 Poster: A snowHead
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Just watched Graham Bell on Ski Sunday ski the downhill course in Bormio with a hand held videocam. What great TV it made. On a few occaisions he turned the camera round to video his own face in order to give a commentary. OK it was bumpy and shaky but you could feel the pain in his thighs, the fear in his voice as he hit ice, and the impression of speed was tremendous. Great TV, well done BBC
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Frosty the Snowman,
Yes it was fantastic especially, when he skied over the blind crest and dived into the San Piero jump, I gasped at the steepnes and drop away of the course. When this jump was shown in the usual TV coverage, the jumps looked impressive, but you didn't seem to get the same perilous perspective. Just goes to show how TV doesn't always do justice to the racer's heroic journey down the course.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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If you enjoyed that one, go to the Ski Sunday webpage and look up the video Graham Bell did for the Hahnenkamm. It's not high-res but the commentary is even more manic and compelling than the Bormio/Stelvio one.
I don't know how he does that trick of switching the camera to his face, but he also does it on the Kitzbuhel one - very neat!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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This is the highlight of SS; a skier's eye view of what it's like to fall-line a WC run. (just read that - i think I'll let it stand as it is)
apart from from the music diddle iddle iddle iddle iddle iddle diddle dee, diddle iddle iddle diddle iddle diddle diddle dee,...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Haven't seen that clip but I do remember watching the original Hahnenkamm footage which was superb. I have been trying to recreate something similar lately by kitting myself out with a helmet-cam but the sad thing is that all my footage looks so sloooow by comparison!
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David Goldsmith, it's pretty easy to do: I've done it myself, altho not on a competition-prepared downhill course!! Easy enough on a fast blue, where you aren't likely to need your poles.
Before Channel4 snaffled the rights to most of the races he used to do it every weekend for Ski Sunday. I remember the Lauberhorn footage (Wengen?) was superb, as his legs were really feeling it by the finish line. Background music was usually "Out of Control" by the Chemical Bros.
I remember watching Austrian TV once live from the Hahnenkamm meeting (I was in Bad Gastein): I don't know who was filmimg but there were three guys following each other down: the guy in the middle had the cam and he was alternating between his face; the guy in front; and the guy behind. And they weren't taking it easy. Superb footage.
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I did notice that GB carried a pole in the hand without the camera
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Yes, it was brilliant !! Really enjoyed it !!
And the footage of Bode on Fri night was great too .. 50 mph on one ski?!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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If anyone is interested at the top of the Hahnenkamm, next to the lift station is an electronic video mock up of what it is like to ski the WC course on race day - crowds cheering, flags waving etc....
You get to crouch on a vibrating platform so that you feel all the bumps too. All 3 Bishes had a go at it and I still felt frightened even though it wasn't for real - its also good value at 1 euro for 2 minutes.
The real Strief course took me at least 20 minutes to negotiate and nobody cheered and it hurts like hell!!
Six weeks later my knees are still reminding me what a silly girl I was and have asked for a transfer to someone who doesn't inflict pain on them....you have to do these things though! 
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brian
brian
Guest
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Does anyone else think that the BBC in Ski Sunday puts too much emphasis on spectacular crashes. I find it is worse than Doctor Who from the point of view of having to hide behind the sofa. Don't they realise how much pain is being experienced, both on piste and at home?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Chris Bish, I agree about the crashes. I became a Ski Sunday addict before I started skiing. It was the blue skis, sun, colour etc that did it for me especially when combined with a Sunday lunch and a couple of glasses of wine. I can't get enthusiastic about the CF4 coverage (while it lasts - bye the way, I've never forgiven them for dropping the Tour de France). But back to the crashes, I guess some focus group or another has told them that this is what the viewers (excluding me!) want. (But I did like Bode's one ski demo)
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Chris Bish, I take it you are referring to your knees Chris ?
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You know it makes sense.
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Paul Mason, As a fellow sufferer, I know where you are coming from. Knee pretty good now (how is yours?) and I'm confident of being able to ski to my usual pretty abysmal standard next week. I still can't run or anything, but feel that skiing will probably strengthen it. I think you found something similar.
Going back to my point above re Ski Sunday. I don't like the idea of focusing on the crashes. It's all a bit too F1 where that seems to be the only interest. I suppose for many viewers they don't actually realise what is going and have no idea of the sorts of speeds, injuries etc they are watching. Other people have made the point that nothing looks steep in video or in photographs. I'm just not very happy at the idea that people are watching serious injury happening as a Sunday afternnon entertainment. Or am I just being old-fashioned?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I've never agreed so much. I always find that the best bits on Ski Sunday are not the race action but the precursor. A shot of the angle of the slope at the start of the Hahnenkamm, Belly skiing down etc. They all bring reality far more than a crash at 100+ kph. And as for C4 ... when I heard that there was going to be loads of coverage this year I was gagging for it. But it's all at 2:20 a.m. and repeated at 7:00 a.m. or similar. They could at least make it midnight. And yeah, I agree with you Chris Bish, why, oh why did they drop Le Tour.
Sorry brian, but I did the race course 3rd week in Jan. It was set up for a competition and was hard but mogul-free. Everything was going great till I checked suddenly as I popped over the brow before the drop into the bit by the restaurant. The next turn, on the one ski I had left, was a bit shaky. Then I had no skis left - and started to struggle. I'd have like to have seen Bode handle the next metre as well as I didn't. I retrieved one ski and then managed the next 300 metres in about 5 minutes till I got a second ski to ski on. I often ski on once ski for a bit of fun (but never straight down a 35 degree slope).
Praps Belly can show us how Bode did it!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Like most forms of racing, ski racing is not a desperately good spectator sport unless you have a personal interest (a bet, someone you know racing, some experience of racing). Crashes provide a bit of interest for everyone else, who knows little of the details of what's going on, and cares less. One hopes that no-one is hurt, of course, but I find it much easier to identify with someone piling up in a load of snow (been there, done that) than with yet another almost identical racer whizzing down an absurdly steep slope at an absurd speed on one (at most) ski.
You're not being old fashioned, Chris Bish; people have always watched this sort of thing to see pile ups, I'm sure, and they used to get a lot more of them (in F1 anyway) than they do now, and they used to be a lot more dangerous. If it wasn't dangerous, no-one would be doing it and no-one would be watching it; that's why egg and spoon racing, and athletics in general, receives so little TV coverage (thank God).
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 8-02-05 18:53; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I can agree with you about that compression on the La Daille/OK course.....
I can remember being in La Plagne one year and skiing the 'Tunnel Run' from the top of the Roche de Mio (is that right?) on a pair of d/hill boards and there are two quite steep drops near the start, i came barreling down those then at the next one a couple of people stopped. I went to the side slowed up a little and then thought just go for it....took some air and landed in a bloody great mogul field!!!!! Was like a skimming stone 
BTW, its amazing how stable a pair of proper downhill skis are at speed
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Sorry to disagree, but crashes of any description make great telly!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Indeed they do and before anyone gets on their high horse, they also serve as a reminder that no matter how good you are (or think you are) everyone is susceptible to a tumble with very varying results!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I find Ski Sunday SOOOOOO frustrating. As far as the actual race coverage is concerned, C4 is way, way better (More of it. What have we actually seen of the World Champs. about ten runs per race?). On the other hand, the BBC's production values just blow C4 away. - The opening sequences with saturated colour (and, yes, the spectacular crashes that have you cringing behind the sofa) have tremendous impact, and Graham Bell's race camera coverage is the business. Somewhat better than Konrad Bartelski sideslipping down to a point on the course and talking you through a terrain feature, methinks.
If only someone could combine the best features of both.
(I don't have a problem with the 2am starts: after all, I've got a machine that watches TV for me, and it means that at peak times I can watch the recordings instead of the cr*p that our TV channels think make must-see viewing).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yes, but Konrad 'man of the people' Bartelski has to be admired for sideslipping in front of a camera. If I ever ski with him again (hope so, he's a laugh), it would be great to see his racing snowplough.
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DG, you know there's only one racing snowsplough.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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