A freeride skier carves his way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 27, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour929175
Typically, when you think of freeride skiing, you envision the great back country with thousands of miles of unmarked trails and a few daring explorer-skiiers (yeah, I just made that term up). But the group of skiiers featured in this photo set from our partners at Reuters, is a whole other set of daring … some may say less daring and more crazy when they see the photos of skiiers flying down a mountain of crushed rocks.
I’m not sure what would inspire this group of skiiers to hike up a steep mountain with loose rocks. I’m pretty certain I could never be compelled to then ski down said mountain. But these guys did, and while I’m not sure if it’ll ever really catch on with the same popularity as snow skiing, this freeride rock skiing did make for some incredible pictures.
What do you think, would you freeride ski on rocks? Or do you think these guys are just so desperate to get the ski season started that they’re just going, snow or not?
A freeride skier carves his way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 27, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour929160
Freeride skiers carve their way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 30, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour932752
Freeride skiers climb up a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 30, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour932718
Freeride skiers carve their way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 30, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour932719
A freeride skier carves his way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 27, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour929171
A freeride skier carves her way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 27, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour929180
Freeride skiers carve their way down a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 30, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour932776
Freeride skiers climb up a steep slope of crushed rocks, in the western Austrian village of Haiming, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Innsbruck, November 30, 2011. DOMINIC EBENBICHLER/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour932699
See more awesome freeride rock skiing pictures back at Newscom.
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Tags: austria, freeride skiing, rocks