From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech
Ski Mountaineering is a new sport for the olympics. I have to admit I'd
never heard of it as a competitive sport before this, so I looked into
it. It's what you might imagine - a competitive event combining
cross-country skiing and mountaineering - except it isn't .
While the long-course events are exactly that (crampons and a shovel are required equipment*), The olympic events are 'sprints'. Essentially
running up a course while wearing skis or boots as dictated by the
specific course designationed zoness, then skiing down. The events
generally last less than 5 minutes.
The skis in these events are a telemark-style, but extremely lightweight
- and yes, there is a minimum weigh restriction.
The International Ski Mountaineering Foundation (ISMF) has a 162 page
rulebook (
https://ismf-ski.com/ismf/sport-governance/sport-rules/) , in
which it describes how many layers of clothing should be worn and how
that clothing covers which parts of you body, equipment requirements
that include testing standards, and personal ID (such as a passport)
that must be carried during the event:
"Upper body clothing
Athletes must wear a long-sleeved ski suit or long-sleeved layer,
designed to cover the arms to the wrists. Sleeves may be rolled up but
must still cover the arms up to and including the elbows. This is the compulsory layer
In addition, the following upper-body layers may be required depending
on weather conditions. The ISMF Technical Jury will decide whether each
must be worn, carried in the backpack, or is not required:
reA Additional Layer A (Base Layer):
rCo A body-hugging top (long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or sleeveless).
rCo Sports bras are not accepted as a base layer.
reA Additional Layer B (Outer Layer):
rCo A long-sleeved windbreaker jacket, appropriately sized to fit over
other layers.
Lower body clothing
Athletes must wear ski pants or a ski suit covering the entire length of
the legs. Underwear only is not permitted. This is the compulsory base
layer.
The following lower-body layer may be required depending on weather conditions. The ISMF Technical Jury will decide whether it must be worn, carried in the backpack, or is not required:
reA Outer Layer:
rCo Windbreaker pants made from breathable material, sized to fit over the base layer."
Then they throw in additional restrictions, they can mandate a 3rd
bottom layer, and if so it must be:
"Soft shell double with fleece that fits the athlete well."
In events where a shovel and snow probe are required, there are testing standards published:
"rescue snow probe:
reA Minimum external diameter: 10 mm
reA Minimum total length: 240 cm
reA When loaded without shock with a mass of 3 kg as in figure 1, the
probe should not break or leave permanent deformations and should not go
out of the supports or hooks the supports (with certain models,
the locking system or the metallic point are prominent, and they prevent
the exit of the supports).
- When loaded without shock with a mass of 20 kg as in figure 2,
the probe should not break and the different parts of the probe
shall still fit one inside of the other."
The rules for shovels are even more detailed, including several testing requirements and test jig diagrams.
The rule for identification is
"Passport/National ID card or a copy (in the
backpack or race suit).....If passports/national ID card or a copy is
not part of the compulsory equipment, they must still be accessible
in the start area (teams area)"
For the sprint events such as in the olympics, the required equipment
list is about half of what the long format races are, but still they are required to have the base layer clothing restriction as above.
That's a bit much even for a standards guy like me.....
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