Rarely has there been as little snow in the Alps as in this winter. But as disappointing as that may be for the Alpine skiers, it's nevertheless had an unusually positive side effect for skaters: black ice! Because the ice on hundreds of Alpine lakes this winter has not been exposed to or mixed with snow, it features a remarkable glass-clear look that reflects the dark waters below rather than the usual milky white color – a phenomenon that was last observed nearly thirty years ago. Especially in Switzerland, thousands have stormed their way onto the frozen waters even high up in the mountains.
"Ice is the new snow," read a recent headline in the popular Swiss newspaper "Blick".
The Ice Cross Downhill quartet comprising Kilian Braun, Claudio Calouri and Bernhard Küffer of Switzerland as well Marko Adank from Lichtenstein took advantage of the unusual conditions for an extensive training session on Lake Heid in the Lenzerheide ski resort. And when someone like Red Bull Crashed Ice track expert and POV camera pro Calouri is on hand for the workout just before New Year's Eve celebrations, you can be sure there will be something special included. So they brought a chain saw and cut out four blocks of ice out of the frozen lake with the numerals 2 0 1 7 for four ice-block hurdles for their workout.
The athletes tussle, leap and glide around ice-block hurdles on the frozen and picturesque Alpine lake. Photo: Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool.
The sporting new year for the quartet kicks off in less than two weeks with the first Red Bull Crashed Ice race of the season on France's Cote d'Azur in Marseille – another European location without any snow but where there will be a 400-meter long ice track in place for the world's fastest sport on skates.