Other inventors made similar ”snowboards” during this era. Dimitrije Milovich, Jake Burton Carpenter (founder of Burton Snowboards from Londonderry, Vermont), Tom Sims (founder of Sims Snowboards), Chuck Barfoot (founder of Barfoot Snowboards) and Mike Olson (founder of Gnu Snowboards) came up with new designs for boards and mechanisms that slowly developed into the snowboards and other related equipment that we know today.

Norwegian Sondre Norheim is known as the ”father of modern skiing” (the originator of skiing as recreation and sport). He was from from Telemark district in Norway, which is also known as the ”cradle of skiing”. Norheim created the design templates from which all forms of modern skiing are derived. In 1850, woodcarvers from the Telemark region introduced lighter, thinner, cambered skis. These developments were accompanied by Norheim’s creation of stiff bindings by fully securing the heel with a strong yet flexible strap made from birch roots. This new binding system enabled the skier to swing, jump and maneuver turns while skiing down hills. These were known as ”Osier” bindings. Morten Lund writes, in his piece outlining the development of Alpine skiing, that ”Telemark skiing marked the transition to dynamic control, changing the angle of the ski bottom on the snow and changing the direction of the ski to the line of descent—the basis of technique even today”, thus the necessity for Norheim’s heel binding invention. And as a result, came the ”flowering of the world’s first ”freestyle” contests—climbing, running, making turns for the heck of it and flying off natural bumps on unprepared snow.

As an of topic remark, The heroes from Telemarken is a great movie

Well well.

Magnus Moan took his second victory in a row in the Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix. According to Magnus he had become more relaxed after the birth of his second child in April. The final race was a tough one. The schedule was tight and there were not much time for regeneration from Friday to Saturday.

Magnus Moan won in the heavy rain on Friday. Magnus started with 55 seconds to the leader and went on to win the competition with the fastest time in the roller skiing race.

But the over all winner was Rydzek  in the summer rankings. Johannes Rydzek, was the most consistent athlete in all four events, and was very pleased: ”I’m really very happy that I had such a good streak – one victory, three second places

The event takes place from 19th-31st August. Over 300 of the world’s elite snowboarders and freestylers from 30 nations will arrive in Lake Wanaka to fight for the medals.
For the first time a FIS World Championshipis on location in New Zeeland and it is also the first time the disciplines of Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding have combined at FIS World Championship level.

There is a total of nine events – snowboard slopestyle, snowboard cross, snowboard half-pipe, snowboard parallel slalom and giant slalom, snowboard big air, ski slopestyle, ski cross and ski half-pipe.

If you you want to follow the event and results, check out the web site www.juniorworldsnz.co.nz.

Good luck to all of the participants.