Last weekend there was a very exciting World Cup Freestyle aerials and moguls stop at Deer Valley, Utah and you can catch the jumping and bumping highlights this Saturday, Feb. 11th at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.
Up this weekend is a round of skicross (SX) and snowboardcross (SBX) – the 2nd Sprint U.S. Snowboarding & Freeskiing Grand Prix at Canyons Resort.
This wild free-for-all competition has a men’s event and a women’s event, both held on the same course. The course is different at each venue but contains turns of different types and sizes, jumps of varying size, flat sections and rolls, banks and ridges which are all built up on a normal ski slope.
Sanctioned as a NorAm Cup competition the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding & Freeskiing Grand Prix skicross – which is now an Olympic event – requires strength, stamina and excellent skiing skills. 2011 X Games skicross champion John Teller of Mammoth Lakes, CA headlines an international cast of skiers and each event will also determine the 2012 U.S. Champions.
I like to think of skicross as a human NASCAR, Formula 1, BAJA rally and Demolition Derby rolled into one and all done on skis at about 40 – 50 mph, and repeated through qualifications, several rounds of pre-finals and the grand finale.
The events are free at Canyons Resort but if you can’t catch the events live, NBC will air the action on February 18 at 3:30pm ET.
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John Teller (right) at 1/11/2012 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup SkiCross, Alpe d’Huez, France Copyright Getty Images
Skicross Excitement This Weekend originally appeared on About.com Skiing on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 09:00:49.
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