Top Five Fridays: July 28, 2023
Lead Image: Andrezj Bargiel making his way down Gasherbrum II, en route to accomplishing a world’s first. More on that in highlight number 2! Photo shot by Bartłomiej Pawlikowski for the Red Bull Content Pool.
#1: FIS Update Triple Header: Media Right Negotiations, Fluoro Wax Testing, and Cancellations in Lake Louise:
ADespite being a beloved venue for all of us in North America, Lake Louise will not be a stop on this year’s schedule due to financial reasons. Image: The Lake Louise Ski Resort & Summer Gondola on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the July 28, 2023 edition! We’ve got a surprisingly interesting issue this week, given the fact that we’re in the depths of summer here. To get things underway, we’re starting off with a triple highlight featuring three FIS headlines that caught our attention this week. First and foremost on that list is the announcement that the FIS has sold its media rights to Infront. Now, there’s a lot to cover here, and this could very well have been its own long winded highlight, but there’s a surprising amount of news this week so we’ll just touch on the highlights for now, and hopefully revisit this one in the near future. To quickly recap the situation, prior to current FIS president Johan Eliasch’s arrival, international FIS broadcasting rights were handled entirely by a media group called “Infront”. Essentially what this meant was that if an event was happening outside of your home country, coverage was generally hard to come by as the FIS had no control over how or where their content was being broadcast. As such, one of Eliasch’s core policies since day one has been the centralization of media rights. Of course this development upset Infront to the point where they threatened to sue the FIS for a breach in contract. Fast forward to today, and we’ve learned that the two parties have worked through their issues and have signed a new agreement that gives the FIS far more control over their media, while Infront retains broadcasting rights. It’s something of a win-win for both parties, as the FIS has similar power as if the rights were centralized, but without the headache of actually having to negotiate the rights themselves. For Infront, they’re able to retain the right to produce broadcasts while keeping FIS sports in their portfolio. Again, there’s plenty more to cover here, and we hope to someday, but for now, take a look at the announcement from the FIS, as well as the coverage from SkiRacing.com.
In other FIS news this week, we also learned that the organization has announced plans to begin testing for fluorocarbons in ski wax this season. In case you have no idea what that means or why it matters, the long and short of it is that a few years back, it was discovered that ski waxes containing fluorocarbons inevitably resulted in fluorocarbons ending up in runoff, ultimately having significant negative consequences for local environments. As such, they were banned in all FIS events, as well as Europe on the whole. The catch of course, was that the FIS had no reliable way to test for fluoro waxes, so while they were technically banned, there was no way for the rule to be enforced. That is, until this season anyways. Now, reliable testing is available, and officials will begin testing for it as of this year. To learn more details about this process, you can check out this update from SkiRacing.com.
Finally, the third headline we want to share is the disappointing news that the men's FIS World Cup races in Lake Louise have been canceled. Back when the full schedule was announced, we were optimistic that the Lake Louise events would go on as scheduled, despite there being a “To Be Confirmed” (TBC) designation on the events. Unfortunately, we learned that due to financial issues, compounded by the tragic fire there earlier this month, the races have been canceled. While we here at SkiEssentials didn’t see it coming (let’s be honest, we can’t know everything that’s happening in the ski industry), plenty in the industry did, as speculation was present a full year ago, as evidenced by SkiRacing.com’s August article titled, “Lake Louise to Hosts its Last World Cups”. Still, even if some saw it coming, it’s a sad day as it pulls a quality event off the North American calendar. To learn more about this, check out yet another report from SkiRacing.com.
#2: Andrzej Bargiel Completes Karakoram Quadfecta, Skiing All Four Peaks Above 8k Meters:
Andrezj Bargiel as he approaches the summit of Gasherbrum II. Image shot by Bartłomiej Pawlikowski for the Red Bull Content Pool.
Ok, let’s take a break from FIS news for a couple of highlights and focus on a decidedly different type of ski athlete: Andrzej Bargiel. Despite our best efforts to make him a household name over the years, we suspect he isn’t yet. He should be though, and here’s why: this man has summited and skied more of the highest peaks in the world than anyone else on earth. The last time we shared a Bargiel highlight was just about a year ago, when he’d announced his plans to summit and ski Everest (8,850m) without oxygen. Unfortunately he was unable to complete that quest due to weather conditions, but the fact that he even attempted a mission like that pretty much says it all. That said, if you remain unconvinced, just wait until you hear this week’s news.
On Wednesday, Red Bull broke the news that Bargiel has successfully summited and skied Gasherbrum I (8,080 m) and Gasherbrum II (8,035 m) without supplemental oxygen. Upon completing these two peaks, Bargiel has officially become the first person to summit and ski all four of the peaks in the Karakoram region that rise above 8,000 meters. It was a mission that began all the way back in 2015 when he conquered Broad Peak (8,051 m). Presumably fueled by his success there, Bargiel went back to the region in 2018 and accomplished a feat that remains mind blowing 5 years later: summiting and skiing K2 (8,611 m) without supplemental oxygen. That mission has since become the subject of Tan excellent hour-long documentary produced by Red Bull. After completing those two peaks, there were only two left in the region for Bargiel to summit and ski in order to complete the quadfecta: Gasherbrum I & II.
This week, Bargiel did just that. Starting all the way back on June 30th, Bargiel and climber Janusz Gołąb summited Khosar Gang (6,400 m) as a means of acclimating to high elevations. From there, Bargiel continued on to Gasherbrum II, which he successfully climbed and skied on July 19th. Unfortunately, due to weather, he was unable to continue directly onto Gasherbrum I, and had to wait about a week before beginning his ascent up Gasherbrum I. Finally, on July 25th, Bargiel reached base camp 2, enabling him to successfully reach the summit a day later, on July 26th. As Bargiel reports, “Reaching the peak and skiing down from Gasherbrum I was a bit more difficult than our action on Gasherbrum II last week. Mainly because of the fog, so I decided to wait below the summit of GI for better conditions. Due to the fog, I had to be more focused to remember the ski descent line because of limited visibility.” For us, that anecdote really drives home the insanity of this feat. We all know how difficult it can be to navigate a groomed trail in dense fog. Now, imagine being on one of the highest peaks in the world, where there’s no set route down the mountain. You’ve just climbed it without oxygen, and now you’re tasked with remembering the line you’d picked out from the base and attempting to navigate it in the fog. One wrong turn and it could be game over. Fortunately for Bargiel and all of us in the ski community, no wrong turns were made and Bargiel returned to basecamp safe and sound a few hours after dawn. In doing so, he became the first to summit and ski all of the peaks above 8,000 meters in the Karakoram region, forever etching his name in the history books. It’s quite an impressive feat, and one that we really hope was thoroughly documented. To learn more about it, check out the report from Red Bull.
#3: Two Japanese Ski Resorts Are Being Linked By a Chairlift in Effort to Become One of the Largest in the Nation:
An aerial photograph showing Hoshino Resort’s Nekoma Snow Park & Resort in the foreground, with Alts Bandai Snow Park and resort stretching into the background. Soon, these ski resorts will become one, being connected by a chairlift. Image: SkiAsia.com
In other news this week, we want to share an interesting story from Japan where two neighboring ski resorts have announced plans to connect their trail networks via a chairlift. Sound familiar? It should, as it mirrors the story unfolding here in Stowe where our home mountain hopes to connect to neighboring Smuggler’s Notch via lift as well. In fact, in both scenarios, skiers and riders can currently access both resorts by walking a short distance on a defined trail. But, that’s about where the logistical similarities in the story end.
In the Aizu region of Japan, Hoshino Resort Inc. owns both Alts Bandai Snow Park & Resort and Nekoma Snow Park & Resort, which occupy neighboring peaks. To get an idea of the full layout, it’s helpful to take a look at the bird's eye view, courtesy of Google Maps. After operating the resorts side by side for years, even allowing access to both with a singular $35/day lift ticket, Hoshino Resorts is taking the step to officially combine the resorts, creating one 189 hectare ski resort that would immediately become one of the largest in the country. But, as it turns out, that’s just the start of the plan. Once the resorts are connected via lift, a project that’s expected to be completed by December 2023, the CEO of Hoshino Resorts, Yoshiharu Hoshino, has indicated further development plans, likely meaning more facilities and more skiable terrain. Overall, his goal is to increase both domestic and international tourism to the area. While the cat’s out of the bag as far as powder skiing in Japan goes, it sounds like this newly expanded resort could> be one of the hidden gems for 2023. Plus, it’s wildly affordable, with packages including 5 nights in a 4 star hotel, free breakfast, and daily lift tickets starting at just over $400.00 USD total. While this isn’t meant to be a sales pitch for Hoshino Resorts, we have to say, skiing for 5 days in Japan for about $400 does sound pretty good. If it sounds good to you too and you’d like to learn more, check out the report from SkiAsia.com!
#4: Meet Stella Johansson: A Rookie on the U.S. Ski Team Who Chose a Different Route to Get There:
Stella Johansson, one of the newest members of the U.S. Ski Team, proves that there’s more than one way to emerge from the development pipeline. Image: Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club on Instagram
Finally, we round out this week with an athlete profile highlighting U.S. Ski Team newcomer Stella Johansson. As you know, we love sharing athlete highlights here on Top Five Fridays, as they’re always packed with interesting insights into the mindsets and experiences of some of our sports top performers. This week, our highlight is a little different as the focus is on an alpine athlete who’s at the very beginning of her professional FIS career. As such, it’s not her experiences on the World Cup circuit that interest us, but the path she’s taken to get there.
If you read along with us last summer, you likely remember our coverage of the Vail Daily’s “Inside the Skiing Pipeline” series. While those articles were packed with information about the U.S. Ski Team’s talent pipeline, one of the main takeaways was that there’s more or less one path to the U.S. Ski Team: compete in FIS races as a youth, move up to the NorAm Cup level, and if you’re good enough, the U.S. Ski Team will add you to their D (development) team. Johansson, however, desired something different. Having familial roots in Sweden, Johansson was familiar with the level of competition in the Europa Cup, so rather than attend Dartmouth College where she was being recruited out of high school, she chose instead to move to Sweden in order to compete amongst the best of the best. While that decision must’ve been nerve wracking at first, it’s proven to have paid off.
In her rookie season on the Europa Cup, Johansson struggled to finish races for most of the season, before finally managing to land a couple of mid-30’s finishes. Then, last season, Johansson shocked everyone at the start of the year with a 2nd place finish in a GS race in Mayrhofen, Austria, finishing just .15 seconds behind first place. A couple of weeks later, she earned a 10th place finish, proving that her result in Mayrhofen wasn’t a total fluke and that she was a legitimate contender on the circuit. Unfortunately, from there, Johansson found herself fighting mono throughout the remainder of the season, limiting her potential. While she managed to earn solid finishes throughout, her lack of energy kept her from reaching the highest levels of success. Still, her performance was enough to prove to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team that she belongs, resulting in her being nominated directly to the C team this season, having skipped the D team entirely. Now, with full support from the U.S. Ski team, Johansson is eager to prove herself at the World Cup level this season. While she’s competed in a handful of World Cup races already, it’s yet to be seen what she can accomplish over the course of a full season. One way or another, we’ll be watching. For now, you can learn about her circuitous story in this report from SkiRacing.com.