winter sports

18 Stories

Skier, 20, Dies After Falling 600 Feet Off Mount Washington

Madison Saltsburg had been backcountry skiing in icy Tuckerman Ravine in New Hampshire

(Newser) - The steep bowl at Tuckerman Ravine on New Hampshire's Mount Washington has long made it a favorite spot for expert skiers and snowboarders who are seeking adventure beyond the comparative safety of the state's ski areas. But hard and icy conditions on Saturday turned the bowl deadly, reports...

Skiing Plus Rodeo = Wild Sport of 'Skijoring'

Saddle up!

(Newser) - Nick Burri clicks into his ski bindings, squats to stretch his knees, and scans the snowy racecourse. Moments later, he's zipping past a series of gates at high speed and hurtling off jumps. But it's not gravity pulling him toward the finish line: It's the brute force...

Winter Games Cut Back Due to Lack of Winter

Lack of snow raises fears of worsening drought in Canada's British Columbia

(Newser) - There will be just two outdoor sports at British Columbia's upcoming Winter Games. "A lack of snowpack on the mountain at Troll Ski Resort and the absence of heavy snowfall in the forecast" prompted the BC Alpine, Freestyle BC, and BC Snowboard organizations to withdraw from the event,...

World's Youngest Snowboarding Champ Pulls Off Intense Move

UK's Mia Brookes, 16, is first female ever to land CAB 1440 double grab: 'I've never been so happy'

(Newser) - Mia Brookes wasn't old enough to compete at the Olympics last year, but she might be feeling OK with her consolation prize this week. On Monday, at Georgia's Bakuriani resort, the 16-year-old Brit took home the gold in the women's slopestyle at the Snowboard, Freestyle, and Freeski...

This Olympian Will Represent His Country Alone

Arif Khan, 31, is sole athlete from India

(Newser) - The US is sending 222 athletes to the 2022 Winter Olympics. India is sending just one. NPR reports 31-year-old skier Arif Khan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday and is scheduled to compete in the slalom and giant slalom events later this week. As long as he manages to stay COVID-free,...

'Extremely Drunk' Curling Team Booted From Big Tournament

Canadian Olympian Ryan Fry apologizes

(Newser) - Drinking and the sport of curling aren't totally incompatible, the manager of the Red Deer Curling Center says—but most teams wait until after the game. A team that included Canadian Olympian Ryan Fry, however, got so drunk before a game Saturday that they were banned from a tournament...

Why Our Olympians Are Forced to Cross an Ocean to Train

Winter sports competitors traveling around the world to find glaciers suitable for training

(Newser) - US athletes prepping for the Pyeongchang Olympics are training in Finland and the Swiss Alps—because climate change is forcing athletes to hunt farther from home for wintry conditions, per the AP . "Without the snow and the cold in the places in the [US] where it's normally cold,...

Snowboarding Cools as Kids Embrace 'Flat' Skis

Extra-wide skies are easier to manage

(Newser) - People who like whizzing down snowy hills at high speeds are using a new kind of ski and losing interest in the snowboard, the Los Angeles Times reports. Winter sports enthusiasts say snowboarding is too injury-prone and, in powder and flat terrain, difficult to manage—while extra-wide skis are easy...

US Dominates New Sports, Old Soviet Strongholds
  US Dominates New Sports, 
  Old Soviet Strongholds 
NATE SILVER on medal count
Mar 1, 2010 11:44 AM CST

US Dominates New Sports, Old Soviet Strongholds

US, Asia make radical gains over former Soviet Union in classic events

(Newser) - Nate Silver hears the “cynical perspectives” on the US’ record take of 37 medals at the Vancouver Olympics: that newfound dominance is based on the inclusion of “new-fangled sports" like snowboarding and short-track. It’s not particularly valid. If you look only at events contested in the 1988...

X-Games Skier Dies in Calif. Fall

Vancouver Olympians mourn 'crazy skier' CR Johnson

(Newser) - Another winter sports death has cast its shadow over the Vancouver Olympics: Free skier CR Johnson, a fixture on the extreme sports circuit, died in a fall yesterday at California's Squaw Valley. A professional extreme skier, Johnson competed in superpipe and halfpipe skiing at the X Games. He hit his...

Brit Olympic Ski Team Bankrupt
 Brit Olympic Ski Team Bankrupt 
Feb 11, 2010 1:21 AM CST

Brit Olympic Ski Team Bankrupt

Athletes left to fund themselves on eve of Vancouver Games

(Newser) - The governing body for Britain's skiiers and snowboarders has gone bust just before the Vancouver Olympics. Athletes now in Vancouver have been forced to fund themselves as UK Olympic officials scramble to find cash from sponsors and private donors to cover the team's costs. Organizers complain that the London 2012...

Snow Rushed In as Olympic Ski Hill Melts

Vancouver 2010 organizers battle to keep venue usable

(Newser) - Vancouver Olympic organizers are scrambling to get a snow-challenged venue ready in time for next week's winter games. Cypress Mountain, site of snowboarding and freestyle skiiing events, is thawing after the area's warmest January on record. Snow is being rushed in from 150 miles via a fleet of trucks and...

Canada Guns for Olympic Gold
 Canada Guns for Olympic Gold 
'OWN THE PODIUM'
Feb 1, 2010 3:06 PM CST

Canada Guns for Olympic Gold

Usually reserved nation says it will 'own the podium' in Vancouver

(Newser) - No more Mr. Nice Canada: Our neighbor to the north has contracted Olympic fever and is shouting from the rooftops that it will “own the podium” in Vancouver. After Canada made disastrous showings in the two previous Games it hosted, an organization called Own the Podium has emerged and...

Finally, a Sled That Attaches to Your Bum

Snow Shorts solve age-old dilemma of how to get your sled uphill

(Newser) - Good news for winter wonderland lovers who think it's such a drag to have to haul one's sled back up the hill after every run: Show Shorts cater to the (relatively) lazy man by offering a sled that attaches directly to your butt via a pair of shorts that fit...

Women Won't Ski Jump in 2010 Olympics

Judge agrees it's discrimination, but has no power to help

(Newser) - A Canadian judge says the International Olympic Committee is clearly discriminating against female ski jumpers by not including their event in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics—but there’s nothing she can do about it, NPR reports. A group of women jumpers had sued the organizing committee, hoping to have their...

Newest Bailout: 2010 Olympics
 Newest Bailout: 2010 Olympics 
Jan 19, 2009 11:42 AM CST

Newest Bailout: 2010 Olympics

Vancouver games get $369M loan approved

(Newser) - The global recession is putting the 2010 Olympics Games in Vancouver in peril, writes Canada's Globe and Mail. This weekend the provincial parliament in British Columbia passed an emergency bill that allows the host city to borrow $369 million to make sure the athletes' village will be ready in time....

Another Kind of White Powder Hits Ski Slopes

Cocaine arrests up 60% at Europe's leading winter resorts

(Newser) - In the lodges of Austria's winter resorts, mulled wine has given way to more stimulating après-ski treats: cocaine and ecstasy. Austrian police report a 60% rise in drug-related arrests in ski areas and say that bartenders and ski instructors are turning into part-time dealers during the season. "...

X Games Grow More Xtreme
X Games Grow More Xtreme
Jan 25, 2008 10:23 AM CST

X Games Grow More Xtreme

Yesterday's edgiest trick is today's standard move

(Newser) - Snowboarders and freeskiers are waging a cold war, the New York Times reports, putting top competitors under constant pressure to develop next-generation tricks. At this year's Winter X Games, under way in Aspen, the stakes are higher than ever: A new event named big air calls for competitors to launch...

18 Stories