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Telemark Big Air skiing heads to Vail on Saturday at the Winter Teva Mountain Games. Courtesy of Ty Dayberry and Vail Daily
By Lauren Glendenning, Vail Daily News
VAIL — The only way to describe the sight of a guy flying over a 60-foot jump with nothing more than his toes connected to his skis is “super-human.”
We've all seen big air skiing and snowboarding competitions before, and those competitions are spectacular, but telemark big air skiing is an up-and-coming competition that will truly take your breath away.
And to kick up the heat another notch, the Vail Valley Foundation is putting the Telemark Big Air competition side-by-side with the Teva Best Trick Bike, where freeride mountain bikers will go big on snow.
(Don't know much about telemark skiing? Read about it here.)
Winter Teva Mountain Games is calling it a “dueling trick session,” which no doubt means the tricksters will be pushing the envelope in their respective sports, going bigger and bigger as they draw oohs and aahs from the crowd. The mountain bikers will be hitting 40- to 50-feet with tricks, vying for a $10,000 prize.
Allie Bruni, one of the Telemark Big Air organizers from Tough Guy Productions, said the top telemark big air skiers from around the world will be at the event. Tough Guy Productions has invited 10 athletes who will be catapulting themselves over the 60-foot gap, twisting their skis into wild shapes and unimaginable formations, all via their toes.
“It's super cool,” Bruni said.
Read Glendenning's full story about telemark big air.
This is the inaugural Winter Teva Mountain Games, with skiing, biking, snow running, climbing and snow dog events.
Check out a video of the mountain bike criterium course and a photo of the climbing wall at the Winter Teva Mountain Games website.
There'll be a slalom race, endurance criterium and a big air trick competition for mountain bikers.
Telemark skiers, as noted, have a trick competition.
Ski mountaineers have a lung-busting and quad-burning competition.
Ice climbers will race up a 50-foot wall.
There's a vertical challenge for people who like going up and down and up and down and more.
Snowshoers have a race, too.
There's even a foot race.
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