Yesterday in Watles, South Tyrol, Italy, two world records were set for biggest air on a hip, both in skiing and snowboarding. The Nine Knights Perfect Hip contest truly did produce perfection as skier David Wise boosted 14.2 meters (nearly 47 feet) out of an 11 meter (33 feet or so) sized hip to crush the record by over 3 meters (9 feet). On the snowboard side, Swiss halfpipe sensation Christian “Hitch” Haller came 11.3 meters off the lip. The Nine Knights event was once strictly a ski-only deal, but the last two years have included snowboarding and it’s worked seamlessly. It’s mostly an expression-session type gathering for film and photography that climaxes in a contest on the final day.
It’s pretty insane how gnarly things are getting, with no end to the progression in sight on both the size of the features and these competitor’s cojones. The bar has been raised, but for how long?
