Daredevils On Rollerskis

https://www.facebook.com/teamsantander/videos/803652566479113/

Over 8 thousand views and dozens of comments: Team Santader has published a video where two of the team’s top skiers, Andreas Nygaard and Øyvind Moen Fjeld are seen descending from 2,315m high Livigno Pass ( also known as Forcola) into the valley, located at approx. 1,800m – a vertical drop of some 500 meters. All of that on classic rollerskis – needless to say, with no breaks of any kind are present.

Unlike most of Alpine skis, known for its hairpin turns, Forcola is a rather straightforward affair – it is, however, busy with car traffic this time of the year. And the speeds – on a 14 kilometer descent even on classic rollerskis still reaches 60 km/h+

Please, don’t try it at home, kids!

For your visual enjoyment, however, we combed through social media looking for similar daring escapades by pro-skiers:

Here are some Norwegian daredevils ( sadly, we were not able to determine who, exactly – feel free to add) doing 80 km/h on Spanish roads at Guadalest, near Alicante

https://www.facebook.com/hautesavoienordicteam/videos/vb.115026368583772/683662661720137/?type=2&theater

Not to be outdone, Haute-Savoie Nordic Team had posted its own “skiers living dangerously” type video showing how French skiers deal with downhills at Col de La Colombiere.

And, of course, there is an infamous video of the Martin Fourcade & gang in 2011 – for which they got a a lot of criticism. Unlike their compatriots from the Haute-Savoie Team, the world’s leading biathlete was filmed doing his “65 km/h” at the specialised rollerskiing circuit in Ruhpolding – but not wearing a helmet ( nor any other protection, for that matter) . Fortunately, a lot has changed since then and Fourcade, a father of two now, takes his role-model function rather more seriously and appears to wear helmet at all times.