"We can partly thank Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for popularising the Winter Olympics' newest sport, which made its debut amid an unrelenting snowstorm, a touch of mayhem, and no little controversy in Bormio. In 1894, the year after he had killed off Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls, Conan Doyle wrote about his own perilous 15-mile journey across the 8,000-feet high Maienfelder Furka Pass one that involved skiing and mountaineering."
"Imagine it as snow's answer to triathlon. Only it's more chaotic and over in about three minutes. First, the athletes' power-ski up a steep slope. Then their skis are put in a rucksack as they run up a 40m staircase. After more uphill skiing to the top, they change the binding on their skis and whiz downhill to the finish. Athletes embrace it for its purity and romanticism, as the sport harks back to a different era before ski lifts became the norm."
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle undertook a perilous 15-mile journey across the 8,000-feet Maienfelder Furka Pass involving skiing and mountaineering, carrying skis and boots and traversing near-sheer precipices. Skimo (ski mountaineering) debuted at the Winter Olympics in Bormio amid a heavy snowstorm and controversy. Races involve athletes power-skiing uphill, carrying skis in a rucksack while running up a 40m staircase, further uphill skiing, changing bindings, then descending rapidly to the finish. Athletes praise the sport's purity and romanticism as a return to pre-lift skiing. A neutral Russian, Nikita Filippov, won silver behind Spain's Oriol Cardona Coll and expressed regret at not wearing Russian colours.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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