INTRODUCTION: In the recent years an increase in the number of ski mountaineering performers worldwide can be observed but the research is limited. Tosi et al. (2009) investigated the energy cost of ski mountaineering and showed that it demands more energy than walking and snowshoeing. Voutselas et al. (2005) showed that velocity at VO2max strongly correlates with athletes' uphill skiing velocity. The main aim of the present study was to examine the spatiotemporal characteristics of ski mountaineering during steep uphill. This knowledge could lead to better understanding of performance and thus create more relevant guidelines for athletes' training. METHODS: Eighteen male ski mountaineering athletes (age 28±6.3 yrs, body height 1.76±0.1 m, body mass 67.5±8.9 kg) were videotaped with a digital video camera (JVC, GR-DVL9600) with a sampling rate of 50 Hz, during a steep uphill (22% gradient) at an altitude of 1820 m during the Greek vertical race championship. The recording interval (15 m) was marked with two pairs of parallel poles and the skiing surface was mechanically prepared all along the race track. The air temperature was -6°C. Skiing velocity (SV), cycle rate (CR) and cycle length (CL) were determined according to published literature on the cross-country skiing classic technique (diagonal stride) (Bilodeau, Rundeil, Roy, & Boulay, 1996). Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between SV and CR and CL. RESULTS: SV, CR and CL mean values were 1.24±0.13 m/s, 0.73±0.08 Hz and 1.70±0.15 m, respectively. Skiing velocity was highly correlated with cycle length (r=.742, p<.001) (fig1). There was no significant correlation between skiing velocity and cycle rate. DISCUSSION: Our finding is in strong agreement with several studies of cross-country skiing which concluded that the cycle length was highly positive correlated with maximal performance (Boulay, Rundeil, & King, 1995; Stöggl & Müller, 2009). CONCLUSION: According to our data we encourage athletes and coaches to emphasize on cycle length. This could be achieved by focusing the training on improving gliding. Moreover explosive strength training could be used to improve the propulsive forces to improve cycle length.
© Copyright 2010 Book of Abstracts. 5th International Congress on Science and Skiing, Dec. 14 - 19, 2010, St. Christoph am Arlberg. Published by University of Salzburg, Interfakultärer Fachbereich Sport- und Bewegungswissenschaft/USI. All rights reserved.