ICE CLIMBING ABOUT TV, COMPETITION.Byline: Dan Lazar Special to the Daily News Sports cable network ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network likes to think of its first-ever Winter X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. as the perfect chance to legitimize le·git·i·mize tr.v. le·git·i·mized, le·git·i·miz·ing, le·git·i·miz·es To legitimate. le·git the world of winter extreme sports extreme sports Sports events characterized by high speed or high risk. Such sports include aggressive inline skating, wakeboarding, street luge, skateboarding, and freestyle bicycle events (wherein tricks such as back flips are performed on a bicycle). . But according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. some ice climbers participating in the games, held at Snow Summit ski resort at Big Bear Lake, that's not entirely true. ``It's not ice climbing ice climbing Sports medicine An 'extreme sport' in which participants climb ice formations with pickaxes, often without ropes Injury risk Hypothermia, death. See Extreme sports, Novelty seeking behavior. . This is TV,'' said climber Alex Lowe Stuart Alexander "Alex" Lowe (1958-1999), was widely considered his generation's finest all-around mountaineer prior to his October 5, 1999 death in a massive slab avalanche on Shishapangma in Tibet. of Boseman, Mont. ``They've done a really good job to create competition in an inherently non-competitive environment.'' Few argue that ESPN's efforts to promote snowboarding, the games' main event, contradict the sport. The half-pipe, big air and slopestyle competitions at the games are snowboarding standards. But while competitive ice climbing has a loyal following in Europe, most participants at Friday's games don't consider themselves part of that segment of the sport. In fact, many of the climbers, albeit known for their abilities as alpinists, had never climbed competitively before Thursday. And one competitor doesn't even consider herself an ice climber. In fact, she had climbed ice only once before - three years ago. ``We try to tell people (that this isn't the truest form of ice climbing) with the telecasts,'' said Mike Soltys, director of communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. for ESPN. ``but it's not like we'll pound people over the head.'' The essence of ice climbing, according to some climbers, rests with the ability to use the equipment properly under capricious weather conditions. ``The word I would use to describe ice climbing is more a craft and less a sport,'' said Teri Ebel, media liaison for the ice climbing organizers and an avid ice climber herself. But Friday's difficulty competition had climbers scale a 42-foot wall of ice with ice screws already in place. ``Here, they're already in there,'' said Canadian climber Joe Josephson of the ice screws. ``But knowing where to put the screws in and how to put them in is all of it (the difficulty in ice climbing.'' And on Thursday climbers competed in the speed event - basically, who can climb the wall of ice the fastest. ``We try to be fast and efficient if it's a big route,'' said Josephson, adding that usually climbers ascend deliberately and concentrate more on fluidity and technique. ``But not usually.''ESPN has also committed itself to introducing some of the more colorful personalities that define extreme sports. That's why they jumped when they learned that Las Vegas climber Tiffany Levine, known for her bold climbing style and individuality, would be coming to the event. ``They're excited about her,'' said Ebel of the rock climber, one of the best in the U.S. It didn't matter that the last time Levine climbed ice was also the first time she had ever climbed ice. And that was three years ago at a competition in France. ``The only competition is my getting up this thing,'' said Levine, who read a book on ice climbing Wednesday to ready herself for the event. ``I want to learn (about ice climbing) and this is the easiest place to get set up.'' Winter X Games Snow Summit, Big Bear The ESPN Winter X Games will be broadcast today from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. Wide World of Sports Wide World of Sports can refer to:
Look for Tony Magnusson (Stockholm, Sweden) to dominate the skateboard section of the crossover event. In 1988 Magnusson held the Guinness record for skateboard high air with 9-1/2 feet. Los Angeles-native John ``King Shovelmeister'' Strader (resides in Taos, N.M.) should show well in the super-modified shovel racing preliminaries. In the boarder X event, Cara-Beth Burnside (Orange) and Andy Hetzel (Encinitas) are favorites. Expect a good showing from Tara Llanes (West Covina) in the snow mountain bike racing The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the sport of mountain bike racing relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Purgatory, Colorado. The first mountain biking world cup series took place in 1991. speed final. Mike Dahlberg (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Bird Lew (Oakland) are favorites in the ice climbing men's and women's speed final. CAPTION(S): Box Box: Winter X Games (see text) |
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