What is Ski Cross?

Ski Cross (also known as skier-cross or skier-X) is an electrifying winter sport for athletes and spectators alike. The competition goes like this: four to six* skiers compete head to head in an elimination style format on technically demanding courses, resembling a motocross track only it's down a mountain that's covered in snow & ice. The trick is only the first two competitors to cross the finish line move on to the following round until the final heat determines the winner. But that's not all, to win not only do they have to navigate these downhill man-made and natural rollers, jumps "kickers", high banked turns and tabletops at speeds in excess of 70 km/h, but you have 3-5 other people who want the same thing you do... to finish first. Even though contact is frowned upon you can imagine things get quite heated out there on course. Ski Cross is a high adrenaline sport not only for the athletes, but for the viewers as well. This combination of terrain and format are guaranteed to produce epic thrills and spills making ski cross the perfect spectator sport and a full-on thrill ride for all involved.

*4 skiers in Olympic & World Cup level competition and 6 skiers at the X-Games. Both Men & Women compete, but not mixed.

Come cheer on Canada's newest World Cup & Olympic team! See our events calendar below.

Click Here to see our events calendar.

It's Birth in Canada

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), recognizing it's exciting potential, has inducted Ski Cross into the Olympic Games, where it will make it's debut, as a full medal sport, in Vancouver 2010. Canada, being among the most proactive ski nations, has formed one of the first national organizations for governing Ski Cross. This organization's immediate objective is the achievement of medals in 2010 with the ultimate goal of seeing Ski Cross become a vital discipline in Canadian winter sport.

Our Aim

Our focus is two fold;

One to obtain as many medals as possible on the world cup curcit by providing our national team athletes with a well defined organizational structure comprised of physical training and nutrition programs as well as on-hill training facilities and the best equipment and technology available, the aim is to provide the athlete the freedom to focus and excel in their sport with the least amount of distraction.

Two: To have Ski Cross in Canada grow to one of the most popular winter sports in Canada by;

developing a grass roots or kinder program here in Canada
assisting ROC's (Race Organising Committie's) in hosting Open, FIS, Nor Am and World Cup level events here in Canada
assisting the Canadian Ski Coahcing Federation (CSCF) in developing a Ski Cross module and training
promoting the sport of ski cross in Canada

The Gear and the Brains

We have established a strategic partnership with the Own the Podium project (OTP), a select group of Canada's leading researchers from a diverse cross-section of fields brought together to assist our nation's best athletes by providing the most state of the art technology available. Through this partnership it is our collective goal to place Canada on the top of the podium at the Vancouver Games.

Where it's at

Having recently completed our training camp at Farnham Glacier, in the mountains near Radium, British Columbia, the team is busy hard at work training in weight rooms and on running tracks across Canada with some of the best physical trainers in the nation. For the coming winter Ski Cross will be working with hills across the country to establish training facilities in as many locations as possible. We'll keep you posted as to where you can come out and try your hand at tabletops, banks and rollers.

The Players

The Athletes we have assembled are among the sports best all round talents in the Alpine events. Stanley Hayer, Ashleigh McIvor, Chris Delbosco, Davey Barr, Julia Murray, Brian Bennett, Kelsey Serwa, Dave Duncan and Aleisha Cline are the nation’s best Ski Cross competitors and are ranked among the best in the world. (see our athlete's bios click here).

Behind the Scenes

The President of Canada Ski Cross, Cam Bailey, brings to the table a wealth of skills and knowledge that began with his own race career continuing on to a successful career in business. With our Coaching staff we have also brought together some of the most talented, knowledgeable and respected people in the Alpine sport. Dave Ellis, as the High Performance Director, and Eric Archer as Head Coach, bring a depth of experience that can be traced to the origins of the sport. Willy Raine, former National Alpine Ski Team member and former Olympian enters his second season with the team and continues to bring a keen eye and wide breadth of knowledge to the sport. Brent Kehl, one of our technical coaches, is one of Canada’s top Alpine coaches. With years of race experience, his technical knowledge of the fundamentals of skiing have helped to place many athletes on Canada’s National Alpine Team.

Face Time

We are seeing a great deal of interest in Ski Cross from network sport programmers. As a direct result of the elimination style format the interest in the sport has steadily grown in the last couple of years. Both the ESPN X-Games and the Honda tour have helped to elevate the prominence of the sport and as a result the audience is growing. Last season we made our debute on TV with 8 out of the 10 races being broadcast on Sportsnet on weekend mornings. Team member Stanley Hayer took home the “Face Time” grand prize after winning the 2009 X-Games! World Ranked #2, Chris DelBosco, had an “I Believe” short that received heavy rotation on CTV through out the spring and summer of the past year. Bell Canada is poised to launch a campaign featuring 2009 World Champion, Ashleigh McIvor, on television and in malls across this country. You won’t be able to get your eyes off of The Canadian Ski Cross Team (CSXT) in the coming months as we take the Olympics by storm!

Where We're Going

Looking beyond the games, Ski Cross has the ability to unite the industry to one goal, promote the enjoyment of alpine winter sport. It is our ultimate mandate to see the sport thrive at an international level as well as at the national grassroots and cultivate a renewed public interest in alpine skiing. Working closely with The Honda Tour out of the U.S. our aim is to create a complementary, yet competitive, tour that will bring the festival atmosphere back into the sport while showcasing some of the most extreme and talented athletes on snow.

Media and Events

We envision a series that will focus not only on the larger destination resorts but hold events at many of the smaller feeder hills across the country. Ideally, we would partner this with one of the major music television broadcasters and hold the events close to urban centers to maximize participation. By partnering with a music broadcaster we are able to ensure the festival atmosphere and garner access to an important demographic as well as drive more people to the smaller locations identifying the relevance and importance of smaller ski destinations.

Building a Race of Super Ski Cross Athletes

From an athlete development standpoint, we see the skills of Ski Cross introduced to young athletes at the Nancy Greene level thereby drawing together the skill development of all alpine disciplines under one umbrella and enabling us to maximize our athletic resources. We envision courses set up at hills across Canada accessible to teams and public that will act as a feeder program to the National Teams.

Shout out to the Sponsors

As the interest in Ski Cross grows so does the marketing potential. Areas such as team sponsorship, events and cross promotion all become important and lucrative properties for partners to get their brand out in the public eye. This increased potential to target a large cross section of the audience is an area that we want to offer to prospective partners.

Do you want to learn more?

FIS Wiki Site:

http://wiki.fisski.com/index.php/Overview_of_Ski_Cross

http://wiki.fisski.com/index.php/Ski_Cross_Courses

http://wiki.fisski.com/index.php/Ski_Cross_Glossary

http://wiki.fisski.com/index.php/Ski_Cross_Rules

http://wiki.fisski.com/index.php/FAQ_Ski_Cross_Ski_Suits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skicross

Ski Cross "Terms & Lingo" page:

http://www.ski-cross.ca/Ski-Cross-Terms