition can estimate the speed and the problems the mono-riders will have to affront, and usually you do not want to lead the group into a tough stretch of moguls in the end of the derby when there is no power left in the legs, only iron will and determination to fulfill the course!

Winners in Hemsedal - RVM-2010

Winners in Hemsedal - RVM-2010
The Real Vikings Monoski meeting 2010 in Hemsedal delivered 3 prices: Winner of the Derby, winner of the nicest crash and winner of the most positive & inspiring person.
















Winner of the RVM-Hemsedal Derby 2010: Fredrik Forslin.
He has a great style on his monoski, ripping the pists in really nice curves. And he is skiing very relaxed in fantastic speed. Great job!

















Johan made the best crash during the Derby. He landed on his back with ski straight up. According to the ski-encyclopedia it is called a "Seal-crash-landing".

















Rolf won the price for the most inspiring and positive person. He is a living example of the fact that you do not have to stop monoskiing when you are more than 50!

A big thank you to Hemsedal Pist workers for fantastic pists even when the temperature was several degrees above zero. And as ordered we got 15 cm fresh powder on saturday night, so the sunday was all about leaving nice traces in the snow all around.

More photos from the event: here

See you all next year!
/stefan

Petter & his monoski message!

Petter's secret message!
Petter is (for those who have not heard of him), one of Swedens most known rap-artists. He is rapping in swedish and he debuted in early 1998.
OK, so if you have seen the picture at Freeride.se maybee you did not notice the hidden message...Look really closely, close to the heel bindings...
...do you see it?
OK, I will spell it out loud!
"MONO rocks, Stereo SUCKS!"
nice !

POWDERMACHINE!

Another mindblowing MONOSKI clip by DURET!
Some of the parts you may have seen before, but the new stuff in nice powder makes you long for more! This is just a teaser, but there are some great monoskiing in there, for sure!
direct link here

enjoy!

How to ...Monobelt !

Monobelt ...the "mimo-knot"
Today all DURET monoskis are shipped with a monobelt, and in the pist you can really spot the difference. If you use the monobelt you become a so much better rider!
When belting your knees together, you will be forced to use the body and knees correctly and when you push one edge down, the other foot will automatically press inwards against the knee and “lift up” the other edge. You will both push one edge down and lift the other edge up at the same time!

BUT...sometimes the monobelt is to "slippery" and do not stay in the set position. WHY? Because you have probably not fixed the belt in the ultimate way!
Look at the pictures and you will get it!
It is called the "mimo-knot", from the inventor of the solution :-)

Keep your knees together…and enjoy the edges!