At long last, Skiers and Skaters share the slopes

Some skaters may look down their noses at snowboarders, but what about skiers? I couldn’t think of a joke to make that somehow referenced the old “Stop the Violence” hip hop campaigns. What we have here (besides a considerable expense) is video footage of some European skateboarders launching of a modified summertime practice ski jump facility. I believe they cover the slopes with a series of green mats made out of a synthetic material that when hosed down with water provides enough lack of friction to practice skiing on. I hear the mats are abrasive as hell on human skin. For the purposes of skateboarding, they’ve added a launch ramp with a bit of wood to take off and land on before bailing to a mandatory knee slide on every attempt. It hurts just to think about. Who would dream up such a spectacle? If not Mountain Dew, then Red Bull:

I (Roman Astleitner) had the idea to skate a ski jump some months ago. Red Bull decided to invite some riders for an “Access all Areas” event to make this reality. Check out the first video clip of the session at the ski jump in Wörgl / Tyrol (Austria). It was definitely a new experience and lots of fun for everyone involved! That’s for sure.

I don’t think I know Roman, but he composed the email as if I did. It’s a hefty 19.6 MB Quicktime download, but go ahead, it’s not my bandwidth.