Charging at the poles

Press, 21 July 1982, Page 27

Charging at the poles

Slalom poles knocked flying down the slope and gatekeepers scurrying after them have been a familiar sight during international ski races in New Zealand over the. last few years. Much of the • havoc has been caused by the spectacular Japanese ski-racers who will be back for a repeat performance in the Europa FIS series at Mount Hutt next month.

In Europe over the last northern winter, though, the sights were even more dramatic as slalomists slammed through the new “rapid gates.” Instead of ski-ing round the poles, racers such as the great Swede, Ingemar Stenmark, took a faster, straighter line and skied through them. Television viewers were given the best idea of that revolutionary technique when Stenmark won the slalom gold medal at the 1982 world alpine championships, in Schla'd ming.

According to Dudley Doust of the “Sunday Times” newspaper, the rapid gates are plastic poles (driven 45cm into the snow) which are spring-loaded with 360 deg hinges at snow-leveL ' “Stenmark charges the gate pole, hits it with' the side of his knee, then cuffs it away with the back of his gloved hand,” said Doust. However, it’ll be.a while

before these poles are used in New Zealand. Mr Neil Harrison, chairman of the Europa FIS organising committee, said that the cost was prohibitive. - . ~