Equipment Update As Seen At Blink Ski Fest

Equipment Update As Seen At Blink Ski Fest

Gear News, Newsfeed
Blink Skifest is not just the world's biggest summer event in skiing & biathlon - it's also sort of a catwalk of the newest equipment issued to world's best athletes by their material sponsors. [caption id="attachment_12431" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Showstopper of this year's Blink Skifest - Alpina ESK 2.0 Summer Racing [/caption] [caption id="attachment_12436" align="alignnone" width="1230"] As evident from photos, they closely resemble august ESK 2.0 Winter - lest insulation [/caption] [caption id="attachment_12430" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Although Russian-based Spine was showing a prototype of full-carbon rollerski boots on similar Rottefella platform on ISPO this year, these Alpinas are officially world's first production rollerski boots with carbon soles. Finally!.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12432" align="alignnone" width="1920"] These new Salomon S/LABs don't quite look production-ready, more like a prototype....[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12435" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ...but since they were…
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Eurovision Goes Blink

Eurovision Goes Blink

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
The European Broadcasting Union , colloquially known as Eurovision, just signed an international TV rights agreement with the organizers of the Blink festival and it's a big deal: The EBU is agglomeration of public television channels across Europe, from Portugal to Russia, to collectively bargain for rights and to swap (mostly news-related) footage. "Public" means "funded by either a compulsory license fee or by subvention from a national parliament". For historical reasons, those are the most watched channels across the continent - and most likely to show the second tier sports I.e. popular but not popular enough for viewers to pay for, like football or Formula 1. The EBU is powerful and is ever interested in keeping ratings reasonably high to fight purely commercial channels. The Geneva-based bosses must have…
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…In Some Ways Blink Skifest Reminds Us Of Pre-commercial Olympic Games

…In Some Ways Blink Skifest Reminds Us Of Pre-commercial Olympic Games

Newsfeed
Blink Skifest is , without a doubt, a premier xcski and biathlon event of the whole summer, packed with stars of top caliber. Think about it: only the Olympic Games bring together more of world's best athletes of both those " sister sports" - and even then they rarely rub shoulders in a literal sense. In a way Blink resembles original Olympic ideas, those of Pierre de Coubertin: having fun, forging ties, making new friendships among the athletes and , occasionally with fans who have unparalleled access to sportsmen and -women. All of that with minimum material reward for either victory or mere appearance. Which is amazing, really. This is a departure from a regular line that we preach on the Daily Skier: the skiing has to be become more…
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Inaugural Lysebotn Uphill Doublepoling Musings

Inaugural Lysebotn Uphill Doublepoling Musings

Newsfeed
...When the founder and director of Blink Skifestival Arne Idland mentioned a few months ago that he wants to add Lysebotn Uphill race in doublepoling style to the program , many thought the idea to be out of whack. No video can properly convey the impression Lysebotn climb makes on a visitor - it's Daunting with capital D. No other rollerski climb in the world would provide such a test of one's fitness. Yes, Stelvio and Sa Calobra might be more of an ascent, but far less steep - Lysebotn is more or less constant 10 degrees uphill. Sceptics ( us included) were totally in the wrong! Dozens of people of both genders signed, including Olympic champion Justyna Kowalchyk and reigning world champion Sjur Roethe. At the end it was…
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