Shaun White is the number 1 boarding miracle of our times. He’s won a medal in every X Games since 2002 and took Olympic gold in 2006 and 2010 in the snowboard halfpipe. His first sponsor arrived at the age of 7 and it’s been non-stop since then. The 2010 Olympics was his crowning glory with tricks never seen before in competition. How did he pull it off? Well…
Shaun White's Halfpipe
One of Mr White’s main sponsors is Red Bull. If you weren’t aware of it, Red Bull’s annual marketing budget is a fairly reasonable $900 million. About a million of this was spent building a secret halfpipe solely for Mr White’s Olympic preparations that was named Red Bull Project X.
The halfpipe was built near Silverton, Colorado – renowned for having some of the world’s best powder. Located at 12,000 ft and built in the backwoods, it was only accessible by helicopter or snowmobile and was kept secret from the outside world.
Project X was built in stages. To begin with, it was ascertained that a 30ft depth of snow was needed to create the pipe. A site was found at the bottom of a valley. Over 2 months countless helicopter trips took place, throwing 25lb explosives into snowbanks higher up the mountain, causing avalanches to pile up raw snow at the intended location.
Several Snowcats with enormous shaped blades were driven into the site. Over the course of 7 days they worked day and night to create the halfpipe.
By the end of the project Shaun White had a facility built to his exact specification. Over 190,000 cubic metres of snow had been moved. It was 550 ft in length. The foam pit at the end of the run alone took 300 hours to build, had over 3.5 tons of steel in it and contained 7200 foam blocks.
The result of all this endeavour? Victory, of course. And the pipe itself? Nature has reclaimed it. The mind, and Red Bull’s carbon footprint, boggles.
In these troubled times of Peak Oil and climate change it’s time to start looking at more uses for one of most versatile power sources ever made – you, dear reader. You don’t emit too much CO2, you can be fuelled by everything from rancid eels to fungi and if something breaks it’ll usually grow back. That’s a pretty cool spec list.
Fail
When the oil runs out there are plenty of things we’ll still want to pull off, one of which is flying. Luckily there’s a small band of scientists and enthusiasts out there working to make human-powered flight a reality.
We’re not talking gliding or ballooning, we’re talking taking off and providing forward motion through one’s own toil. Inevitably the earliest attempts at this involved strapping wings onto the arms and flapping away gamely, unfortunately humans would require pectorals the size of beer barrels to keep ourselves in the air.
The archives are littered with questionable achievements in this field. Many an unverified flight took place, others used catapults and cables to gather momentum.
To finally clear the whole thing up the Kremer Prize was created in 1959 by the industrialist Henry Kremer – a pioneer in chipboard and fibreglass. He offered a prize of £50,000 to the first human-powered aircraft to fly a figure of 8 course of nearly a mile at a height of at least 10ft. The stipulations were intended to prove that any winner was a genuinely viable, maneuverable aircraft and not something that could just limp into the air.
The first ever successful human powered flight followed soon after in 1961. The SUMPAC was designed and built at Southampton University. The machine was made from aluminium, spruce, balsa and nylon sheeting and weighed in at just over 60kg. Pedals drove an 8ft propellor. Its best ever flight covered 622 metres at a height of 3.65 metres. It was an amazing achievement, but not enough to win the money.
The Sumpac
After that milestone a variety of contenders appeared. Some were sponsored by aircraft companies, others were private efforts. The maximum distances flown rose to nearly a mile but no one was capable of taking the prize. Mr Kremer increased the winning fund but it wasn’t until 1977 that somebody finally claimed it.
The Gossamer Condor was the machine that pulled off the first controlled flight and won the Kremer Prize. It was a team effort led by aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacReady and piloted by cyclist and hang glider Bryan Allen. The machine was largely made from plastic and aluminium and weighed in at a piffling 32kg. It flew a mile and a half and executed a series of manoeuvres. The plane now hangs in the Smithsonian.
The Gossamer Albatross
You’d think the Gossamer team would be content to rest on their laurels, but the Condor was only the first salvo. The Gossamer Albatross truly upped the ante by crossing the English Channel in 1979. The craft, made from carbon fibre and polystyrene over a stretched plastic skin, made the 22 mile crossing in 2hrs and 49 minutes at an average altitude of 5ft, winning a second Kremer Prize of £100,000.
Since then a variety of other firsts have taken place. The first human powered passenger flight took place in 1984 when the German-built Musculair 1′s pilot carried his 10yr old sister a short distance.
The all-time distance record was set by the MIT Daedalus 88 that flew between the Greek islands Crete and Santorini, a distance of 71 miles over a time of 3hrs and 54 minutes. An Olympic cyclist – Kanellos Kanellopoulos – was recruited for the task. He crashed into the sea 7 metres short of his target after high winds broke the 88′s structure.
What next? There are still several unclaimed Kremer Prizes. £50,000 is up for grabs for the first person to cover 26 miles in under an hour. £100,000 is available for the first person to create an aircraft suited for sporting events in normal weather conditions. A competition is also open to schools for the longest flight duration.
People around the world are still refining designs.
There are hopes that one day human-powered aircraft racing will be an Olympic sport. Perhaps when materials and designs advance further we may all be able to have a go. Have a look at the Kremer Prize page if you have a few ideas yourself.
If you’re the inquisitive type, there could be one more thing scratching away at the back of your mind – what about a human-powered helicopter? You’re still in the right place.
This was the Da Vinci 3, the first human-powered hover. It was built in 1989 by Cal Poly. The flight reached an altitude of 8 inches for 8 seconds.
The Yuri 1
The current record holder is the Yuri 1. It was built in 1994 by Japanese students and upped the record to nearly 20 seconds of hovering.
Think you can do better? The Sikorsky Prize is offering $250,000 for the first machine to stay up for 60 seconds at a height of 3 metres. Now you know what to do with your Sunday.
Car manufacturers have a pretty dire track record when it comes to bicycle design. Their efforts are often overweight, fitted with indifferent components and outrageously priced.
Honda RN01
One honourable exception is Honda with the RN-01 which has to be one of the most dribble-inducing machines ever made.
Honda began by making motorcycles and after a reasonable amount of success in the motor trade they made their very first foray into the bicycle world in 2004 by forming Team G-Cross Honda.
The team signed Greg Minnaar, the 2003 world downhill champion, as the lead rider for their assault on world class downhill races. They brought an F1 level of detail to the proceedings and a budget that ran into the millions.
The bike they used was specially developed by Honda’s motorcycle R&D engineers. The R stood for Racing and the N stood for Natural Force. The 01 signified that it was Honda’s very 1st bike. Every component was custom built. Showa was responsible for the unique suspension, but the main point of interest was the Honda gearbox which was one of the very first on a mountain bike.
RN01 gearbox
The Honda team guarded their secrets zealously. The box was removed and placed in a case after every run and screens were erected around the machine when servicing took place. Not much has since been revealed about the design, it hasn’t emerged elsewhere, but it’s known that by placing the freewheel in the bottom bracket the riders were able to change gear without pedaling.
The RN01 at work
The Honda team had a successful run with over 20 international wins until the plug was pulled in 2007. It was cited that plans for production would never be profitable so there was no more reason to race.
What became of the bikes themselves? As they were prototypes they followed the motor industry protocol of being crushed for liability reasons. As far as we know a couple were gifted to riders, a stolen frame washed up on Ebay minus all the cool components and that’s about it.
Honda is still sitting on the technology they developed. Quel dommage.
The spiderman in question is Dan Osman and this was the climb that made his name. He ascended 400 feet in 4 minutes without a safety rope near Lake Tahoe in the USA.
Dan Osman
Osman was known for pushing the limits. He threw away all aspects of a conventional lifestyle to devote himself to his sport and in the process he came up with a completely new one.
In 1989 he was attempting to place a single bolt in the rock face of an especially difficult move. He fell 50 times whilst roped until he finally managed to secure the bolt. Osman discovered that he found the falls more thrilling than pulling off the climb.
The sport he came up with had a few names – free falling, body hurling, rope jumping – but they all amount to the same thing. A person jumps from a great height attached to a rope. The rope stops your fall before the fatal moment. So far, so bungee. But a bungee rope absorbs the energy of your descent, Osman’s system used a conventional climbing rope which, without careful placement of anchors, pulleys, pre-stretching of the rope and the correct body position, would tear someone to pieces.
Osman performed hundreds of jumps of this type, plunging up to 650 feet at a time. Coaxed by Osman, other people sampled the rush but not many came back for more, it was just too dangerous for them. A young climber was killed trying to carry out a similar jump. His preparations weren’t as fastidious, a rope stretched beyond its intended length and he slammed into a rock wall.
In 1998 Osman arrived in Yosemite intent on making a record-breaking jump. Over the course of a week his jumps became higher and higher – nearly 1000 feet – until his final jump.
He called friends and told them he was ‘going big’. He leapt out into the fading daylight and was killed when his rope snapped. Subsequent investigation revealed that a slight change in the jump angle caused the ropes to rub together and fail.
He left behind a young daughter and a discipline that hardly anyone else dared try.
If you’re a world-famous action sports star then you’re going to need to keep sharpening those skills all the year round.
It’s no good waiting for the next X Games, you have to out there on a drizzly Sunday morning developing the next trick that’ll take the world’s breath away.
When you’ve got the fame and the fortune, you’ve got the money and the land to start playing.
just popping out to the garden for a bit
One of the juicier back yards out there belongs to Bob Burnquist. Burnquist is a skateboarder with plenty of firsts to his name. He was the first to go over a loop ramp with a gap in it. He was the first to loop a full pipe just by building up speed inside it.He triumphed at the 2001 X games on his final run performing tricks that had never been seen before.
a normal day's work
He also decided that skating off into the Grand Canyon would be a fun idea. So he did it.
To keep on top, his back yard sports one of the world’s finest bowls, ramps, loops and something even more special lurks out the back.
Mr Burnquist built one of the world’s largest skate ramps. It’s 8 stories high, longer than a football field and has a 70 foot gap over a stream with trapeze nets to catch you before you drown.
Skaters can reach 55 mph and only a select few have ridden it. Burnquist only rides it with full protection and he’s been known to wear out a set of shoes and gloves in a single session from sliding on the ramp’s surface after a wipeout.
Simply because we’re still in the mood let us have a look at some extra snow machines for the pure hell of it.
You might have spotted Ken Block’s tracked Subaru Impreza STI recently.
Sporting 400 bhp, you won’t find many faster ways of getting the kids to school across the average glacier, however Earth’s polar regions are harbouring stuff that’s plenty stranger.
Mars-1 Humvee
It may look like Arnie’s wet dream, but the Mars-1 Humvee may well help us explore the stars in the future. Built for the Haughton Mars Project this machine functions as a mobile laboratory studying the Haughton impact crater in the Canadian arctic. The crater is being used to develop techniques to investigate Martian geology.
The Mars-1 also doubles as a prototype pressurised Mars rover which will one day serve as a roving home and workspace for four astronauts on extended field trips. It was delivered to the research site by specially trained drivers wearing flotation suits just in case they went through the ice.
Snow Bug
The Snowbug is a Russian-built 6×6 vehicle custom designed by Arctic explorers . Fitted with Peugeot diesel engines they cruise at 25 mph. They can sleep 3 people, be dropped anywhere by parachute and are loaded with the technology to keep their crews oriented and warm in the most extreme conditions. A team of Snowbugs completed the fastest ever land crossing from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole in 2000. Their ultra-low pressure balloon tyres allow them to float on the surface of the snow and also pull the odd cool party trick. See above.
The Terrabus
If you decide to go for a career change in the US Antarctic program, Ivan The Terra bus may well be the first personality you meet on arrival at McMurdo Station. Manufactured by Foremost it can carry up to 56 passengers at 25 mph. Originally designed for tourism, less than ten examples are said to have been built and they’re mainly now used by polar bases. Unquestionably the ultimate choice for that mobile alpine disco.
Overland Train
The LeTourneau TC-497 was developed for the US Army in the late 50s to solve the problem of cargo delivery to areas with no roads. It utilised gas turbine engines driving electric motors in each wheel. Each wheel was steerable but despite that a full length example still had a turning circle of a 1/4 mile, with 10 ft tall tyres and 570 ft long with multiple trailers attached that’s not surprising.
It could accommodate a crew of 6 in comfort over ranges of up to 400 miles. The cruising speed was 20 mph and the carrying capacity was 150 tons. The Overland Train became obsolete before testing even finished as helicopter load capacities increased. A tiny part of the machine lived on as the creator of Bigfoot bought its tyres from a scrapyard.
The train from the rear
Delta 2
Another Antarctic workhorse. The Foremost Delta is used as a bus, a pickup, a truck and anything else that’s needed in marginal conditions across the globe. A quick sniff around reveals a 1981 example can be yours for $85,000. Put those house deposit plans on the backburner.
Antarctic Snow Cruiser
The undisputed crown jewel of icy oddness, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser was the brainchild of Thomas C Poulter. It was billed as the ultimate polar exploration vehicle, allowing the US government to seize tracts of Antarctica in comfort before any other countries could reach them.
Built in six months for a 1939 expedition, the cruiser was bursting with superlatives.
It was 55 feet long, had a range of 5000 miles with room for a crew of five and enough supplies to last them a year. An aeroplane strapped to the roof would supply mapping and photography data. Accommodation consisted of a control cab, kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom and storage space. The wheels were retractable to aid crevasse crossings.
To reach the expedition ship departing for Antarctica in Boston, the cruiser was driven 1000 miles from Gary, Indiana attracting intense media attention all the way.
The cruiser arrived at the Bay of Whales in Antarctica in January 1940 with much excitement. Unfortunately it proved to be hopeless.
The machine was severely underpowered, overheating the electric motors powering its wheels within a few hundred yards. The wheels span uselessly in the snow. The most successful trek was completed in reverse. The snow cruiser was covered over and used as a static shelter.
WW2 caused the cancellation of funding and the cruiser was left to its fate. It was found in the late 40s buried under several feet of snow and found again in 1958 just as it had been left all those years ago. After that it was never seen again. Perhaps it was spirited to the Soviet Union, perhaps it fell to the bottom of the sea.
And the future? Lotus have this offering running around in the Antarctic today.
Powered by biofuels and weighing only 360 kilos, the Concept Ice Vehicle is the last word in low impact exploration. The machine comes with ice penetrating radar to detect crevasses and an exciting spiked foot to ram into the snow to stop in a hurry.
