Skiing the otherway - Going Up

As winter sets in around the world, skiers gather their gear and head for the sloped mountains with lots of snow over these to enjoy the skiing along with their friends and families. Even winter Olympics and local competitions are held wherein both reputed and amateure skiers show their skiing skills and enjoy the sport.

But there are always people and sportsmen who come up with innovation and novel ideas. I came across this video as I am sharing below in which a skiing enthusiast take the challenge the 'otherway' - I mean instead of going down by the slopes, he has chosen to go up in his power skiing machine.

Now this is something real adventure and show of one's guts, determination and resilience. I commend this skier and you would too after watching the video.

Watch this amazing video below for a skiing feat - the otherway around - I mean going up:

KRAZY CANADIAN CLIMBED the face of the Norns! Insane climb, this was the one he was talking about in the clip from earlier today!! INSANITY! He was riding a Yamaha without a turbo on it too!! It was a big bore though! Definitely one of the defining moments in Krazy's chute-climbing career!! Dan Davidoff is still insane to this day!! From 2007!
Posted by Thunderstruck Films on Sunday, December 28, 2014

I am sure you would appreciate the guts of this skier for challenging the extremely steep gradient and finally reaching the top.

If you like Hobby Shobbys, then please follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Read More

The deathly skiing on the savage Mountain - K2

K-2, the second eight thousanders after the Mt. Everest is known as the Savage Mountain as it is deadlier in climbing than the Everest. Although many have attempted to scale this 28,251 feet high conical or pyramid shaped mountain, none has attempted skiing on it.

And when Fredrik Ericsson of Sweden tried skiing his way down from the K2, he was taking too many chances last year in August. Fredrik who was born in Umea, Sweden had grown up skiing all of his life and was considered as one of the best. He became the first ever Swede to descend from a 8,000 meters peak in2004 at Shisha Pangma in Tibet.

Later in 2007, he moved up to the Baltoro valley in Pakistan and descended from the 8,035 metre high Gasherum 2, which was his second 8000 meters peak. He attempted his third descent from the 8,167 metres Dhaulgiri but due to unfavourable weather conditions, Frederick chose to make a 3,000 vertical descent, instead. In 2008, he returned to the Himalayas for a descent from 8,568 metres high Kanchenjunga but had to abort his attempt due to bad weather.

But he always aimed for a descent from the K-2, the Savage Mountain was calling him for another world. And when on 6th of August 2010, he finally came to do it, it wasn’t his day in this life. He lost hold of the surface at a height of 1000 metres and became unstable when he was fixing the rope to the rock just below the peak at around 7 a.m. His fall was his last descent and lost his life on the spot when he fell. His passion for K-2 was just deathly and robbed us of a great skier and a mountaineer.

Related Reading:

K-2 the Savage Mountain

Eight Thousanders of Pakistan

Read More

My Life: Skiing

"Just before starting the run I love skiing it is my Passion. Ever since I have learned to ski, I just fell in love with i..."

Read the account of Talha and watch a video that he made about his passion of skiing at: My Life: Skiing:

Read More

Skiing in Pakistan

Pakistan’s north has some of the most challenging and difficult, yet awesome mountain slopes covered with snow round the year for skiers to venture. But there are two officially designated skiing resorts which provide facilities for the skiers for overnight stay and other related equipment. Due to much selected visitation by skiers, the slopes are not at par with those which tourists are accustomed to in their own countries. Therefore these not very well groomed slopes may not be a suitable choice for the novices or the rookies.

The best site which is well maintained is located at Naltar, near Gilgit. The facility is operated by the Pakistan Air Force and has a High Altitude Skiing School located there. Accessible in jeeps, the resort provides a spectacular scenic beauty besides allowing joyful skiing. Naltar valley is 2,880 meters (10,500 feet), 47 Kilometer away and two hours drive from Gilgit via the west back of the Hunza River to Nomal village and from there northwest up to the Naltar. There is snow at Naltar till end of March. There are two ski lifts at Naltar and two slopes of 400 and 600 metres long. Currently the Ski Federation of Pakistan is organizing, conducting and offering ski courses in winter for beginners besides holding the annual National Ski Championships.

The skiing resort of Malam Jabba is the biggest facility in the Karakoram mountain range, located some 40 kilometres from the town of Saidu Sharif in the Swat valley. The resort was established due to joint efforts of the governments of Pakistan and Austria. Besides ski slope of about 800m with the highest point of the slope 2804m (9200 ft) above sea level, the Malam Jabba Ski Resort was equipped with modern facilities including roller/ice-skating rinks, chair lifts, skiing platforms, telephones and snow clearing equipment. He Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation had a beautiful hotel constructed at the foot of the ski slopes. Unfortunately the ski resort was badly damaged during 2008 when militants took control of the area. After Pakistan Army’s successful operation, and control over the area, the resort is under repair and renovation and is thus closed for the tourists for now.

Two trekking trails are located near the Malam Jabba resort. The first passes through the Ghorband Valley and Shangla Top and starts about 18 km from the resort. The other trail passes through the Sabonev Valley and is about 17 km from the resort.

If you like Hobby Shobbys, then please follow us on Facebook
Follow @HobbyShobbys

Read More

Skiing as a hobby

Snow clad mountains are a lucrative destination of people who love to scale down the icy mountain slops with a help if a stick and two elongated wooden planks tied under their boots. You may not believe it but there are places in Pakistan where small children actually use raw wooden planks and a tree branches to ski down the mountain slopes and they are damn good skiers. For them it is everyday fun and part of their life.

The above photograph may reflect an artist’s height of imagination, but it also describes the fun of skiing, whether on snowy mountain slopes or on the sea green bluish waters of the oceans. The hobby is very adventures, demanding high level of physical fitness, fearlessness and boldness on the part of the skiers.

Besides being a popular sports, especially during the Winter Olympics, skiing is highly competitive and an avid leisure pastime. I remember how Iranians spent their days in winters on the mountains overlooking Tehran, using most sophisticated gadgets and gear for the love of skiing.

Mountain skiing as sports is generally divided into three broad categories: Alpine, Nordic and Biathlon. Alpine includes downhill (552), slalom (557), giant slalom and super G races and the alpine combined event. Nordic includes cross country (725), ski jumping (556) and the Nordic combined. Biathlon (activity 60) combines skiing and rifle shooting.

In Pakistan, Naltar, a place near Gilgit, is home to the skiing school and some of the finest slopes allowing the hobbyists from all over the country to flock there and enjoy their love of this hobby. There is yet another skiing resort at Malam Jabba, ahead of Swat.

As for surface water skiing, skiers tow themselves behind boats to water ski. Adventurous also use wind gliding gadgets to fly into the air after a run off on the water surface. We will talk more of skiing in days to come.

Top Photograph Courtesy: weirdomatic.com

Read More