MOSCOW, 31 December. /TASS/. The multi-day ski race "Tour de Ski" starts on Saturday in Val Müster, Switzerland. Next week there will be stages in German Oberstdorf, Italian Dobbiaco and Val di Fiemme, the winners of the tour will be determined in the overall standings and individual events.

The Tour de Ski was created in 2006 by analogy with the Tour de France in cycling, when participants overcome several stages in various cities over several weeks. As part of the ski tour, participants will have to run both sprint and long distances in classic and free style, so universal skiers usually win in the overall standings.

The only Russian winner of the Tour de Ski is Alexander Legkov, who finished first overall in 2013 but will miss out on the current race. Legkov, Evgeny Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexei Petukhov, Yulia Ivanova and Evgenia Shapovalova were suspended from competition due to suspected anti-doping rule violations. Russian athletes sent a request to the International Ski Federation (FIS) to allow them to participate in the Tour de Ski, but the FIS doping commission rejected the appeal.

The results of the Tour de Ski races are included in the World Cup standings, where Russian skiers have achieved only one victory this season - on December 11, Sergey Ustyugov won the freestyle sprint at a stage in Davos, Switzerland. In the previous cup race in La Clusaz, France, Legkov took third place in the 15 km freestyle race from the mass start. Russian skiers did not take a place on the podium this season.

Three countries in nine days

The Tour de Ski will run from 31 December to 8 January. On the last day of the year, sprint races for men and women in the free style will take place in Val Müster, on January 1, there will also be mass start races in the classic style, for women at 5 km, for men at 10 km. On January 3, Oberstdorf will host a skiathlon (women - 10 km, men - 20 km), the next day - free style pursuit (women - 10 km, men - 15 km).

On January 6, the stage in Italian Dobbiaco (Toblach) starts, where women will run 5 km freestyle, and men - 10 km. On January 7th, in Val di Fiemme, races will be held from the mass start in the classic style (10 and 15 km). The tour will end on January 8 with the traditional nine-kilometer uphill pursuit, which will determine the winner in the overall standings. Only skiers who have completed all previous Tour de Ski races can claim success.

The first winners of the tour in 2007 were German Tobias Angerer and Finn Virpi Kuitunen. Dario Cologna from Switzerland won the tour three times, Justina Kowalczyk from Poland won four women's titles. Three times in 2014-2016, the Norwegian Martin Sundby won the overall standings of the tour, but his 2015 result was canceled due to anti-doping rule violations, and the victory was given to compatriot Petter Nortug.

Last year, the Norwegians Sundby and Teresa Johaug won the overall standings of the tour, the Italian Federico Pellegrino and the Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Estberg were the first in the sprint standings.

If you are on holiday in winter, there is a worthy alternative to beach resorts. Ski tours are a great choice for outdoor enthusiasts and those who want to see the beauty of the Russian north. Ski tours last several days and provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the little-known corners of Russia. In addition to hiking, you will have rest in guest houses, a bathhouse, picnics, acquaintance with traditional crafts, architecture and natural monuments.

Ski tours in Russia are designed for different levels of training. There are programs without heavy loads. You are skiing, and equipment is transporting things. Other tours, such as the North Pole hike, require experience and stamina.

Ski tours 2019 from RussiaDiscovery

1. On the snow-covered Lekshmozero (Arkhangelsk region). The tour is designed for 5 days. You will stay at the guest house of the Morshchikhinskaya village on the banks of the Lekshmozero. The territory belongs to the Kenozero National Park, a candidate for inclusion in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Every day you will make a circular ski trip along different routes and you will be able to see many interesting architectural and natural monuments. In the evenings, a sauna, a delicious dinner and exciting master classes will be waiting for you.
2. Ski patrol (forests of the Arkhangelsk region). A more difficult tour that lasts 7 days and is designed for small groups of up to 10 people. Ski trip from Kargopol to Lekshmozero on the territory of the Kenozero National Park. You have to overcome 15-25 km a day light and stop for the night in a new place every evening. These will be guest and village houses, and sometimes you will have to spend the night in sleeping bags in a hut. In addition to the beautiful nature, you will see many sights, for example, ancient chapels of the 18th-19th centuries.
3. Challenge: One degree to target (North Pole ski trip). This is a challenging ski tour for 16 days. Experienced participants with excellent physical fitness are invited. This tour is a real challenge, during which you will have to walk or ski for 8-10 hours a day and carry a heavy load. The tour will take place in the spring, but even at this time the temperature can be -35 C° with strong winds. In memory of the conquest of the North Pole, you will receive commemorative certificates.

Whichever tour you choose, there will always be an experienced guide-instructor nearby. He will take care of your safety and tell you interesting facts about the surroundings and sights. You can choose a ski tour for the Christmas and New Year holidays. You don't have to worry about ski equipment: it's rented and included in the price. But if you bring your own skis, you will get a discount.

If you want to relax with health benefits, get a lot of new experiences and get to know Russian culture better, choose ski tours from RussiaDiscovery. Book your seats in advance!

For me, a ski tour is a liberation from the resort industry, a true enjoyment of nature and, of course, as a reward for sweat and muscle fatigue – the ultimate freeride!

What "s what? (what is a ski tour?)

It so happened historically that a lot of things related to skiing, freeride came to us from the west, although there were prophets in their own Fatherland. But more on that later.

If you try to translate the semantic meaning of the word skitour into Russian, then the expression “ski trip” will be closest. And taking into account the context behind this concept, I would translate it as “mountain skiing” or even closer in meaning, taking into account the Russian context “climbing the mountains on skis with the aim of descending on virgin soil”. It turns out a little cumbersome, but, in fact, true. By the way, the literal translation sounds somewhat frivolous - “ski trip”, and taking into account the context - “ski trip in the mountains”.

And many people follow this definition - they ski-tour in the vicinity of the resort, often leaving the upper lift station within sight to roll out the virgin slopes that are obvious, but not accessible to most. Why not?

But dry and well-considered formulations do not reflect the essence of this concept in the Russian ski-touring mainstream. It's like asking the question "What is love?" and get hundreds if not thousands of different answers.

A modern ski tour has several hypostases:

Traditional Nordic(simply speaking "runners"), Backcountry Nordic(reinforced, with steel edges and wider "backcountry running shoes" using Waxless "fish scale" anti-slip technology to climb the hill), Telemark(a mountain skiing dinosaur that has survived to this day thanks to hippies, hipsters and Norwegians) and finally, the object of our desire - Alpine Touring(touring alpine, that is, walking in boots with heels fixed on the descent).

Having wallowed in philological delights, let's dig into history:

Who invented the ski tour and why?

The main version of the origin is that the ski tour, as an independent type, began with the use of skis by climbers to approach conquered peaks. That is, initially it is an entertaining view and the first mention of it dates back to the middle of the 19th century. And only later did he begin to mean also riding on virgin lands. Here we will talk about the ski tour, where this secondary function has become the main one.

Sports ski tour now called ski mountaineering. He's kind of like the father of a ski tour, although the species are so similar that it's hard to tell a clear line between them. For a while it was believed that skiing was ski mountaineering, and mountain hiking was ski touring. With the addition of the descent, "everything was mixed up in the Oblomovs' house." But this knowledge is secondary and does not increase the happiness of the ski tourist.

We have the most ancient ski tourists - Siberian hunters and northern peoples. For a long time they use skis lined with kamus (short wool fur on the skin of a deer or elk growing on the legs of an animal and on the forehead of the head). To the skis themselves, boots (this is also a kind of ski shoes, in an old era, children were taught to ski by nailing boots to the sawn halves of adult skis) are attached using soft fasteners that fix the toe of the boots and attract the heel to the toe. In the late 70s I myself drove such cars along the slopes of the high bank of the Yenisei.

Numerous tourists who lived (and still have not died out) in the Khibiny, in the Polar Urals and went on winter trips on the legendary Russian "backcountry" "Beskyd", can be safely called the predecessors of the current ski tourists (and many are still their parents) . Remember the tragedy of the Dyatlov group - this is what Russian winter tourism looked like - felt boots, sweatshirts, a canvas tent.

Dyatlov group

a certain level of physical fitness, since ski touring is usually a collective activity and it is important not to become a “brake”, “an extra link” for the team and “trail” (break through the skiing in the virgin soil) on an equal footing, it is very important to have the skills of orienteering in the area in order to choose a route and not play Ivan Susanin, have basic weather forecasting skills to avoid falling into a blizzard or other weather disasters (alas, Yandex-weather services are not always available on the route), have knowledge of avalanche safety - "mountains don't like to joke", first aid and evacuation of the victim - "ambulance", a helicopter in a remote area of ​​​​Russia is more a mirage than a reality, have basic mountaineering skills, survival skills in winter conditions will not be superfluous - there are always more chances to freeze than to suffer from a sunstroke, equipment for a ski tour is not only a specific torment of choice, but also a separate budget, which is often not overpowered at a time. Usually everything is selected, bought as skills, experience, and personal preferences are acquired. Three years, perhaps, will be spent on equipment.

If, after these intimidations, you are still wondering how to become a ski touring superman, read on.

Of course, the skills and knowledge you lack cannot be acquired overnight. Your best bet is to start ski touring with an experienced guru or join a backcountry camp or study group. Fortunately, every year in Russia there are more and more such opportunities. Avalanche safety and first aid courses to help you.

And you can have fun without straining within one day, taking skis from a friend to understand what's what. Where do many start?

So, what fundamentally distinguishes a ski tour from climbing a herringbone or a ladder? This is a special equipment that allows you to ski up the slope at angles up to 45%.

How does this happen?

Camus

The main quality that allows you to go uphill is skis that do not slip on the snow. The task is directly opposite to the purpose of the ski - maximum glide. For this, skins are glued to the slippery ski. But this is not a natural deer skin. In the Alps, they used the skins of roe deer - small deer. The Eskimos also used the skin of seals and seals. The horse skin was considered the best. In English it was called plush. This word is still used today.

Modern skins are high-tech material. But he retained the retro name - in English, the term kamusa sounds like "skin". And the skin is fixed not “for the rest of your life”, as on “hunting” skis, with shoe studs, but for the time of ascent to the point of descent or ascent in a purely mountaineering style.

The principle of operation of skins is easy to understand by moving along the male bristles - in one direction the hand glides without encountering obstacles (along the wool), in the opposite direction it is felt that it encounters resistance (against the wool). These are hairs that grow with a bias in one direction, lift up, and create resistance. This friction force, which occurs when moving against the wool, keeps the skis on significant slopes (up to 35 or even up to 45 degrees). Until the 70s, natural skins were sewn to a strong fabric - the base, and that was already fixed on the ski by all sorts of tricky methods.

The appearance of synthetic skins has greatly facilitated the life of ski tourists. They have become lighter, stronger, no longer absorb moisture, it is better to slide.

Now the established classification of skins looks like this:

Mohair, natural alpine goat wool glued to a synthetic base is used. Easy. Excellent glide. Used in racing ski touring, but gets wet and prone to snow sticking. Not very cheap. Usually, it is required before use to use special sprays that eliminate deficiencies. Synthetics - uncompromising nylon and nothing more. Wear resistant. Gives good grip on hills in most situations. 100% hydrophobic. Heavier than mohair. Deshev. Mix - usually the ratio of synthetics to natural wool is 70/30%. It has the advantages and disadvantages of both materials, however, the most popular.

They learned how to stick skins relatively recently - the first successful experiments were embodied in an active remedy in 1968. Although the experiments began in 1930. Before that, they just didn’t come up with anything to fix the skins on the ski! For the most part they were tied with straps. I can imagine what it was like to slide along the traverses on such equipment))). Cunning Swiss warriors thought of drilling the skis through and fixing the skins with screws. Later, a more progressive method of fastening the nose and tail of the ski appeared, replacing all the previous ones.

As soon as the camus is not attached

All ski touring equipment is a struggle of opposites. Also with glue for skins - it must meet the most conflicting requirements:

on the one hand, be sticky enough to stick to the ski base, which has adhesion, in a fairly wide temperature range (up to -40 degrees), on the other hand, the glue should not remain on the surface after skins have been removed, withstand multiple stick/peel cycles, best performance up to half a million times, do not dry out in a wide temperature range -40…+40°C,

And when they were able to find the secret of “unity and struggle of opposites”, glue skins instantly killed all previous developments.

It would seem that the glue has come forever, but ... Now there are skins that do not use an adhesive base. They are held on the toe-heel mount and clamps along the length of the ski. The advantages are obvious - no renewal of the adhesive layer is required, quick installation, the main disadvantage of adhesive skins - sticking together and sticking debris - is defeated. They don't need nets when folded - just tuck them into a backpack. But while glue dominate.

Fasteners for skins. There are several systems. Innovations are constantly coming up. But this is better dealt with in a separate article.

cats

When we say that it is possible to climb slopes up to 40-45 degrees on skins, this does not mean that this can be done always and everywhere. It all depends on the condition of the snow surface. And the average climb angle is about 20-25 degrees. To storm the steeper ones, crampons are needed. They also help out on icy slopes.

Ski touring bindings

Perhaps the most voluminous ski-touring theme. As always, the contradiction is that it is necessary to combine opposites - walking and static descent. The first assumes the mobility of the boot, the second the rigidity of its fixation.

As a result, there are two directions in touring bindings:

models and brands whose fasteners are more adapted for long walking with the possibility of descent, models as close as possible to freeride bindings with the ability to walk.

There is also a third way. These are the so-called adapters - devices that allow you to use conventional alpine bindings for walking. They are not popular, because they significantly increase the weight of the ski-tour set, they are not very convenient. And if the owner of adapters comes to the conclusion that “ski-tour is our everything”, the first thing he does is get rid of adapters in favor of normal ski-touring fasteners.

Skis

Accepted classification:

Sports - waist 64-68 mm, length about 160 cm Light ski tour - waist from 70 mm, length 145-150 cm Classic ski tour (hiking) - waist 72, length 180 Freeride - waist from 74-100 mm, length up to 175 cm

This division is rather conditional and depends on the specific manufacturer.

In Russia, there is a tendency to adapt the skis that the rider is used to for the ski tour. And you can often see skis with a waist over 125 mm.

Boots

There are basically two classes - racing (sports) and unitary. The third way is the usual alpine, chosen by the rider according to the criteria of maximum convenience and comfort.

Ustyugov retained his lead in the Tour de Ski overall standings

The current winner of the stage race became the tenth in the "cutting" for 15 kilometers.

Two-time world champion Sergei Ustyugov continues to lead the Tour de Ski stage race after a 15 km classic time trial.

The day before, the 25-year-old Russian skier won the sprint, and on Sunday he took tenth place, losing 37.1 seconds to the winner Dario Cologna.

News | Cologna won the 15-kilometer "cutting" on the "Tour de Ski", Bolshunov - the fourth

Despite this, Ustyugov retained the first place in the overall standings, in which he is ahead of Colonya by 1.6 seconds. In third place is Alexander Bolshunov, 12.7 seconds back. The top ten also includes Alexei Chervotkin, he has eighth place.

We add that Ustyugov is the current winner of the Tour de Ski.

"Tour de Ski"

Overall standings

1. Sergey Ustyugov (Russia) - 38.05.0

2. Dario Cologna (Switzerland) - +1.6

3. Alexander Bolshunov (Russia) - +12.7

4. Alexey Poltoranin (Kazakhstan) - +22.0…

8. Alexey Chervotkin (Russia) - +49.8

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