0209_UK

An Almost independent monthly mAgAzine /februAry 2009

www.redbulletin.com

The world’s toughest skier

Lindsey Vonn

THE COLA FROM RED BULL.

STRONG & NATURAL.

Kola Nut Lemon/Lime Clove

Cardamom Pine Corn Mint

Vanilla Ginger Mace

Coca Leaf

Cinnamon

Galangal

Cocoa Liquorice Orange Mustard Seeds

Natural flavours from plant extracts and natural caffeine from coffee beans.

100% PURE COLA.The cola from Red Bull has a

unique blend of ingredients, all from

100% natural sources. In addition,

it’s the only cola that contains both

the original Kola nut and the Coca leaf.

Its naturally refreshing cola

taste comes from using the right blend

of plant extracts.

What’s more, the cola from

Red Bull contains no phosphoric acid,

no preservatives and no artificial

colours or flavourings.

THE COLA FROM RED BULL.

STRONG & NATURAL.

Kola Nut Lemon/Lime Clove

Cardamom Pine Corn Mint

Vanilla Ginger Mace

Coca Leaf

Cinnamon

Galangal

Cocoa Liquorice Orange Mustard Seeds

Natural flavours from plant extracts and natural caffeine from coffee beans.

100% PURE COLA.The cola from Red Bull has a

unique blend of ingredients, all from

100% natural sources. In addition,

it’s the only cola that contains both

the original Kola nut and the Coca leaf.

Its naturally refreshing cola

taste comes from using the right blend

of plant extracts.

What’s more, the cola from

Red Bull contains no phosphoric acid,

no preservatives and no artificial

colours or flavourings.

RIDER

ANDRE KUHLMANNPHOTO. CREAGER

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Bulletin_276x202.indd 1 1/16/09 1:46:27 PM

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When our photographer Oliver Gast asked cover star Lindsey Vonn to “hang tough” for the camera, she gamely put on her don’t-mess-with- me face... for all of 10 seconds, before breaking into endearing giggles. Our assignment was to interview, film and shoot the toughest of all female skiers for The Red Bulletin, but as you will read (and can see and hear in exclusive footage at www.redbulletin.com), she is gracious, charming and a star for sure, giggles and all.

In this, our winter sports special issue, we bring you a veritable flurry of cold-weather activities, from ice climbing and snow kiting to snow scooting (it’ll make sense when you see it) and adventurer Stefan Glowacz’s remarkable trek across Canada’s Baffin Island.

Moving up, as it were, brings tales of two men, each with unusually tall life stories. Alpine pioneer Riccardo Cassin and Philippe Petit – the man who stunned the world when he walked a tightrope between New York’s World Trade Center skyscrapers – have defied the laws of gravity more times than we’ve had hot croissants for breakfast. (Although for Cassin, a tough-as-teak 100-year-old Italian who has devoured mountain top after mountain top, croissants would be rather on the light side.) We celebrate Cassin’s centenary and Petit’s Twin Towers feat, which provided one of the most enduring images of the 20th century.

Also on the wintry theme, we show you how to avoid avalanches, whether you’re in large mountain ranges such as the Alps, or the smaller but equally insidious peaks of the Scottish Highlands.

Back on lower ground, winter in the UK would be nothing without the world’s greatest rugby tournament, the Six Nations. So we’re delighted to bring you a unique alternative guide to all things oval ball, in homage to a 2009 international season which will peak with the British and Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa.

If that weren’t enough, we’ve interviewed Red Bull Air Race ace Paul Bonhomme, discussed tumbles and falls with mountain bike champion Gee Atherton, been breakdancing in Berlin and clubbing in Munich.

But the final word this month is left to Stephen Bayley, our resident thought-provoking columnist, who muses on the meaning of genius and how best it can be defined. He mentions many other savants, but fails to name himself. Too modest by far, that man.

Look, read and enjoy.

Your editorial teamPS: For much more, go to www.redbulletin.com.

Vonn for the album: Lindsey the cover star

AN ALMOST INDEPENDENT MONTHLY MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2009

WWW.REDBULLETIN.COM

The world’stoughest skier

Lindsey Vonn

snow business

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WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF RED BULLWhat’s inside this month’s issue

10 GALLERYBreathtaking pictures from our world

16 NOW AND NEXTNews and previews from motorsport, to fashion; from paper planes to music

18 HARD & FASTWho’s won what where, and how

19 LUCKY NUMBERS The sum of the parts that make up Red Bull Crashed Ice

21 ME AND MY BODYMountain bike champ Gee Atherton on core strength and the trouble with long fingers

22 WINNING FORMULAGet the drift behind the wheel

25 WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT? Inside the mind of American racing driver Scott Speed

26 KIT BAG Looks familiar – how goggles have changed since explorer Ernest Schackleton’s time

30 PHILIPPE PETITThe remarkable life of the star of the film Man On Wire, and his plans to go one better than his Twin Towers walk

34 THE SNOW QUEENSkiing’s toughest competitor, American World Cup winner Lindsey Vonn, talks speed, stamina and her goal of becoming a champion all-rounder

42 HERO’S HERO MotoGP racer James Toseland on his passion for music and why he worships Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose

44 PIONEERRiccardo Cassin, the Italian climber and father of modern mountaineering has just scaled another peak – he turned 100 last month. We look back at his groundbreakingcareer on the rocks

Heroes

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50 SIX NATIONS RUGBYThink you know everything there is to know about the sport? Arm yourself with answers to the questions you never even thought to ask, to beat all comers in the after-match pub scrum

56 ARCTIC ADVENTURERSFollow extreme climber Stefan Glowacz and his team of explorers as they setout across uncharted territory on Canada’s Baffin island in search of never-before-climbed mountains

62 THE BIG CHILLAs the temperature drops winter sports thrill-seekers set out to find the biggest rush possible – fancy a bit of snow kiting or ice climbing, anyone?

70 FLYING FEETGot a secret passion to breakdance? Then learn from the best. World champi-on crew The Flying Steps show off their new Dance Academy in Berlin

76 HANGAR-7 INTERVIEWHanging out with Red Bull Air Race World Series ace Paul Bonhomme

78 SNOW SAFETY How to avoid an avalanche

81 TRAVEL GUIDEFive top off-the-beaten-track winter sports destinations

82 GET THE LOOK Clamber into the best ice-climbing gear

84 LISTINGS The Red Bull guide to events and happe-nings around the world

88 NIGHTLIFE The best place to dance in Berlin; disco-vering loner band The Late Greats; ta-king on Sheffield with Toddla T

94 A STORY BY SIMON VAN BOOY The New-York based author writes about a very special delivery

96 SATIRE Always smiling, whatever the weather

98 MIND’S EYE Stephen Bayley’s genius revealed

More Body & Mind

Action

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word up!Wisecracks and wisdom from the world of Red Bull and beyond: tell us what you think by emailing [email protected]

“It’s better up here,

eh?”Canadian freeskier Sean Pettit, 16, argues the case for

jumping from choppers in the USA (he's too young).

“unlike jackass, These guys actually are

professionals, but that doesn‘t

mean they got all their marbles,

because they don’t. I am wondering if

these yahoos got any”

“Computer games are written to simulate these scenarios, and we’ve all played. Now I have the

chance to do it in real life!”Australian rookie pilot Matt Hall on being added

to the Red Bull Air Race line-up for 2009.

“It just popped up out of my

head”Robbie Maddison explains the thinking behind his

sensational motorcycle jump in Las Vegas (page 14).

“I think just like the other guys, so why should I be slower

than them?”Everyone is created equal, only new Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Buemi is different (page 16).

“I kept askIng people: ‘are

you sure nobody else has been

through?’” Dakar Rally rider Cyril Despres can’t quite believe his luck on finishing third on a very tough stage.

“We all ThInk We’re InvIncIble”

“I never get afraid. I

always push myself to go

faster and faster’

Discover more about what’s happening in the world of Red Bull at www.redbulletin.com

Johnny Knoxville on Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Circus.

I wanted to tell all the readers who saw me in The Red Bulletin last month (Fear Mountain, Jan 09) I’m now a proud father! On January 8, my fiancée Karen and I welcomed our charming daughter Logann Elizabeth into the world, weighing 6.6lb. World Cup skier Eric Guay, via email

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your magazine. Most first issues are dire, but this was good to read and to look at. Big congratulations!Andrew Swift,via email

Shaun White: What a legend! My skateboard-mad son insisted I take a look through your magazine. Now I know the difference between a frontside and backside melon grab – but the depth and range of the other content kept me reading well into the evening. I look forward to the next issue.Lee Fisher, via email

I just wanted to say how pleasantly surprised I was by the magazine that dropped out of my Independent this morning. Red Bull is involved in some truly insane ventures that I was totally unaware of. Long may it continue! I loved the street football piece. The photography in it was mad. Totally changed my perspective on the game, and I may even be able to stomach watching a whole match with my boyfriend one evening. Although I know Red Bull can’t work miracles.Kirsty Wood, via email

A nice young man with a stack of copies of The Red Bulletin showed up at our youth hostel in Berlin and asked if he could deposit them there. The magazines are already very popular, so we‘re asking for additional copies.Jana Schleske, via email

Karina Hollekim, BASE jumper. One time, her ’chute failed and she broke 25 bones in her legs. She's ok now.

Your Letters

“I’m keeping fit, I’m not going to turn up next

season looking like an ex-footballer”

David Coulthard commenting on his role as one of the new voices of F1 on the BBC.

There goes cover star Lindsey Vonn (page 34).

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BullevardNews, previews and stunning images of sporting achievement and adventure from around the world

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p u e rto m a d ry n–jac o bac c i, a rg e n t i n a

DIESEL POWERIt’s always a long (and dusty) road to victory on the

Dakar Rally, and so it was for Giniel de Villiers in the 2009 race, held in South America for security reasons. The South

African took his diesel-engined Red Bull Volkswagen from third to first in the rally’s latter stages, after early leader

and teammate Carlos Sainz had crashed out. American Mark Miller made it a VW one-two overall as the team

took an amazing 10 out of 13 possible stage wins, finally ending Mitsubishi’s seven-year Dakar winning streak.

See more from the 31st Dakar at www.dakar.com

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RAMPING IT UP Exciting, spectacular, dangerous… and that’s just the casinos. As if Vegas weren’t enough of a thrill, Red Bull New Year No Limits took over the world gaming capital to start 2009 with a bang. Freestyle motocross star Robbie Maddison, quite literally at the top of his game, made the spectacular 100ft-jump at 55mph from a ramp to the top of Paris Las Vegas’ replica Arc de Triomphe in front of 300,000 revellers. He then paused for breath, swung the bike around and made the 60ft drop back to the ramp, lacerating his hand in the process. “I just cheated death again,” he said, matter-of-factly, “but that’s what pushing the limits is all about.”

To see the jump in full, go to www.redbullnewyearnolimits.com

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PULL OUT THE STOPSFor big wave bigwig Jamie Sterling, the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow was hard won, and a long way from the more clement weather conditions of his native Hawaii. Sterling and Tahitian expedition surfer and jet-skier Raimana Van Bostaloer only had daily fi ve-hour windows of daylight during their time in Alaska to reach the waves. It never got above freezing on land, the water was 5°C, and the rain, sleet and snow were constant – until the sun broke through for 20 minutes and Van Boastaloer was able to tow Sterling into the 23ft swell.

Catch more surf like this at www.redbulletin.com

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He’s a skiBASE pioneer.McConkey is a snow sports veteran who has topped many freeskiing tourneys, awards votes, fans’ polls and mountains. In 2003, needing a new challenge, he added a parachute to his kit. “When you ski down a mountain towards a BASE jump, the drop is about 300 times bigger than you would jump off without the parachute. You start accelerating and your adrenaline kicks in. You’re completely focused on what you’re doing and time stands still; then you’re flying off the cliff into space. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

He feels the fear.“I definitely get scared. People who tell you they don’t are lying.”

He’s got Mother to thank.“All I ever wanted to be was a skier. Growing up in Vancouver, my mum made me do after-school activities and I always chose sport as I was good at it. I wasn’t allowed to just go be a loser and smoke pot.”

He says do as I say, not as I do.“I wouldn’t want my daughter to skiBASE. It’s a real danger sport. My wife and I are only having one child; if we were having three or four, then maybe I wouldn’t mind one doing it, as we’d have others spare. I like the idea that my friend, an ex-pro snowboarder, is running with. Having a pro boarder for a dad is the coolest thing ever, so to stop his son wanting to be like him he hasn’t told him anything about it. The boy doesn’t even know and he’s 11 or 12 years old.”

He has hidden talents.“I can snort things through my nose and pull them out of my mouth. Shoelaces and chains and noodles, stuff like that.”

His age isn’t just a number.“I’ve been skiing since I was two, so that would be 37 years now. I’m feeling my age more, and the young pups are getting really good, but it’s too much fun to give up. Why would I ever want to stop skiing? Why would I ever want to stop jumping off stuff with a parachute? I might as well stop breathing.”To win a Shane McConkey Sessions ski jacket worth £400, courtesy of www.sessionsuk.com, log on to www.redbulletin.com

You ReallY ought to Know Something about. . .

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EvEry Shot on targEtSend in your snaps of anything to do with Red Bull – and every one we print will win a prize. Email your digital works of art to:[email protected]

PICTURES OF THE MONTH

houston, USa Not as big as the original Lady Liberty, but certainly as lovely. Ed Schipul, Red Bull Art Of Can

Dubai, UaE “I‘m A Legend” is Michael Turda‘s modest title for his work. Good call: it won first prize... Naim Chidiac, Red Bull Art Of Can

SHANE MCCoNkEy

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Shane McConkey and friends take the quick route down on Baffin Island, Canada

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Racing drivers need to think fast, keep a cool head and be tactically skilled. But if the recent trends in Red Bull motorsport are anything to go by, it helps enormously to be called Sebastian, or a variant thereof.

Scuderio Toro Rosso has announced Sébastien Buemi as its new driver for the 2009 F1 season, and in doing so carries on what is becoming something of a tradition. There is, of course, Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and his 2008 Toro Rosso teammate Sébastian Bourdais, not to mention fi ve times World Rally champion Sébastien Loeb. Before 2007, a Sébastien (or Sebastian with an ‘a’) had never graced an F1 teamsheet. So what’s in a name?

Buemi thinks it’s less the book of baby names and more to do with Toro Rosso’s commitment to bringing new talent to F1 that has spurred the team’s meteoric rise from minnows to race-winning contenders since their fi rst season in 2006. “Toro Rosso is the ideal team with which to start a career as it was set up specifi cally to help young drivers get into F1,” he said, before adding, with a grin, “plus the team saves money not having to change the name on the overalls.”

This startling revelation prompted a scan of 2009’s motorsport listings for the next big name in motorsport: a name beginning with S-e-b. You have to go quite a way down before fi nding plucky Swede Sebastian Hohenthal, who has just earned a drive in the new F1 feeder series of Formula Two racing. So the hand-me-down overalls may need alterations sometime soon. Revelations from the world of revscan be found at www.redbulletin.com

BULL & SEBASTIENThe new guy at F1’s Toro Rosso sounds familiar...

Markt hartmannsdorf, austria No room for my luggage, but hey, who cares?Reinhard Gütl

London, UK It’s at this point one hopes one has left one’s loose change back in one’s locker.Sophie Collet, Red Bull X-Fighters Exhibition

tauplitz, austria Gregor Schlierenzauer (right) gets a bike and trophy after another ski jump win.Andreas Heugstberger

if the recent trends in Red Bull motorsport are anything to go by, it helps enormously to be called Sebastian, or a variant thereof.

Scuderio Toro Rosso has announced Sébastien Buemi as its new driver for the 2009 F1 season, and in doing so carries on what is becoming something of a tradition. There is, of course, Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and his 2008 Toro Rosso teammate Sébastian Bourdais, not to mention fi ve times World Rally champion Sébastien Loeb. Before 2007, a Sébastien (or Sebastian with an ‘a’) had never graced an F1 teamsheet. So what’s in a name?

Buemi thinks it’s less the book of baby names and more to do with Toro Rosso’s commitment to bringing new talent to F1 that has spurred the team’s meteoric rise from minnows to race-winning contenders since their fi rst season in 2006. “Toro Rosso is the ideal team with which to start a career as it was set up specifi cally to help young drivers get into F1,” he said, before adding, with a grin, “plus the team saves money not having to change the name on the overalls.”

This startling revelation prompted a scan of 2009’s motorsport listings for the next big name in motorsport: a name beginning with S-e-b. You have to go quite a way down before fi nding plucky Swede Sebastian Hohenthal, who has just earned a drive in the new F1 feeder series of Formula Two racing. So the hand-me-down overalls may need alterations sometime soon. Revelations from the world of revscan be found at www.redbulletin.com

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HARD & FASTA roll-call of recent winners from around the

world, on land, snow, wheels and feet

Matthias Dandois Delaigue (FRA) is the winner of the Mexican BMX Flatland Championships. The locals hailed the whippet-thin 19-year-old from Paris as the ‘King of Revolución’.

Matthias Dandois Delaigue (FRA) is the winner of the

The Red Bull Juniors captured

the Salzburg Bull as winners of

the indoor football tournament

in Salzburg. The Juniors won in

impressive fashion, notching 10

wins in their 10 games. Top scorer:

18-year-old Stefan Schwab.

Sigi Grabner (AUT) won the giant slalom in Kreischberg, finishing ahead of Simon Shoch (SUI) and Meinhard Erlacher (ITA). It was practically a home victory for the native of Carinthia. “I like this slope. I’ve never finished lower than fifth place here.”

Sigi Grabner (AUT) in Kreischberg, finishing ahead of Simon Shoch (SUI) and Meinhard Erlacher (ITA).

Sigi Grabner (AUT)

Shoch (SUI) and Meinhard Erlacher (ITA). It was practically a home victory for the

Sigi Grabner (AUT) in Kreischberg, finishing ahead of Simon Shoch (SUI) and Meinhard Erlacher (ITA).

captured

the Salzburg Bull as winners of

the indoor football tournament Tony Cairoli (ITA) was crowned Best International Athlete of the Year at the Sport-FilmFestival in Palermo. It was a great honour for the motorcross rider, who had to skip the second half of the season following a bad accident in South Africa.

was crowned Best International Athlete of the Year at the Sport-

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CRASHED ICEThe toughest race on two skates, Red Bull Crashed Ice is Rollerball

without the ball, on ice. Here are the stats that tell the story

Mix speed skating, ice hockey and four-cross with obstacles, jumps and drops, and you have Red Bull Crashed Ice, which first hit the track in 2001. Four competitors hurl themselves down a punishing iceway, with the first two across the line going though to the next round. Amateurs, skating pros and the plain crazy flock to qualifiers each year in their droves, and Crashed Ice has now travelled the globe: in 2009, the finals will be back in the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Canada.

2001

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60

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speeds of up to 60kph on the ice track – that’s as fast as an ostrich – slowing only

for the sudden corners, jumps and obstacles. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em speeds keep the action

tense and the spectators gripped. For information on the Canadian final visit

www.redbullcrashedice.com

A sports cocktail of danger, skill, speed and competition all on a giant ice track is a sure-fire

way to turn a few heads. More are turned each year Crashed Ice takes to the slope as word

spreads. It is estimated that more than 145,000 people worldwide will witness one of the three

Crashed Ice finals in 2009.

Riotous ice speed battles aren’t just for boys. Women will stand blade-to-blade with the guys in the Czech Republic and Switzerland and, as proof of their

growing numbers, a new women’s division has been added to the Canadian finals, with 20 top female skaters battling it out to be crowned ice queen.

It takes 60 huge boxes of crushed ice to create the Canadian track, a total of 46,260kg – enough frozen water to threaten an ‘unsinkable’ ocean liner. A sophisticated cooling system keeps the solids solid, and seven machines are used to make the surface as smooth as possible for the skaters. The result? An entirely frozen 2,700m2 of track, with ice 3cm thick.

It seems logical that there would be a shortage of spectators who are willing to throw themselves down a frozen, obstacle-laden slope in front of thousands of people. But that’s not the case. Hundreds of would-be champions try out every year, but only 120 eventually make the cut to compete in the finals.

120Canada’s bespoke 550m iceway is only 5m wide, so friction is par for the course as four competitors jostle for position. The winner will have to cover more than 2,500m of ice track to take the title.

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60that’s as fast as an ostrich – slowing only

for the sudden corners, jumps and obstacles. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em speeds keep the action

For information on the Canadian final visit

A sports cocktail of danger, skill, speed and competition all on a giant ice track is a sure-fire

way to turn a few heads. More are turned each year Crashed Ice takes to the slope as word

spreads. It is estimated that more than 145,000 people worldwide will witness one of the three

A sophisticated cooling system keeps the solids solid, and seven machines are used to make the surface as smooth as possible for the skaters. The result?

of track, with ice 3cm thick.

It seems logical that there would be a shortage of spectators who are willing to throw themselves down a frozen, obstacle-laden slope in front of thousands of people. But that’s not the case. Hundreds of would-be champions try out every year, but only 120 eventually make the cut to compete in the finals.

120Canada’s bespoke 550m iceway is only 5m wide, so friction is par for the course as four competitors jostle for position. The winner will have to cover more than 2,500m of ice track to take the title.

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With most teenage bands, what starts as a failsafe plan to make the rockingest bunch of tunes ever to blast the church hall inevitably descends into bickering among band members over whether to fl ick fringes over the right or left eye. But what if you could conquer the music world without leaving the comfort of your own bedroom, take the church hall out of the equation and go straight to the big time?

Red Bull Bedroom Jam is an online music festival with no barrier to entry, for fans or acts: bands and solo artists can submit a video of their raw meisterwerk to a website where visitors vote for favourites. Every week for eight weeks, the most popular act is then fi xed up to give a live performance directly

from their homes, fi lmed by a professional camera crew and streamed live online.

With eight acts annointed by public approval, a panel of music industry experts now jumps in for the next stage: deciding which of the acts (lucky losers can be reinstated here) are taken from the virtual world and given a shot at true live performance on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Tour. There will also be the opportunity to play at events such as Camden Crawl and Underage Festival. The only drawback? Entrants have to be 19 or under. It was The Who who fi rst decreed that the kids are alright, and that still stands today.Take your first steps on the road to musical gloryat www.redbullbedroomjam.com

hoME-MaDE JaMForget murdering Livin’ On A Prayer in your rock’n’roll video games, and instead try real lounge-music stardom

BACK IN THE FOLDFrom classroom to world-class: who’ll be ’09’s paper plane champ?

In more than 85 countries right now, qualifying heats are underway for Red Bull Paper Wings 2009, the de facto world championships of foolscap fl ight. Ken Blackburn, world record-breaking paper plane pilot, is the competition’s head judge.

Blackburn’s fl ight time of 27.6s, was achieved after “an hour of custom workout – including giant rubber bands, barbells and 100 sit-ups – then an hour making paper planes, and an hour fl ying, for six days a week for nine months.”

Competitors – who may not need to ‘do a Blackburn’ in preparation – make a plane from one sheet of paper, to be tested for distance, airtime and aerobatics. Only the best will drift into Blackburn’s view at the fi nals in Salzburg’s Hangar-7 in May. So school is useful after all.Get your sheets together atwww.redbullpaperwings.com

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Capri, Italy “Here’s my wife Lesley with a red bull.” Well, it made us laugh, anyway...Bill Franklin

Standach, austria Bernd has always had petrol in his veins. His favourite sports are World Rally and F1.Fritz Dorn

Sillian, austria “I call this jump One Foot, One Can. Unfortunately I landed on two cheeks”.Stävy

Red Bull Bedroom Jam band My Passion at Underage festival, 2008

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He beat James May’s Renault Clio on two wheels, racing through Lisbon for Top Gear, but how does the 23-year-old mountain bike champ really shape up?

GEE ATHERToNme anD mY boDY

b u l l e v a r d

LEFT SHOULDERRed Bull Rampage in Utah is an event where you have to ride the gnarliest line possible down a mountain and you get judged on how big you get. I dropped eight feet onto a narrow goat track that led into a kicker over a series of cliffs that stepped down into a landing. I messed up the fi rst drop and so got fl ung off the next kicker at an awkward angle. I had a big, over the bars crash landing and ragdolled down the slope, dislocating my shoulder. It’s a big injury, because if you’ve dislocated it once it can come out again at any time.

COREAs a mountain biker, all my energy, strength and movement comes from stomach muscles, chest and lower back. That’s what takes the most battering, so that’s what gets worked most: I do a lot of work with the medicine balls in the gym. Also, when you come off at high speed and hit the ground or ragdoll down a slope, hit a tree and just stop dead, having a strong core is really going to protect you. But you can’t always avoid injury. I’ve broken my ribs twice, six ribs on each occasion. Now that was painful, but I had a crash once where I tore all my intercostal muscles. That was real agony. I did it during a one-off event after the season had fi nished, so I wasn’t as physically fi t as normal.

HANDS AND ARMSI’ve got big long fi ngers and I’ve broken them by snagging them on the ground or on the handlebars. Last year I had a crash and pushed my thumb right back and had to get all the ligaments stitched back on. Hands and forearms are among the most important things. On a track like Fort William, in Scotland, it’s a fi ve-minute descent with very rough terrain where all the way down you’re getting a pounding and you have to be able to hold on. The muscles in your arms pump up and your knuckles start to feel like they are cracking. It’s not just a simple fact of hitting the gym for a month, you need to spend time on the bike, getting used to taking hit after hit for a long time.

LEGS AND LUNGS That’s where the road bike comes in. I do three-hour rides, four times a week at a good pace, to build up my stamina. I defi nitely push my body hard, and I think I’m quite lucky to have a responsive body.If I decide I haven’t got enough muscle tone here or there, I can spend a few weeks working on it and I see a benefi t quite quickly. I don’t eat junk, but that’s just because I don’t like it. The main thing for me when we’re training hard is to be able to put enough calories into my body so that I don’t lose muscle mass. Gee hasn’t lost his shirt – we’ve got it. For achance to win it, visit www.redbulletin.com

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As its rear end slides out while the back wheels stay steadfastly sideways to the vehicle’s path, a drifting car like Red Bull Drifting World Champion Rhys Millen’s (left) is a spectacular sight. This can happen with cars that have either rear-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive, and the greater the grip and cornering force of the tyres, the less that skidding will occur. Wet roads, ice or gravel will obviously affect grip and lead to more skidding.

Naturally enough, vehicles need cornering forces to get around corners. The sum of these forces form centripetal force (Fc), which is directed towards the centre of the circle of curvature at that point on the given path. This force depends on mass (m), velocity (v) and radius of the circle (r).

Friction between the tyres and the road surface creates cornering forces. This friction (Ffr) can also be expressed as a formula. It is proportional to the friction coefficient – the higher the coefficient, the more friction. Naturally, cornering forces can never exceed the friction. Thus the formula Fc ≤ Ffr can be applied.

Both expressions can be set as equal to calculate the value of v. One finds that the maximum possible speed, or critical speed, in a curve with a constant radius, depends on the square root of the friction coefficient. In wet and icy conditions, as well as on gravel surfaces, the critical speed is consequently smaller and you have to slow down if you don’t want to slide.

When a slide occurs, only the back wheels actually skid. A sliding vehicle can still be manoeuvred safely by those in the know, because the front wheels can still be controlled. Skidding can be caused by acceleration, by turning the steering wheel sharply in the other direction, or by pulling the handbrake.

Correcting a slide is mainly done with the accelerator. The more throttle you use before the slide, the larger the skidding angle and the smaller the radius of the curve. To compensate, the front wheels have to be turned more sharply.

The driver has the difficult task of manoeuvring such an unstable vehicle by constantly adjusting the throttle and steering so that the vehicle exits the curve in the intended direction – and, if possible, faster than without skidding.For the latest on Rhys Millen and his skid brothers in the Red Bull Drift Team, slide on over to www.redbulldriftteam.comPh

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His car may be on the slide, but his career isn’t: Rhys Millen heads

towards the 2008 Red Bull Drifting title at Long Beach, California

#2: SLIDE SHOW

WINNING FOrMula

When a car gets tail-happy in a corner, the man behind the wheel must obey the laws of the track and the laws of physics to stay in the race. Here’s how it works

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Whiskey and Red Bull? Not together in a glass, but combining for the festival premiere of breakdancing doc Turn It Loose on February 16 at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.

The fi lm, directed by Alastair Siddons, best known for his music videos, charts the progress of six competitors in the 2007 edition of Red Bull BC One, the world’s most prestigious B-Boy battle held in a different country every year.

Uniquely, the event sets 16 B-Boys in competition with one another, rather than in the more established team format (think every hip-hop video you’ve seen with rival crews in a car park basement).

Siddons follows his half-dozen breakers from Senegal, Japan and elsewhere as they make their way to the fi nals in Soweto, in South Africa. As Siddons gets the six to open up, their reasons for taking part become as varied and compelling as the footage of them showcasing their skills on the mat.

The fi lm is on general release in the UK later this year.Find breakers and background infoat www.redbullbcone.com

BREAKING NEWSThe B-Boys are back in town and they’re taking their moves into the movies

There is a reason why the early 1980s were a wasteground for couture: British fashion as we know it didn’t offi cially start until 1984, when the British Fashion Council was founded and a week-long celebration of UK talent was fi rst held in the nation’s capital.

Now on a par with the events in New York, Paris and Milan, London Fashion Week is celebrating its silver anniversary this year and telling us all what to wear next autumn/winter season or, more likely, what to watch for when the high street stores pay ‘homage to the catwalks in a few months’ time.

One of the most anticipated shows (on Monday Feb 23; LFW runs from 20-25) will come from Erdem, a Canadian-born designer who began his career as an intern for Vivienne Westwood. His fi rst collection hit the runway

in 2003, and since winning the coveted British Fashion Council Enterprise Award in 2007, he has been thrust into the spotlight and can now count Keira Knightley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Thandie Newton among his fi rm fans.

The day before Erdem makes his mark, two other shows are expected to cause a commotion: the debut catwalk turn from Sienna and Savannah Miller’s new label, Twenty8Twelve, and the new collection from progressive Scottish designer Christopher Kane. Kane – like Erdem, a friend of Red Bull – was praised for his spring collection last September, which he said was inspired by Planet Of The Apes and The Flintstones. Your favourite jumper will fade into memory like that.Get dressed for success and watch catwalkhighlights at www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

NEW MODEL ARMYYou’ll look at your wardrobe that little bit more wistfully when London Fashion Week kicks in

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Westwood. His fi rst collection hit the runway Get dressed for success and watch catwalkhighlights at www.londonfashionweek.co.ukhighlights at www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

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Westwood. His fi rst collection hit the runway Westwood. His fi rst collection hit the runway

L-R: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Erdem,

Christopher Kane, Keira Knightley and

Thandie Newton

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SCOTT SPEEDOnce of F1’s Toro Rosso, now back in the USA in NASCAR, racing’s best-named driver thinks highly of revenge, women’s clothes and purple

EASY PICK-UPSpeed comes from a Deep South racing tradition

that grew out of good ol’ boys running illegal whiskey

and moonshine across state lines in jacked-up cars

with tuned V8 engines to get away from the police.

Yes, last year he raced pick-up trucks – the world’s

only championship that carries penalties for losing

your hunting hound from the truck bed. Apparently.

rEvEngE IS SErvEdBefore NASCAR, Speed entered the last race

of a lower-level 2008 stock car series in first

place. When the second-placed driver caused

him to spin out of contention for the title,

Speed recovered and later took out his rival

(neither won the title). But some fans still

regard him with suspicion for living in Europe

and for occasionally painting his toenails.

nO TrASHY TrAILEr“My motorhome is fricking amazing!” says

Speed of the trailer he lives in during race

weeks (it gives him something in common

with many of his fans, perhaps). He wasn’t

fond of the one he used in Europe: its dodgy electrics used to fail, leaving him

without lights or a flushing toilet.

SUrE TALKS FUnnYThe US racing media reckon

Speed talks “with a European accent”. Europe? That’s a city

near Scotland, right? They regard him with the same suspicion they

would afford fictional French racer Jean Girard, the nemesis of Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights. Speed’s favourite film character is in fact Tony Montana, played

by Al Pacino in Scarface.

TOM, nOT HEnrYPlenty of NASCAR fans wear Ford caps out of loyalty to their favourite line of pick-up trucks, but Speed’s favourite designer is Gucci saviour Tom Ford: “My perfect shirt size is women’s large.” With comments like that, no wonder his advice to supporters is, “Don’t let the other fans push you around.”

A PUrPLE PATCHWith almost 40 weeks of the year spent

racing, Scott doesn’t see much of his house in Charlotte, but he’s still found time to decorate his home, painting his walls purple. “It’s the colour of royalty and intellectuals, and I like it,” he says,

disproving the idea that Americans don’t have a sense of irony.

gUTSY PErFOrMErAmong Speed’s racing kit is a rubber wristband

with the motto ‘Got Guts’. It’s not a claim to bravery, but shows his support for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. Ulcerative

colitis nearly put an end to his sporting career, but he’s better now.

dITCHIng THE FOrMULAA Formula One comeback is not

on Speed’s agenda: he finds NASCAR much more fun: “You can go from being a lap down to being a lucky dog and bringing it back to the front. You can recover if

something bad happens in a race, which never happens in F1.” With

regular crowds of 200,000, it seems NASCAR fans agree.

HIT THE dECKHaving recently turned his hand to DJing,

installing his own decks at home (dangerously

close to his wet room), Speed now drops an

eclectic mix spanning the likes of Placebo,

Lupe Fiasco and TI. This is no fad: he’s taken

lessons with US platter-spinner DJ Irie, and

attended the Winter Music Conference in Miami.

FIT FOr PUrPOSESpeed’s manager used to be

a pro cyclist, so bikes have always been part of his

charge’s fitness regime. He’s now added pounding

the pavement to the training programme, which could

explain Speed’s huge collection of Puma trainers.

His time in the Austrian mountains has given him

a love of climbing, and he also plays a mean round of golf.

BLUE TUBESpeed’s been a regular

on YouTube, but not always for the right reasons: he

can be seen telling his bemused Italian Formula

One teammate that he had a “huge boner last

night” and showcasing his awful chat-up technique.

For more Speed ways, see www.redbullracingusa.com

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“DIFFICULTIES are just things to overcome, after all,” said Ernest Shackleton. He proved it when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice on the Weddell Sea during his 1915 attempt to be the first to cross the Antarctic. Dreams were put

aside as the explorer desperately tried to save his crew from an icy grave. These are the goggles he wore for the 800-mile open rowing-boat journey back through freezing waters that eventually led to the rescue of the entire 28-man crew without

a fatality. This eyewear was state-of-the-art in its day, and may have helped save the crew’s lives. The frames were constructed from wire gauze, while the lenses were made of green glass to cut out glare from the sun. On returning in

May 1916, after a 20-month ordeal, Shackleton gave the goggles as a present to a member of a Norwegian whaling crew for his assistance in rescuing him and his men.Learn more about Shackleton’sexpeditions at www.spri.cam.ac.uk

ERNEST SHACKLETONSOUTH ATLANTIC, 1915-16

Cutting-edge optic protection for frozen explorers past and present

SIGHT FOR SORE EYESKIT EVOLUTION

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“TO SURVIVE in remote regions it is essential to use the best and most modern equipment you can get.” So says German free-climber and polar adventurer Stefan Glowacz, who recently led an expedition to Baffin Island off the east coast of Canada

(see page 56). His party was the first to scale the 2,300ft cliffs that lie at the end of a 250-mile round trek through deserted ice fields. Stefan used these Scott 89Xi goggles to shield his eyes from the wind and the glare from sunlight

reflecting off the snow. The goggles are optically engineered to filter out 100 per cent of UVA, UVB and – most dangerous of all – UVC rays. An air-control system keeps the wearer’s face cool while patented anti-fog lenses ensure condensation isn’t

a problem. Water-absorbing foam actually draws moisture away from the lenses, while the goggles are designed to fit seamlessly with most brands of protective headgear.For more, go to www.redbull.comand search for ‘stefan glowacz’

STEFAN GLOWACZBAFFIN ISLAND, 2008

B U L L E V A R D

Philippe Petit page 30 Lindsey Vonn page 34 James Toseland page 42 Riccardo Cassin page 44

Extraordinary people come in many guisesHeroes

American Lindsey Vonn, the toughest skier you’ll find on a slope anywhere

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month, and its success since its cinema release in summer 2008, and more recently on DVD, may help Petit to find funding for his next big project – after decades of planning, he hopes finally to wander at will above the grand canyon. In case this doesn’t happen, he has an alternative route in mind on the other side of the world, stretching his rope from Sydney Opera House to Sydney Harbour Bridge – slightly less logistically difficult perhaps, but hardly what you would call easy, either.

ever since he was a little boy, Petit’s anarchic spirit has ordered him to break every bourgeois rule. He was expelled from school five times and found children of his own age unbearably boring and hostile. He disappeared into solitude, slept alongside horses in their stable instead of his own bedroom, and taught himself to perform magic tricks. Finding he had a gift for sleight of hand, Petit became a gifted pickpocket, and choosing his teachers as victims was the primary cause of his exclusions from school. He claims that he can steal someone’s tie or glasses without being noticed, but today he always returns stolen wallets and jewels before his victims even realise they’re gone.

As a street artist, unicyclist, juggler and illusionist, Petit has ignored every rule created to keep people like him away from pedestrian zones and market squares, but only towards the end of his adolescence did he discover the way to escape the narrow-mindedness of civilisation that would make him famous. By 1966, Petit had already left school after refusing to take even the most basic exams in literacy and numeracy, and had been emancipated by his parents on his 17th birthday, but it was on his 18th that his brother Alain showed him a book on the high-wire artist rudolf Omankowsky. “Immediately, I understood that I had to learn how to walk the wire,” Petit says. “All my doubts, all the time that I spent on learning how to draw, paint, juggle, steal, burglarise, all the energy I wasted on running away – all of a sudden,

Philippe Petit lives in a brown wooden house on the edge of the forest near Woodstock, New york. Snow is falling, and during times like this when the weather doesn’t allow him to walk the high-wire in his garden, Petit stands on the veranda, observing nature. As the sky and the ground take on the same milky colour, his eyes follow a confused-looking rabbit hopping through the cold garden.

Petit claims to have a criminal mind, and it’s true that he’s been arrested often enough to know prison cells from Sydney to Paris inside out. But he’s the kind of troublemaker who can still feel empathy for a freezing rabbit, simply because the animal is unable to escape the cold ground the way Petit does when he balances on a rope hundreds of metres up in the air. He spans a rope over a canyon, or between two skyscrapers, and dances on it for a couple of minutes, or sometimes hours. The world is his oyster until the frustration and boredom of daily life vanish from his mind, or until the audience applauds – or the police handcuff him.

That’s how it was on the morning of August 7, 1974, when Petit accomplished his most audacious manoeuvre. Attaching a rope to the opposite corners of the World Trade center’s rooftops in New york, at an altitude of 411m, he performed his act for 45 minutes until he was arrested. By the next morning, he had become an international star. The arresting officer wrote in his statement: “Petit did not just walk the rope. He jumped, he floated, he ran back and forth, he joked. When he recognised us, he laughed and ran back to the middle of the rope. Nobody will ever do something outrageous like that again. I am grateful to have witnessed this event.”

Those who were not as lucky as the NyPD officer can instead relive the events with Man On Wire, the documentary film account of Petit’s masterpiece and the six years it took him to prepare it. This combination of heist movie, slapstick comedy and psychological drama has been shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature award at the Oscars next

NamePhilippe Petit

First illegal high-wire walkJune 6, 1971, Notre Dame, Paris

Finest hourAugust 7, 1974, New York, walking between the twin towers of the World Trade Center

World Trade Center wire statsSteel, 200kg, 43m long, 1.8cm wide, 411m high

Further readingTo Reach the Clouds by Philippe Petit(Faber & Faber)

Thanks to Man On Wire, the film of his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers, the greatest daredevil of our times is planning something even more spectacularWords Lars Jensen

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“ People ask if I have a death wish – that is insulting. I am an artist. I have a wish for life”

they crystallised into the most reduced form of existence: a line. So simple, so pure – on the rope, nobody tells you to finish your dish.”

A year later, Petit won a French government grant for talented jongleurs funambule (tightrope walkers), and Omankowsky offered him a job in his troupe Les Diables Blancs (The White Devils). But the thought of repeating the same choreography night after night bored Petit. “I didn’t want to drown in the bureaucracy of a circus, but invent a new form of theatre in the air,” says Petit. “My arrogance got on my colleagues’ nerves and I had to leave.”

One afternoon in 1971, Petit performed his first illegal high-wire act between the towers of Notre Dame. After serving time in prison, it was in the waiting room at the dentist’s that he opened a magazine and discovered a picture of two giant skyscrapers soon to be built in Manhattan...

Philippe Petit does not look like a 60-year-old high-wire artist. As he walks briskly out of his house, he seems to be at least 10 years younger. He is over six feet tall and massive, and he combs his red hair upwards, which makes his appearance even more striking. Although he has been living in America for more than a quarter of a century, he speaks with a thick French accent. He left his home country in the early 1980s after he decided that people anywhere else in the world would be more friendly and respectful of his work. He has performed live 78 times in his career, but only once since he

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Towards the end of Man On Wire, when Philippe Petit finally starts walking the rope from one Twin Tower to the other, movie audiences’ emotions were stirred and many cinemagoers began to cry. This wasn’t exactly the reaction that director James Marsh had intended to provoke, and he claims he had tried to make people “laugh and wonder”. Known as ‘the art crime of the century’ Petit’s performance was a unique combination of a world-class burglary and the most spectacular ballet performance in the history of mankind. Petit was perhaps less surprised at people’s outbursts, since he thinks of

his high-wire walks as poetry in the sky and is therefore used to people reacting emotionally to his work, and, as he says, the part where he begins the wire walk is “framed by death”, ie its distinct likelihood. It’s a real heart-in-mouth moment. Marsh lets Petit and his collaborators tell their stories and combines these interviews with the breathtaking footage that Petit’s team shot throughout his career. The movie’s understatement amplifies the greatness of its hero’s classical story: against all odds, a man makes his outrageous dream come true. After winning both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Man On Wire went on to capture a further dozen awards. But the honour that has made Marsh prouder than any trophy is the fact that his film was the first ever to achieve a 100 per cent positive rating from the readers of rottentomatoes.com. Who would have thought that the harshest film critics on the web had a taste for poetry in the sky?See more at the official UK film website, www.iconmovies.co.uk/manonwire

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art crime of the century

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Petit walks the line between a church and St Bartholomew’s cathedral in Frankfurt, June 12 1994

Zitat Head:Zitat.Velis exer suscipsusto dion ut loborer ostiniamet in henisse vero exero odigna facipsusto corero

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as he describes it. As a result of his simple argument, and perhaps because of his popularity, all 14 charges against Petit were dropped, as long as he would perform a few free shows in central Park. On that day in August, 1974, Philippe Petit was born for a second time. Instead of a fanatic or an outsider, he was suddenly one of the celebrities that other celebrities wanted to be seen with.

In order to organise the performance on top of the World Trade center, Petit had to enter the site like a spy, with fake ID cards. He stole building maps, recreated uniforms, produced aerial views and broke into elevator shafts. But after the New york gig, none of this was necessary any more, as mayors and companies from every corner of the world begged Petit to visit their cities. Did success deprive his art of one of its central qualities – civil disobedience? “No,” says Petit. “First and foremost, I want to enjoy dancing in the sky. I can easily do so without spending nights afterwards in prison.”

Petit sits in the barn he erected last summer with the help of neighbours, and which he calls “the smallest theatre in the world”. He sometimes invites children in and teaches them to juggle or do card tricks, or steal a wallet. This morning, robert Zemeckis has called from Hollywood. The director of Forrest Gump has told Petit how much he enjoyed Man On Wire and that he would like to turn the story into a new movie. With Tom Hanks in the lead role? “No way,” says the artist. “I will play myself. That’s what I have been doing all my life.”

achieved worldwide fame has he shown off his skills in France – in 1989, during the celebrations for the bicentenary of the republic, he ran up a 700m rope to the second level of the eiffel Tower.

So what is the difference between a high-wire artist who can perform at any height, in any weather, for any duration of time, and a high-wire artist who crashes down when he experiences the slightest breath of wind? Practice. For the past 42 years, Petit has been perfecting his craft for six to seven hours every day. His garden contains a 15m rope on which he can simulate all conditions. Sometimes he asks the neighbours’ kids to shake the wire until he loses balance – but he never does. “I simply cannot fall,” he says, “because I never think about falling. As soon as I stand on the rope, I feel free; the wind becomes my accomplice. When it blows sideways, I lie down. With headwind or tailwind, I just continue. People ask if I have a death wish – that is insulting. I am not an adventurer or a stuntman. I am an artist. I have a wish for life.”

When asked by a New york judge what his intentions were by walking from one tower to the other, he said simply: “When I see three oranges, I juggle. When I see two towers, I span a wire and walk it.” By this time, in autumn 1974, Petit was a folk hero in America. Andy Warhol, robert De Niro and Woody Allen had become his friends, and dozens of companies had offered endorsement deals that could have made Petit a very rich man. He declined because he “dislikes the language of the ad people”,

Clockwise from top left: Petit’s preparation for the walk between the Eiffel Tower and the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, 1989; carrying out that walk, to mark the bicentennial of the French Revolution; on solid ground in New York City, 1980; no falls for Petit at the Great Falls of the Passaic River in New Jersey, 1974

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Under the flowing locks and the all-American good looks beats the heart of pro skiing’s toughest competitor – male or female. And with last season’s World Cup in the bag, she’s aiming even higher for 2009 and beyond

Words Matt Youson Photography Oliver Gast

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NameLindsey Vonn

BornOctober 18, 1984

NicknameThe Don

Favourite musicRap and hip-hop, when she’s working out

Favourite foodKaiserschmarrn, a dessert similar to pancakes

Websitewww.lindseyvonn.com

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T he bar on the slopes of the Gschwandtkopf piste, above the village of seefeld in the Austrian tyrol near innsbruck, is busy with the lunchtime rush. Many of the skiers there for semmelknödel and glühwein fail to recognise the young woman watching television; there are double-takes from those who do. Lindsey Vonn, the 2007/08 skiing World cup winner, is on a break between photoshoot sessions. A few whoops and hollers, aimed at the men’s downhill race on tV, give her away as all-American, although she chats in German with fans. she’s relaxed and affable, with none of the focused intensity seen at the starting gate. in fact, in this christmas-card location, it’s difficult to think of her as the super-competitive, hard-as-nails, elite athlete she most certainly is.

it’s a different story when she pulls on her Us ski team racing gear. the photographer is talking about the need to emphasise “feline cheekbones”, but everything about Vonn has the look of a predatory big cat. Alpine skiing is a power sport and the skintight suit does little to hide the long, lean ropes of muscle.

“the last four or five years i’ve worked really hard on my physical fitness,” she says, “to be as strong as i can. it definitely makes a difference at the bottom of the hill. When i was younger i struggled to make it down some of the really long courses. today it’s totally different; i feel fresh when i come away and i’m analysing my run, rather than thinking about how much my legs hurt – if you can do that all season, it makes a difference. Our year starts in October and ends in March; i won the combined title last year because i skied well from beginning to end. Others maybe struggled to keep their energy high for the entire season, but my physical fitness got me through.”

the 2007/08 season was the one in which Vonn stepped up. Her previous three seasons had netted a respectable seven World cup victories; she would take a further six in

“I won a race last year that others

abandoned halfway. I never get afraid”

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SlopeS, Style and StunnIng SpeedLindsey Vonn’s hugely successful career includes three US championships and 13 World Cup wins... and she’s only 24 years old

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2007/08 and with them the downhill and overall World cup titles. At the time of writing, the 24-year-old is very much the woman to beat, leading the overall standings once again and suggesting as-yet-untapped potential. Previously held in high regard for her record in the speed events of downhill and super-giant slalom [super-g], she began the current season up on the Levi fells in Finnish Lapland with victory in the more technical discipline of slalom.

Becoming a champion all-rounder will, Vonn concedes, require a change of mentality. “slalom and Gs [giant slalom] were where i took a break, but now they’re just as important as downhill and super-g, which means they come with the same expectations and just as much pressure to succeed. suddenly, every race is important. in fact, they’re all my main events now, which is definitely a change – but in a good way.”

she makes light of the demands, but the reality is that few among the truly elite excel across all Alpine disciplines. it has been done in the past, but only by those with exceptional determination – Marc Girardelli, the multi-disciplinary ski prodigy of the ’80s and ’90s, being the most notable example.

the photographer asks Vonn to show some of that in her expression; he gets about 30 seconds of stern, elite-game face before she collapses with the giggles. “i look like an idiot!”

in conversation she’s much better company than your average world-class athlete and far too modest about the discipline and iron self-will required to get to the top. the most she’ll admit is that endless, gruelling hours cycling in the gym “can sometimes seem a bit too much” but even that comes with a positive qualification: “it’s when trainers come in useful: they keep pushing me, and telling me how it will all pay off. And i know they’re right and that keeps me going.”

While she doesn’t necessarily talk the talk, Vonn most definitely walks the walk or, as was the case a week after victory in Finland, limps the limp. A training crash left her hobbling around on crutches; a condition that she didn’t consider sufficiently serious to keep her out of competition a couple of days later in Aspen, where she chiselled through the pain to take fourth in both Gs and slalom.

the bruises come with the territory, she indicates with a wave of the hand, especially when your philosophy of racing is Must Go Faster. today it is this, rather than a professional discipline-bias, that makes Vonn profess her undying love of downhill above all other forms of

Top row, from left: Going strong: Lindsey was on top form during the 2007/08 World Cup and took second place in the super-g in Bormio, Italy, March 2008

Great starts take practice, as here in training for the downhill in Cortina D’ampezzo, Italy, January 2006

It’s all smiles for Austrian Renate Götschl (right) and Lindsey at the World Cup super-g in Cortina, January 2005. Götschl won, Lindsey was second

Second row, from left: Lindsey takes it lying down after finishing second in the slalom at the World Cup in La Molina, Spain, December 2008

What a feeling! Lindsey celebrates during the women’s combined slalom at the World Championships in Bormio, Italy, February 2005

Dancing queens Lindsey and Swede Anja Pärson at the World Cup in Cortina, January 2006

Determined to succeed in the World Cup slalom in Aspen, Colorado, November 2008

Third row, from left: Even champions have their off days. Lindsey’s distressed after crashing into a fence during the World Cup super-g in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, January 2004...

...but she’s on top of the world after winning the World Cup overall downhill title in Bormio, March 2008

Lindsey’s grin shows just how well she’s skiing in downhill training at Lake Louise, Canada, December 2008

Bottom row, from left: Joy at the super-g, which Lindsey won, in San Sicario, Italy, January 2007

Taking to the air during downhill practice for the World Cup, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, March 2008

Podium clebrations after taking third in the World Cup downhill in Cortina, January 2004

A change of pace for Lindsey as she takes first place during the World Cup slalom in Levi, Finland, November 2008

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“I‘ve dreamed about winning the

olympics since I was a little kid”

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racing. “it’s because i love going fast and i like challenging myself to go even faster,” she says.

it’s often suggested that the speed disciplines of Alpine skiing place a lesser emphasis on technical skill and a greater reliance on bravery. Vonn doesn’t entirely agree. “you have to be technically sound when you’re going fast; if you’re not, you’re going to crash. if there is bravery it’s in having the speed, but not thinking about how quickly you’re travelling, or how badly you would hurt yourself if you fell. that sort of thing can get into your head and play tricks on you. you stop trusting the line you’ve chosen and that makes you slow. everyone seems to be into extreme sports now: well, this is the original extreme sport. in downhill i’m going 90mph and getting 40m of air – it’s a lot and it does require courage. the amount of courage depends on the course. i always want to push myself to go faster and somewhere like st Anton [in Austria] certainly needs that sort of approach. Last year i won there. i wasn’t technically as good as i usually am, but i got on with it, whereas others were fearful of the terrain and abandoned halfway down. i excel in conditions like that because i’m never afraid of the course.”

Humility ensures that last statement is swiftly followed by a snort of self-deprecating laughter. “it isn’t always the smartest approach! Last week [at st Moritz] i failed to finish two races in a row. But the world doesn’t end if you have a bad weekend, you pick yourself up, try to learn from what you did wrong and move forward. that’s really the only thing you can do.”

Perhaps the greatest disappointment of Vonn’s career so far came as a result of an early training fall at the turin Winter Olympics, in 2006. One of the pre-event favourites, the incident saw her stretchered off the sestrière course and taken by helicopter to hospital. despite severe bruising to her legs, hip and pelvis, and a lack of familiarity with the course, she returned to race, managed seventh in super-g and eighth in downhill. “if it had been a World cup weekend i wouldn’t have put myself through it. i was in a lot of pain. the fitness test the doctors required was excruciating, but you have to put on a smile and laugh and pretend that it doesn’t hurt at all to get the Ok. i knew my hopes of a medal were probably gone, but you work all your life to get to the Olympics and to have that moment slip by sitting in a hospital bed while your friends are competing would be infinitely worse. At least i tried.”

the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver are looming large. When the Games come around, Vonn will be 25 years old, in theory approaching her prime. “i’ve been waiting to redeem myself since turin and now my work is geared towards ensuring i’m at the right stage in my career to excel in Vancouver. it’s something Americans pay attention to: the World cup doesn’t really

mean much to them, so i’ve got to excel in Vancouver. there’s going to be a lot of pressure and people will expect a lot, but i feel i’ve been through the ups and downs and i’m ready to perform under the spotlight.”

Olympic glory may turn the head of Main street UsA, but what does it mean to Vonn herself? is the lottery of one important event a bigger draw than winning a World cup season? the question raises an eyebrow; she pauses before answering. “the overall World cup title is… coveted. the ski community respects those who have won it and you’re remembered as a really good, all-round ski racer. And that’s what i want to be remembered as: someone who could ski all events. so in the long term, yeah, i think the World cup means more to me. But right now winning the Olympics is something i’ve dreamed about since i was a little kid, and if i want to be someone in the Us, to be remembered as a great athlete, then it’s still something i have to do.”

there’s another break in shooting and Vonn wanders across to sign autographs. she’s endured the photoshoot with good humour, but posing for snapshots and scrawling on helmets is better. “it’s weird, but it’s also really cool that there’s kids waiting to get my autograph. When i was nine i met my hero [Olympic gold- medal winner and fellow World cup downhill champion] Picabo street at an autograph signing. she inspired me to be a racer. Before that, i didn’t take it seriously; after i had a goal. that’s what a role model should be. i’d like to set that sort of example, i don’t want to be famous for partying and whatnot.”

Vonn is already the most decorated American female skier in World cup history. she’s surely entitled to a degree of arrogance and the selfishness, born of the desire to succeed, which characterises champions in many sports, but she doesn’t appear to have either trait. indeed she rubbishes the idea that a champion needs them.

“Look at roger Federer. He’s a magnificent champion, but he manages to be humble and display a genuine desire to give something back. What a great role model. People say you have to be really selfish and egotistical to be number one. i’m trying to prove them wrong. you can succeed without arrogance; you don’t have to win at the expense of being a good person. Obviously you need to take care of yourself, but you don’t have to achieve that by acting like a diva. if being a winner means that you can’t be yourself, then maybe you haven’t won as much as you think.”

Having ascended to the top of the world, the next challenge for Vonn is staying there; but staying there and retaining a healthy sense of perspective is, for a world-class competitor, perhaps the toughest test of all. Go behind the scenes during Lindsey’s cover shoot in the Austrian Alps at www.redbulletin.com

Of all the trophies accrued in Lindsey’s short career, perhaps the most coveted (certainly the strangest) is Olympe the cow. Originally intended as a promotional stunt, a Bart Simpsonesque moment of stubbornness saw Lindsey triumph in Val d’Isère and leave the French resort with an over-sized pet in tow.

“They weren’t actually going to give me the cow. It was a big promotional deal with a cheese company, and after the podium ceremony it was a case of ‘OK, give us the cow back and we’ll write you a cheque.’ I didn’t want a cheque; I’d been given the cow. I wanted to keep the cow. It was confusing, mostly because they didn’t speak much English and I don’t speak French. When my coach worked it all out, they were pretty excited when they realised that I wanted to keep the cow, though I don’t think they’ve offered another as a prize – I guess they don’t want people taking their cows.”

Lindsey’s original cow is now three. “She keeps having babies! Her first calf I named Sunny, the second was born a couple of months ago and I’ve called her Karin – after my sister. They live in Kirchberg, Austria, near where we have our winter training base.

“A friend who runs the local ski club offered to look after Olympe, and now looks after all three. I don’t think he signed up for a herd, but that’s just the way it goes.”

Lindsey talks about her most a-moo-sing prize

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AXL ROSEHero’s Hero

I’m a big music fan, it’s something thatI can understand. I learned to play piano from age seven, so I really look up to great players like Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. I also have a lot of respect for fantastic songwriters like Elton John. But at heart I’m a bit of an old rocker and I’d really like to meet Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses.

Axl’s my all-time icon of rock. He’s a brilliant singer and frontman, particularly in his slimmer, bandana-wearing days of 20 years ago. I’ve always thought he must get the same sort of feeling on stage that I have when the visor comes down at the start of a race. You can be who you want to be. No rules!

I went to see Guns N’ Roses play live in Manchester a couple of years ago, and Axl had a button on stage to talk to the sound guys in the middle of the room. I noticed he kept wandering over and giving the guys a bit of an ear-bashing through this button. After about half an hour he just threw the microphone in the air like he was saying “I’m not putting up with this shit anymore” and walked off stage. It all added to the concert for me, I was happy just to see Axl and watch him throw a classic strop! He came back out and finished the show.

You need that kind of belief in yourself to be a successful athlete too. As I’ve progressed through the ranks of professional sport, the people I’ve come to admire the most are the ones who don’t take second best, the guys who want to win absolutely everything. Guys like Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, and Roger Federer – they are all phenomenal at what they do and it isn’t possible for me to say that one of them is better than the others. To keep facing the crowd and coming back for more means you’re setting yourself up for a fall, as you’re the guy everyone wants to beat. But the people I’ve just mentioned not only come back, they

I really enjoy it because I was born into bikes. My mum’s boyfriend got me into the sport and he loved Guns N’ Roses too, so he got me into rock music at a very young age. The first time I heard of Queen, I was confused as I didn’t realise Elizabeth II was in a rock band too!

Soon I was making a lot of noise on my gran’s piano, I think they got fed up with me not being able to play properly, so they got me lessons. When I got to grade six it was also the same time I got a world championship ride on the motorcycle, so unfortunately I didn’t have time to study or do the last bit as I was travelling around more.

But to be successful at something you enjoy is a great feeling. I won two Superbike World Championships before making the move into MotoGP at the start of this year. By the time I had clinched my second title, I’d developed the bug for winning. The indescribable adrenaline rush becomes very addictive and I can guarantee that every champion in every sport will know what I’m talking about.

Of all the champions I’ve listed, Rossi is the one I know best because we line up on the same grid. He’s a wonderful rider and just very, very fast. After almost 100 career wins there’s no sign of his motivation waning because he’s still quick in all conditions. If you’re near his times, you’re doing a good job.

Schumacher’s record of seven Formula One world championships speaks for itself, but it’s much harder to appreciate what drivers do because you can’t see from the outside what their hands and feet are doing, like you can on a bike. When one of us makes a mistake you see legs and arms everywhere. Luckily I have a helmet over my head so any Axl-style tantrums generally go unnoticed!

I must mention one other guy I’d like to meet: Jon Bon Jovi. He and Axl are true rock legends!www.jamestoseland.com

JAMES TOSELAND’s day job as a MotoGP racer doesn’t quell his passion for music, or lessen his hero worship of Guns N’ Roses’ heartbeat, Axl Rose

come back stronger; they keep getting better and raising the bar higher.

Chasing success in an adrenaline-fuelled sport like bike racing means life can get very hectic. I use music as a way to relax. It’s nice to have something you can come back and switch off to. My favourite Guns N’ Roses song is probably Sweet Child o’ Mine, which we cover in my own rock band, Crash. But as a piano player I’d have to put their classic ballad November Rain up there, too.

Rock’n’roll and motorcycling just go together. The biking industry and the biking world are rock’n’roll-based really. All the leather and classic biker gear go hand-in-hand with bands like Metallica, Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses, of course. It’s got that image hasn’t it? Luckily

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Name William Bruce Rose jr

Born February 6, 1962, Lafayette, Indiana

Would you believe? Church choir gave Axl an early love of singing

Most famous achievement Fronting Guns N’ Roses in their ’80s-’90s pomp

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RICCARDOCASSINThe man widely regarded as the father of modern climbing has just turned 100 years old. We celebrate the life of a groundbreaking and heroic mountaineerWords Peter Popham and Daniele Redaelli

Pioneer

settled into a wheelchair on a sharp but bright January afternoon in the italian alpine town of Lecco, on the shores of Lake como, legendary climber riccardo cassin gazes through 100-year-old eyes at the mountains he was born to conquer.

he is happy that his friends reinhold Messner and Walter Bonatti are nearby to share climbing stories, and the sparkle in their manner hints at a fraternity shared only by those who have known the peril, fear and elation of raw mountain adventure. other accolades and acclaim will mean little to cassin. For the climber’s soul that still burns within that now-frail but once-steel frame will be yearning still to stand, to reach up and to climb once again towards summits in the clouds.

that same spirit, 80 years ago, one day urged cassin to look up from the steaming toil of a Lecco steel mill towards the high peaks in the distance and to consider charting paths through ice and granite that no man had attempted before. it would spur him on through a lifetime of achievement to make him one of italy’s most celebrated figures, as a founding father of modern climbing.

Maybe it was the struggle cassin faced in his early life that imbued him with such rare tenacity and courage. Born in italy’s northern Friuli region, he knew only hardship from a young age, after his father died while working as a miner for the canadian pacific railway in British columbia.

Family difficulties were made worse by the location of his home town, san Vito al tagliamento, on a World War i front line. conflict raged around the family home and aged nine, cassin would strip dead soldiers of whatever he could find, and use it to barter for food for his mother and younger sister.

it was relocation, however, that would reshape his life. spurred on by a need to earn money for his family, cassin travelled to Lecco, aged 18, to work as a blacksmith. Blessed with prodigious natural strength, he took up boxing as a release from daily industrial toil. But the mountains were waiting. three years later they called. inspired, he says, by the beauty of Lake como and its

Gasherbrum IV Base Camp, Karakorum, June 23, 1958. Back row, from left: Giuseppe Oberto, Donato Zeni, Walter Bonatti, Riccardo Cassin, Toni Gobbi. Front row, from left: Bepi De Francesch, Carlo Mauri and Fosco Maraini

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“I always climbed with severity.

That is how the mountain became

my friend”

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surrounding mountains, cassin ventured to grigna, a local mountain that was to become the ‘rock gym’ for so many of Lecco’s ‘spiders’, as he and his climbing friends became known.

“We had no money but a passion for climbing,” he recalls, “so we pitched in five cents each and bought a 50m rope and some carabiners. unfortunately, eight of us had to tie into the rope, so we took turns: two at a time would go up, and then they’d throw the rope down and up went the next two.”

With little money and opportunities to climb snatched only at weekends, cassin and his like-minded friends relied heavily on their passion to haul themselves upwards. “i had to work from Monday to Friday at the steel factory, so i could only climb at the weekend,” he says. “i had no choice but to reach the top before dark, because i had to get back to work the next day. and there weren’t airplanes at the time, just trains, bicycles and lots of walking. so i was already warmed up...”

Warmed up, talented and driven: by 1935 cassin had conquered the north face of the western peak of Lavaredo in the dolomites, beating a rival german group. the feat brought him to international attention as 27 previous attempts by europe’s strongest climbers had failed, and it served to embolden him to greater success. at a time when climbing was far more primitive and hazardous than it is today, cassin blazed previously unimagined trails up many of the most challenging mountains in the world. in 1937, with Vittorio ratti and gino esposito, cassin climbed another new route on the northeast face of pizzo Badile in switzerland. they were joined on the ascent by experienced climbers Mario Molteni and giuseppe Valsecchi, although the descent brought tragedy as Molteni and Valsecchi died from exhaustion in a severe snow storm.

“how did they do it?” writes contemporary climber Jocelyn chavy in his log of climbing pizzo Badile. “no bolts, no climbing shoes. Just sheer willpower and lots of audacity: the will to invent and follow their route right to the apex of this gigantic funnel. the Badile is a gift to the present from the climbers of the 1930s... a masterpiece of modern climbing.”

the tireless cassin was off just a year later to conquer the grandes Jorasses, a spectacular series of summits in the Mont Blanc massif he had first

seen on the day he began to climb. it was on the north face of the grandes Jorasses, in august 1938, that cassin and his two companions conquered the route universally acknowledged as the finest alpine challenge: the Walker spur. Legend records that cassin had only a postcard for reference.

“they knew nothing of the chamonix district,” writes claire engel in Mountaineering in the Alps, “had never been there before, and in a vague fashion asked the hut keeper where the grandes Jorasses were. even more vaguely, the man made a sweeping gesture and said, ‘somewhere there’. he had not recognised the italians and thought the question was a joke. he was greatly surprised when, the next evening, he saw a bivouac light fairly high up the Walker spur...”

here, too, cassin conquered another of the six classic alpine north-face routes. these were the glory years when cassin and his friends opened up many of the most famous slopes in europe. cassin himself made a total of more than 2,500 ascents, of which more than 100 were first ascents. With the simplest equipment, crude ropes, no sleeping bags, hand-made steel pitons (another of cassin’s skills) and no helicopters on hand in case of trouble, he wrote the future of his sport on the sides of these mountains. “i always climbed with severity,” he told reporter Federica Valabrega. “that is how the mountain became my friend.”

inevitably for a man of such chutzpah, cassin was involved in partisan resistance fighting between

Above, from left: Riccardo Cassin, Ugo Tizzoni and Gino Esposito lead a group of climbers who went to greet them, on a descent from the Walker Spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Alps, August 7, 1938

Below left, from left: Vittorio Ratti, Cassin and Esposito at the foot of Pizzo Badile, a week before they conquered its north face, July 4, 1937

Facing page: Cassin, aged 78, topping Pizzo Badile to mark the 50th anniversary of his first ascent, 1987

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1943 and ’45, when war had come to europe again. he was at the head of the irregular units that freed Lecco, after fierce fighting, from the nazi and Fascist troops on april 26 and 27, 1945. he was wounded and later decorated for bravery for leading the climber’s Brigade, although his friend and fellow climber Vittorio ratti was killed beside him.

once hostilities had passed, cassin resumed his mission to take on the world’s toughest mountains. he is considered the first ‘modern’ climber because he led expeditions both in the dolomites and on the granite of the western alps, combining two styles of alpine technique which until then were considered incompatible. in 1953 he was part of italian reconnaissance party on K2 and planned the route which led the italians to conquer, for the first time, that fearsome mountain a year later. But he was excluded from the expedition proper, allegedly because of a heart condition, but more to do with the fractious and incestuous world of elite climbers. “ardito desio, the chief expedition leader, did all he could to leave me at home,” cassin says. “he felt threatened by my experience.”

the disappointment was erased nine years later in 1961, when cassin and a team of younger italians opened a new route to the top of Mount McKinley in alaska, north america’s highest mountain, by way of a ridge previously thought unclimbable. now known as the cassin ridge, and still one of the most important routes up the mountain, its conquest was a major landmark in north american climbing. the whole team reached the top, and were rewarded by a telegram of congratulation from president Kennedy.

cassin’s restless frame was still craving mountain challenges decades after most climbers have wound up their ropes for the last time. in 1969, aged 60, he climbed the western face of the Jirishanca, in the andes, a new route which had repelled many younger climbers. he then began to ease into old age the cassin way, building a mountain equipment business and climbing whenever he could: aged 78 he topped pizzo Badile again and, as the press wasn’t there to see him do it, later that week he did it again. “i’m stubborn,” cassin admits. “What i start i have to finish. i never came down from a mountain without reaching the top.”

Well into his eighties cassin continued to climb mountains and into his nineties he followed a daily regimen of push-ups and sit-ups. he still reads the newspapers every day, without glasses, and follows sport on tV, surrounded by the mountains that were his life’s inspiration.

a true living legend, he remains modest: “i’m no different from anyone else,” he insisted in an interview a couple of years ago. “i’ve got two legs and two arms. the mountains are my love. i’ve always loved them and still do. i’ve lived for them, i’ve given my all to them, and they’ve given me every satisfaction you could have.” Daniele Redaelli is a senior writer on Italy’s gazzetta dello sport newspaper. He has known and climbed with Riccardo Cassin for more than 30 years. For more information on Italy’s incredible climbing centurion, visit www.redbulletin.com

Name Riccardo Cassin

Born January 2, 1909

Original profession Blacksmith

Highest first ascent Mount McKinley, Alaska, 20,320ft

Name set in stone His previously unclimbed route up to Mount McKinley was renamed Cassin Ridge

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ActionAthletes and explorers take to the winter ice and snow, the pitch and the dancefloor

Six Nations rugby page 50 Stefan Glowacz page 56 Winter sports special page 62 B-Boys’ Academy page 70

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Swiss ice-climbing specialist Urs Odermatt hangs tough as he makes his way up a wall in Dachstein ice caves, Austria

The Six Nations is back: arm yourself with post-match pub ammo with our ovalballpedia of crucial info Words Peter Bills

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW aBoUt RUGBY

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1. The game of rugby was born in 1823 at Rugby School, in the English Midlands.

2. The fi rst international was Scotland v England on March 27, 1871, a Monday, at the Edinburgh Academy playing fi elds. Scotland won by a goal and a try to a try.

3. Twickenham is also known as ‘Billy Williams’ cabbage patch’ after the Rugby Football Union member who oversaw the purchase of the market garden on which England’s ground was built.

4. Former New Zealand captain Ian Kirkpatrick was once tackled in the bar of a Dublin hotel by comedian and rugby fanatic Spike Milligan.

5. In 1980 in Paris, for the Five Nations game against France, the name of Ireland fl anker C.C. Tucker was horribly misspelled in the match programme.

6. From 1928 to 1981, a span of 53 years, Scotland beat Wales only once at Cardiff.

JPR Williams: hero of Wales, scourge

of England

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18. In 1986 at Cardiff Arms Park, against Scotland, Welsh fullback Paul Thorburn kicked the longest penalty in Test rugby history: 70yd 8.5in (64.2m).

19. In 1981, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, French captain Jean Pierre Rives played an entire game against Australia with a dislocated collar bone, from a previous game.

20. How men have grown. John Smit, South Africa’s hooker at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, weighs in at just over 250lb. In 1959, British & Irish Lions captain and hooker Ronnie Dawson weighed 179lb.

21. ‘Pillars’ are those players who stand beside a ruck, protecting their side of the breakdown.

22. In former times, players’ numbers were always the other way around in rugby. The fullback, today number 15, wore number 1 and the three-quarters wore numbers 2-5. Half-backs were numbered 6 and 7. The front row wore 8,9 and 10, locks 11 and 12 and the back row 13, 14 and 15.

23. International rugby’s leading try scorer is Daisuke Ohata, a wing and occasional centre for Japan, who has notched 69 in 58 appearances.

24. The Leicester club used to have letters instead of numbers on players’ backs. Their front row was known as the ‘ABC club’.

25. On South Africa’s 1981 tour of New Zealand, anti-apartheid protestors hired a light aircraft and dropped sacks of fl our onto the pitch during the third Test in Auckland. One hit a player.

26. Welsh fullback legend JPR Williams played 11 times against England from 1969 to 1981. Wales won every game.

27. A ‘garryowen’ is a high kick into the air which (in theory) gives the kicker’s colleagues time to collect the ball. So named for the Irish team which pioneered its use.

28. A ‘scissors’ is when a player runs on the diagonal and passes to a teammate who crosses back the other way.

7. When Wales won the Five Nations in 1979, fi rst-choice hooker Bobby Windsor missed the fi nal game against England because he’d been burned by the lime used to mark out the pitch in a club match the previous week.

8. In 1962 at Twickenham, England and Wales drew 0-0. Welsh fullback Kel Coslett missed fi ve penalties, England’s John Willcox missed three.

9. Never ignore those niggling injuries: when Australia hooker Brendan Cannon had a simple shoulder operation in 2007, doctors found he’d been playing with a fractured neck.

10. Line-out forwards tape small rubber wedges onto their thighs to help colleagues lift them.

11. When 2.02m-tall South Africa lock Bakkies Botha is lifted in a line-out, he can catch a ball thrown about 5m in the air.

12. Ireland have only ever won the Grand Slam once, in 1948.

13. After Ireland’s Tony O’Reilly, then head of HJ Heinz in London, was knocked semi-conscious by the English forwards’ boots at Twickenham in 1970, an Irish voice from the crowd was heard to shout, “And yer can kick his feckin’ chauffeur, too.”

14. Jonah Lomu is the record try-scorer in Rugby World Cups, with 15 over two tournaments (1995 and 1999).

15. Centre RB Welsh played for Scotland, outside half Mickey English represented Ireland, RJ French was an England lock and JC Ireland played for Scotland. But at least KJF Scotland played for Scotland.

16. Field Marshal Montgomery, aka Monty, was introduced to the Irish team playing France in Paris in the 1950s. “Montgomery of Alamein,” he said to Mickey English, who retorted: “English of Limerick, how’s yerself?”

17. England were ejected from the Five Nations in 1999 for doing a private deal with a TV company. They backed down and were re-admitted in time to play.

STARS OF THE SIX NATIONS

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Jamie RobertsWalesWhat is your boss like?In a sense, Wales have three: [head coach] Warren Gatland, [defence coach] Shaun Edwards and [attack coach] Rob Howley. They work really well together as a team. Warren is the number one, a straight-talking guy who gets the best out of his players. How we perform as a team is massively down to him. He has installed a very good work ethic: to win, you have to work extremely hard.

Who will be the best player in the 2009 Six Nations?I hope it’s me, but if not, I’d have to say either Wales’ Lee Byrne or Shane Williams. Lee was on fi re for all of 2008; a class act. Not many would bet against Shane ending up player of the tournament again. He is a guy who works extremely hard in the gym and on his game and that shows on the pitch. He’s a magician with the ball in hand.

Who is your rugby hero?I used to play fullback before switching to centre, and Percy Montgomery of South Africa was always a guy I enjoyed watching and respected. He had it all: his kicking, passing and running were topnotch and he was one of the best in world rugby. I gather that, off the pitch, he was also a hell of a nice guy. A good bloke to have as a hero.

Can the Lions beat South Africa? Yes, defi nitely [the Lions tour from May to July this year]. The South Africans are world champions, but with the strength of rugby in Europe now, I see no reason why the Lions can’t go there and get a result, as long as the right squad goes with the right game plan. I think it will be an advantage having Gatland, Edwards and Howley linking up with Ian McGeechan as coaches. I’d just love to be a part of it, but I know there is a lot of work to do before I can even think about that.

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40. In 1972, Scotland and Wales refused to travel to Dublin to play Ireland because of the terrorist threat. When England lost there the following year, captain John Pullin said at the post-match dinner ‘We may not be very good but at least we turn up’. It brought the house down

xx29. Gareth Edwards was stunned by Barry John’s advice at their first training session for Wales, before their debut as a pair in 1968 against England. “Where do you want the ball?” asked Edwards. John replied, “You just chuck it boyo, I’ll catch it.”

30. Between 1964 and 1990, England did not beat Wales once in Cardiff.

31. In 1971, London Welsh had eight full Welsh internationals: Gerald Davies, JPR Williams, John Dawes, Geoff Evans, Mike Roberts, Mervyn Davies, Jim Shanklin and John Taylor.

32. In the 1963 Five Nations match between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield, back when kicking into touch on the full was permitted from anywhere on the field, there were 110 line-outs.

33. Six Nations ref Alan Lewis played cricket for Ireland for 13 seasons, earning 121 caps, which is a national record.

34. One-time England lock Nigel Horton was a Midlands police officer before joining Toulouse and running a bar.

35. In 1982, after England beat France in Paris, prop forward Colin Smart accepted a challenge to drink a bottle of aftershave given to the players as a gift. He was rushed to hospital and needed his stomach pumped.

36. From 1983 until 1994, France played the Welsh 12 times and won every game.

37. Ireland have played New Zealand 22 times and lost 21. In 1973, with the score at 10-10, an Irish kick was taken wide of the posts by a gust of wind.

38. Charlie Faulkner, Bobby Windsor and Graham Price played together in the front row for Wales, Pontypool and the 1977 Lions, and were known as ‘the Viet Gwent’.

39. Current Springbok wing Bryan Habana, who once raced a cheetah for charity, is one of the fastest rugby players ever, clocking an international-class 10.2s for the 100m.

41. New Zealand first played South Africa in 1921 but didn’t win a series in the Republic until 1996.

42. Irish fly-half Jack Kyle had a 100-per-cent drop goal record in Test rugby: he only ever attempted one, in 46 games for Ireland, against Wales in 1955, and it succeeded.

43. The song Swing Low, Sweet Chariot was first sung during the England-Ireland match of 1988. A group of fans from Douai school sang it – their school’s first XV song – whenever England did well, and thus a legend was born.

44. The most points ever scored in a rugby Test match was 155, by Japan against Taiwan in 2002. The Japanese player Kurihara scored a world record 60 points.

45. There are approximately two million registered rugby players worldwide. England has the most, around 650,000, ahead of South Africa and France. Japan is next with 125,000.

46. Ex-BBC TV commentator Bill McLaren was a legend. He once described Irish wing Simon Geoghegan as “like a mad trout up a burn, that wee laddie”.

David Wallace IrelandWhat is your boss like? Declan Kidney has coached me since school, through Munster Schools, Under 20s and then the senior Munster side. He’s not your typical coach: his background is in career guidance and he thinks about things differently in terms of rugby. He appears very calm and quiet, but he has his rare moments. He is a real thinker, and his strength is man management. The main thing is, he is the sort of guy you want to go out and play for.

Who will be the best player in the 2009 Six Nations? Shane Williams will pose a huge challenge to anyone who faces him. But who knows which players are going to come through in this new Six Nations? Luke Fitzgerald of Ireland could be one. Ireland have got a few young backs, such as Keith Earls and Rob Kearney who are both playing well. This year has been huge for Keith and I’m hopeful he’ll really emerge now. He reminds me already of Christian Cullen, the New Zealander who used to play for Munster, in the way he runs. He can tear sides apart.

Who is your rugby hero? As a youngster, Michael Kiernan and Trevor Ringland of Ireland were my favourite players. Michael used to work with my father, so I met him when I was young and started watching him play. Ireland won the Triple Crown in 1982 and 1985, and both Michael and Trevor were in those teams. Michael in particular was a huge icon for me.

Can the Lions beat South Africa? Why not? The last time the Lions went there [in 1997] the South Africans were also world champions as they are now – but we won. It’s a great place to play rugby and will be a hugely enjoyable tour. However, if you start looking that far down the line, you’re putting the cart before the horse. So much rugby has to be played between now and then. Injuries and loss of form can intrude. So you have to concentrate on the here and now.

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Lewis Moody England What is your boss like?Martin Johnson? Well, er, he’s tall. And straight talking... people who don’t know him fi nd him a very intimidating character, but he’s not quite like that to me. He is an imposing fi gure and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He never took a backward step when he played and he is still a bit like that the way he manages. He certainly knows what he wants.

Who will be the best player in the 2009 Six Nations?Martin Castrogiovanni, our Italian prop at Leicester, who was the Guinness Premiership’s Player of the Season in 2006/07. He’s been injured a lot this season, but he’s a quality player and a very imposing fi gure on the pitch. There is a good reason why people respect the Italian scrum so much and he’s a big part of that.

Who is your rugby hero?Will Carling was my schoolboy hero and I met him once at a mini rugby event. But once I moved position to play in the back row, I used to sit in the stand at Welford Road watching Leicester and chant, “Deano, Deano!” Dean Richards was the guy. He was such an icon as a back-row player.

Can the Lions beat South Africa?Absolutely. With the quality of players and the high-quality coaching team they have assembled, I think there is an excellent chance. They are well set to go out there and do a job. But South Africa have been together for a long time, so it will be a tough old tour.

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Lionel NallettFranceWhat is your boss like?Marc Lièvremont is very close to all the players, not least because he played just recently with or against many of us. He is the type of coach who lets you take responsibilities before and during a match. After the game, he would generally prefer a face-to-face explanation, rather than criticising someone in the middle of a video session.

Who will be the best player in the 2009 Six Nations?Welsh wing Shane Williams. He is so unpredictable because he has such fantastic speed in his legs. He is able to put a knife in the back of any opponents at any time. Otherwise, I don’t see anyone already considered as the so-called star of the next tournament.

Who is your rugby hero?I never really had a rugby hero, but I would say that Martin Johnson is the guy I’ve tried to model my game on. He combined physicality and abrasiveness. He was a real leader, a top international player. England really miss him on the fi eld. And despite his tough start as manager of the national team, I am pretty sure he is the type of character who will do well in the future.

Can the Lions beat South Africa?On paper, they can build a real quality squad. The clue will be to fi nd out who plays best together. The other big issue, of course, is the South Africans. Sometimes the Springboks can be very ordinary, sometimes unstoppable. Everything can turn on its head in the space of one Test match, and the Lions have to play three games out there...

47. Welsh teenager Keith Jarrett made a sensational debut for Wales in the 1967 match against England. Jarrett left Monmouth School just before Christmas 1966 and fi rst played international rugby at the age of 18 years, 331 days. His 19 points helped Wales to a 34-21 win.

48. In 1966, when France went to Wales, they had the Boniface brothers, Guy and Andre, in their team. Two years later in Cardiff, they had another pair of brothers: Guy and Lilian Camberabero who were known as ‘The Two Fleas’. Guy was 5ft 6in, Lilian 5ft 4in.

49. In 1920, Birkenhead Park wing W.M. Lowry was presented with his England cap before the game against Wales at Swansea and then withdrawn from the team moments before the start.

50. During the 1982 match between England and Australia at Twickenham, Erica Roe ran onto the fi eld topless. England scrum half Steve Smith interrupted his captain Bill Beaumont’s half-time lecture to say, “Bill, there’s a bird with your backside on her chest just come running onto the pitch.”

51. The fi rst fully sponsored Five Nations international was the Wales v England match in 1983 at Cardiff, supported by British Telecom.

52. Lowly Tonga shocked the rugby world in 1999 when they beat France 20-16 in Nuku’alofa.

53. International rugby players did a variety of day jobs before the sport became professional in 1995. In 1966 when Wales played France, there was a car salesman, metallurgist, fi tter, steelworker and carpenter on the Welsh side and, among the French, a restaurateur, bailiff, insurance agent and a farmer.

54. In 1950, when the British & Irish Lions toured Australia and New Zealand, they took almost a month by sea, via the Panama canal, just to reach Australia.

55. When England won the 1980 Grand Slam, it was their fi rst Championship title for 16 years and their fi rst Slam for 23 years.

56. The Scottish brothers Gavin and Scott Hastings made a sensational international debut in the 1986 home game against France. Gavin scored all 18 points and Scotland won 18-17.

57. One of the greatest of all New Zealand captains, Dave Gallaher, who led the 1905 tourists, was actually an Irishman, who emigrated to New Zealand. He died in 1917, aged 44, fi ghting at Passchendaele in World War I.

58. The historic meeting to form the Rugby Football Union took place at the Pall Mall restaurant in London on January 26, 1871. Thirty-two people attended, representing 21 clubs, and an annual subscription of fi ve shillings each was agreed.

59. In 1959 in the fi rst Test at Dunedin, the British & Irish Lions outscored New Zealand by four tries to nil, but they lost 18-17 thanks to six penalty goals by All Blacks fullback Don Clarke.

60. Wales lost the fi rst two internationals they ever played against Romania, in 1983 in Bucharest and 1988 in Cardiff.

47Keith Jarrett,

schoolboy sensation

excellent chance. They are well set to go out there and do a job. But South Africa have been together for a long time, so it will be a tough old tour.

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one Test match, and the Lions have to play three games out there...

team moments before the start.

between England and Australia at Twickenham, Erica Roe ran onto the fi eld topless. England scrum half Steve Smith interrupted his captain Bill Beaumont’s half-time lecture to say, “Bill, there’s a bird with your backside on her chest just come running onto the pitch.”

Dunedin, the British & Irish Lions outscored New Zealand by four tries to nil, but they lost 18-17 thanks to six penalty goals by All Blacks fullback Don Clarke.

60. Wales lost the internationals they ever played against Romania, in 1983 in Bucharest and 1988 in Cardiff.

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Mauro BergamascoItalyWhat is your boss like? The coach of Italy, Nick Mallett, is very good to work with. I know him from when he coached me at Stade Francais, so he understands me as a player. He has a good relationship with the players and tries to make sure we remain positive. What he also tries to do is choose as many Italian-born players as possible, which is good for our country. Bringing on young Italian rugby players is very important. Maybe our results don’t show it, but we are playing good rugby and improving.

Who will be the best player in the 2009 Six Nations?I hope it will be me! But seriously, there are a lot of great players and the quality is getting higher and higher. I hope the Italian team can fi nd more leaders on the fi eld and therefore, we may have a player who becomes the best of all the teams. Perhaps Martyn Williams of Wales will be the best player. I like him, he is a very good player and I respect how he plays the game. He is very important to the Welsh team.

Who is your rugby hero and why?When I was young, someone said that I was not really big enough – and certainly not tall enough – to be an international rugby player. But then I looked at what Neil Back, like me a loose forward, was doing in the England team. I always took encouragement from Back’s performances. He was small and some coaches said he could not play international rugby. But he proved them wrong and I hope I have done the same thing.

Can the Lions beat South Africa?At this moment in time, South Africa are really, really strong. Maybe they are the best team in the world, so it is going to be very diffi cult for the Lions. They will have a group of good players, of course, but I think to beat South Africa in their own country will be very hard indeed.

70. Rugby was originally played with the same round balls used for soccer. It was only aft er 1870, when Richard Lindon started to make rubber-bladdered balls that wouldn’t stay round did the oval ball become the norm

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61. ‘The Battle of Nantes’ is the name given to the brutal second Test of the 1986 All Blacks tour of France. After being kicked at the bottom of a ruck, New Zealand number 8 Wayne Shelford had three teeth broken. Later, he was kicked in the groin, but played on. It was only after he left the fi eld, after being knocked unconscious late in the match, that he discovered his scrotum had been torn and one of his testicles was hanging out. The physio promptly stitched him up.

62. Italy joined the Five Nations Championship in 2000, making it the Six Nations. They got their fi rst win by beating Scotland 34-20 in Rome that season, and have since gone on to beat the Scots twice more, and win two and draw one against Wales.

63. France were excluded from the Five Nations Championship between 1931 and 1946, initially because of alleged payments to players, and then due to WWII.

64. Welsh international Clem Thomas, who played for his country from 1949 to 1958, was a butcher by trade. Fellow Welshman Cliff Morgan called him, “the only man I knew who took his profession onto the rugby fi eld”.

65. Australia’s 1991 World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer said of his brilliant wing David Campese, “I make it a rule of mine never to interfere with bloody genius.”

66. In their glory era from 1969 to 1979, Wales dominated the Five Nations Championship winning three Grand Slams, seven Championships (one shared) and six Triple Crowns.

67. France fi rst played Wales in 1907/08 but beat them only once up to 1947.

68. The value of a try has been increased from three to fourto the current fi ve points, while the worth of dropped goals was reduced from four points to three in 1948.

69. In 1920, London Scottish forward Charles Usher interrupted his Paris honeymoon to play for Scotland against France at the old Parc des Princes.

71. The 1945/46 New Zealanders were whitewashed on their tour of the UK and Ireland, prompting Fred Allen to say later, “I saw the gallows on the quayside when the ship reached Wellington harbour.”

72. Bizarre: in the programme for the 1967 Wales-England match in Cardiff, under the heading ‘Songs of Wales’, are the words of Waltzing Matilda.

73. RL Seddon, a hooker who won three caps for England in 1887, was captain of the fi rst British Isles touring side to Australia and New Zealand. During the tour, he was drowned while sculling on Australia’s Hunter River.

74. Prop forward Armand Vaquerin from the Beziers club won 26 international caps for France. He killed himself in a game of Russian Roulette at a bar one night in 1993.

75. In 1973, the Five Nations title was shared by every competing country because each one lost both away games and won both its home games. If points difference had counted, as it does today, then Wales would have won outright.

76. Regular capacity at the stadiums currently used for Six Nations games: 82,300 Croke Park, Dublin82,000 Twickenham, London80,000 Stade de France, Paris74,500 Millennium Stad., Cardiff67,800 Murrayfi eld, Edinburgh42,000 Stadio Flaminio, Rome.

77. By tradition, Ireland used to play a Five Nations game in Belfast as well as Dublin each year. The practice ended in 1954.

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Ireland’s (and Oz’s) Brian Smith

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in Cardiff, under the heading ‘Songs of Wales’, are the words

, a hooker who won three caps for England in 1887, was captain of the fi rst British Isles touring side to Australia and New Zealand. During the tour, he was drowned while sculling on

74. Prop forward Armand from the Beziers club

won 26 international caps for France. He killed himself in a game of Russian Roulette at a bar one night in 1993.

the Five Nations

competing country because each one lost both away games and won both its home games. If points difference had counted, as it does today, then Wales

77. By tradition, Ireland used to play a Five Nations game in Belfast as well as Dublin each year. The practice ended in 1954.

Ireland’s (and Oz’s) Brian Smith

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83. When England beat Ireland 20-0 at Twickenham in 1956, Irish lock Tom Reid said to a teammate as they walked off the pitch, “Twenty-nil, and lucky to get the nil”

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What is your boss like?Frank Hadden is quite laid back, and he believes the players on the pitch are the guys that do the job and he empowers them to get on with it. He puts the basic principles in place, but beyond that, players use their talents and make decisions. He is someone who has always got his mind on rugby, always thinking about the game and looking for different ideas. He is a good man, but when guys need a kick up the backside, he gives it to you.

Who will be the best player in the 2009 Six Nations?Shane Williams is always a tough opponent because he has such fast feet and a wealth of experience. Lee Byrne is also a tremendous player at his best. It’s my hope that one of the Scottish lads might grab the award. There are obvious guys like Mike Blair and Euan Murray, but I’d like to see a younger player like Nick De Luca or Ben Cairns come through and do well. Simon Taylor is an outstanding forward, one of the best I have ever played with.

Who is your rugby hero and why?As a youngster, I went to the Hong Kong Sevens in 1996 and saw Jonah Lomu play. He had a big effect on me. His power and pace was a formidable combination. The Australian hooker Jeremy Paul told me that Lomu was the only player who had ever made him doubt himself on a rugby fi eld. I played for Gloucester against Jonah when he was at Cardiff, but he wasn’t at his best at that stage. Nearer home, my grandfather, Bill McLaren, has also been a hero to me. He educated me in the game and, together with my father, there was a lot of rugby knowledge there for me to tap into. I was always grateful for that.

Can the Lions beat South Africa?I think so. My fi rst memory of the Lions was the 1997 tour to South Africa, which was seen as one of the great victories. It is amazing to me how Lions tours pull people together in such a special way, and it will be a massive event for both teams.

Rory LawsonScotland

78. The England team fl ew to Paris for the fi rst time, rather than travelling by boat train, in 1956...

79. ...at which Denis Thatcher, husband of future British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and rugby fanatic, was the England touch judge.

80. In 1922, in the drawn match between England and France, Leicester wing Harold Day kicked two penalties and a late conversion in a pair of borrowed boots which had been slit open at the end to fi t his foot.

81. The fi rst two players ever sent off in international rugby were New Zealanders: Cyril Brownlie, against England in 1925 and Colin Meads, against Scotland in 1967. No All Black has since been dismissed.

82. France is the most ill-disciplined country in Test rugby. They have had 10 players sent off, three more than the next nation on the list – South Africa.

84. Between 1991 and 2005, England won 15 of their 16 matches against Scotland.

85. Western Samoa beat Wales 16-13 at the 1991 World Cup in Cardiff, leading one Welshman to joke, “Good thing we weren’t playing the whole of Samoa.”

86. The best-ever unbeaten run in Test rugby is 23 matches, by New Zealand, from 1987 to 1990.

87. The world’s most capped player is George Gregan of Australia, who played in 139 Tests between 1994 and 2007.

88. The longest Nations tournament was in 1956. It ran from 14 January to 14 April, because the France-England match was postponed in February because of a frozen pitch.

89. In 1952 the England-Ireland match, scheduled for Twickenham on 9 February, was postponed until 29 March due to the death of King George VI on 6 February.

90. In 1975, a world record 104,000 saw the Scotland-Wales match at the old Murrayfi eld, topping the 96,000 who had seen the 1955 South Africa-Lions fi rst Test at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.

91. The fi rst ever substitute in the Five Nations was Scotland’s Ian McCrae, who came on for injured scrum-half Gordon Connell during France-Scotland in 1969.

92. A pre-game row over exactly when it should be performed meant the Haka, the All Blacks’ pre-game wardance, took place in the Millennium Stadium changing rooms in 2006.

93. In the 1995 World Cup match in South Africa, a record three players were sent off in the match between Canada and the hosts: SA’s James Dalton, and Rod Snow and Gareth Rees of Canada.

94. Australian Brian Smith played Test rugby for the Wallabies and Ireland, and is now attack coach of England.

95. Other dual internationals include Diego Dominguez, who played for Argentina and then Italy, and Des Connor, who played 12 Tests for Australia before emigrating to New Zealand in 1960 and later playing a dozen more Tests as an All Black.

96. In 1991, Namibia won a Test match series 2-0 against the touring Ireland in Windhoek.

97. The Calcutta Cup is awarded to the winner of England-Scotland matches. It is made from the silver rupees the Calcutta Club melted down to make a trophy, which they presented to the RFU in 1878. One hundred and ten years later, England’s Dean Richards and Scotland’s John Jeffrey played football with it on Princes Street in Edinburgh.

98. After the 2003 World Cup Final, England’s Jonny Wilkinson missed his country’s next 30 games with a series of injuries.

99. ‘99’ was the signal used by the 1974 British & Irish Lions in South Africa as a warning call for everyone to pile in for a fi ght.Keep abreast of Six Nations andmore at www.planet-rugby.com

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H e r o e s

Five AgAinst the elementsExtreme climbers Stefan Glowacz, 43, and Robert Jasper, 40, along with a film crew of adventure sports all-rounder Holger Heuber, 45, expedition expert Mariusz Hoffmann, 42, and photographer Klaus Fengler, 45, set off across the ice on Baffin Island. Their first goal: to conquer an unclimbed rock face jutting out of the unforgiving terrain in the northeast of the Canadian island. After the climb, they would then head south, battling the elements for a further 20 days to reach their final destination. “For two months we were on the move in a weird, inhospitable world,” recalls Glowacz. “I can’t describe the feeling when we reached our goal. But the feeling at that moment is the reason we set out on new adventures.”

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H e r o e s

Across the greAt divide

Five men set out to find one of the world’s last untouched environments. Reaching their goal would be only half the job, because then comes the hard part: the journey homePhotography Klaus Fengler

snOW limits

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tefan Glowacz, German extreme climber, set out on April 23, 2008, from the small Inuit settlement of Pond Inlet on Baffin Island with a team of four fellow adventurers. Using kites to harness the wind and propel their skis across the ice sheets ahead, they hoped to find that rarest of things on today’s Google-mapped, sat-nav globe: a journey into the unknown.

A couple of days earlier, Glowacz and fellow extreme mountaineer Robert Jasper, plus a film crew (and back-up) of three, had arrived on Baffin Island. It rises out of the north Atlantic to form part of the icy drift between Canada and Greenland. Behind the winding coast lies miles of flat, windswept, sub-zero landscape, blanketed in snow and ice. Head inland, and the flats rise into monolithic spires of rock reaching 2,300ft into the sky.

Baffin Island, a seemingly anonymous footnote on the list of natural wonders, is actually the fifth largest island in the world (Great Britain drags its heels back in ninth place). A population barely scraping 11,000 shows that conditions aren’t favourable. Survival is the byword here, where the elements quickly separate experts from chancers, the living from the dead.

Glowacz and his team knew that Baffin Island contained the purest prize for any adventure climber: the promise of never-before-scaled peaks and the chance to write themselves into the history books.

Rewind just over a decade, and it was during the mid-1990s that the writer and photographer Eugene Fisher flew over Baffin Island and shot previously undiscovered rock faces in pristine surroundings. For Glowacz and Jasper, the idea of opening up a difficult free climbing route for the first time was too tempting to pass up. They knew they had to locate the untapped wilderness that Fisher had captured on his camera: they’d never know what was really there without seeing it for themselves. They had to find that rock.

So after assembling a team whose expertise, strength of character and enthusiasm would be essential when facing down mile upon mile of blindingly barren Arctic Tundra, the Baffin Island crew enlisted the help of Red Bull to provide essential backup and get them to the first leg of their journey. Once on the move, they headed out towards the Querbitter Fjord in search of that ultimate prize towering a kilometre and more into the sky. As the party reached Buchan Gulf, the cliffs that the Inuits call The Bastions began to take shape.

For two weeks they climbed, lived and slept on the rock face. Then, following in Inuit footsteps, they travelled 240km by snowkite and ski back through the deserted landscapes in a southeasterly direction. The expedition ended on June 2 at the small village of Clyde River, the only inhabited place in the region.

On these pages, Klaus Fengler’s photographs and Glowacz’s recollections document the experiences of that journey and the rewards that can only be felt when testing yourself to the limit.

Clinging tO the DReAm For four days the adventurers camped on the rock face itself. “We used fixed ropes in order to get back to base camp until we were halfway up,” says Glowacz. But loose rocks the size of telephone boxes would force us into time-consuming detours and the Arctic temperatures often meant further technical climbing with ropes was the only option open to us. We decided to spend the last four days camping in our portaledges [hanging tents] from the rock face. We were right above the cloud-layer which covered the fjords. Underneath that lay an almost unending expanse of frozen sea; the iceberg formations in the distance looked like the little villages you find back in the Bavarian Alps. Up above the clouds, the rock face heats up so much that we could climb the key pitches freely. One pitch was in the lowest 10th of the difficulty scale, but it’s the hardest that’s ever been climbed on Baffin Island.”

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lOve At FiRst sight The team are humbled by the untouched rock face. “We felt like pioneers. Like explorers. Climbers have never done anything in this area before. When we turned into the Buchan Gulf, we saw The Bastions looming straight out of the surface of the ice for the first time. Rusty iron deposits cut across the rock face halfway up. Above, there was a completely smooth headwall, a perfect line made by a single fissure! None of us had ever before climbed in such an exposed place and the rock took getting used to. Shingle which might have seemed secure could crumble without warning. After an easy free-climbing pitch there’d be a difficult technical section. On the first day we managed two pitches – a modest start but we were happy.”

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DOn’t let them gRinD yOU DOWnThe Bastions have been claimed. But there’s no time to relax. “After 12 days of climbing we reached the summit of ‘our’ rock formation. Once we were up there we had to concede the fact that there were only a few peaks, and some plateaus could be reached from the rear with a simple walk. But as we stood there under a cloudless sky, with jackets open to the warmth, it felt really special. It’s for moments like these that we do what we do; they make up for all the privations, doubts and troubles.” let’s tAlK ABOUt itOn the journey back, talk often turned to polar bears. “At night we’d dream that our camp had been laid waste by polar bears. In the mornings the nylon cord of our polar bear warning fence was pressed into the ground – but the only thing that set off the fence signal was the team stumbling around in the early hours of the morning. Not good: with all of us hyper-nervous and lying in wait with loaded shotguns in their sleeping bags, it wasn’t the time or place for false alarms.”

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At the meRCy OF the WinDWith help from the elements, the crew drag their sleds through the snowy desert towards Clyde River. “It was the same old question every day: would the wind hold so that we could make faster progress with our kites? It took incredible concentration to manoeuvre our sleds, which weighed up to 100kg each, through rifts and snowdrifts several metres high. Sometimes the sun broke through the cloud to bathe the ice formations in a cold, grey-blue light; those were the good days. We glided silently over huge ‘rough ice’ patches. The whistle and hum of our kite ropes were the only things to break the silence. You can accidentally hit treacherous lakes where the depths are impossible to estimate. It’s a test of nerves. On the rock face we knew what we had to do. But we felt like novices trying to survive in the wilds of the Arctic.”

eXhAUsteD AnD elAteD Twenty days after successfully reaching the peak of the climb and 240km after setting off from Pond Inlet, the team reach Clyde River in the east of Baffin Island and the contest between man and nature is settled. “The final days were a lesson in humility. We endured punishing blizzards, rough ice and thawing patches. The wind could whip up into ferocious gales that created dangerous whiteouts as the contours on the ground blurred into a milky mush, but on other days it would die without warning. A kind wind took us to the end of our adventure on our kites at 25mph and we felt the adrenaline rushing through our bodies – as if from the kites to the tips of our toes. We knew we had achieved what no climber had ever achieved before. No scriptwriter could have dreamed up an arrival at Clyde River more magnificent than ours.”

Further frontiering and added adventure (including more amazing pics) is yours to discover at www.redbulletin.com

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FREESTYLESKIINGChris Davenport“Antarctica was the seventh and last continent that I’d conquered on skis. When we arrived last year on our ship Vavilov, we could see from the deck all these amazing slopes just crying out to be skied down for the first time – but not before I’d worked my way up them. It might be old-fashioned, but I believe you really have to earn your mountains, up and down, so I call what I do ‘freestyle-skiing mountaineering’. Antarctica is the windiest, coldest, driest place on earth and that affects the snow. Despite the conditions, we saw very plainly what climate change is doing to the glaciers: the huge, 13,000km² Wilkins shelf is currently breaking up.”

Forget green runs, glühwein and après-ski. Winter sports mentalists prefer ice caves, Arctic wasteland and the friction-free speed rush of racing on ice. We present four of the most adrenaline-fuelled activities on the planet

SEEKERScHiLL

SNOW LIMITS

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ICECLIMBINGUrs Odermatt “Ice climbing is a breathtaking adventure. A pitiful trickle of water in the summer can become the most wonderful fleeting ice-beauty with the help of a few ledges and a drop in temperature. Climbing ice is tricky, because if the ice changes, then everything can change. that means every climb is unique. the main picture (right) shows me climbing in switzerland a day after the World Cup. the ice was perfect, although it would have looked even better without fresh snow. you can tell ice is good if it’s greenish and by the sound it makes when you hack into it with the pick. you can never be 100 per cent safe when ice climbing. It’s always a risk, as I found out last March when an ice stack collapsed under me. the mountain is always bigger than the man.”

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Guillaume Chastagnol“this is geilo, in norway, which explains

the crazy light we had that tuesday in April. you can see from this image what

snow kiting is all about: mountains, snow and you, the complete 3-D experience.

before I took up snow kiting, I spent a decade as a professional snowboarder, winning X games medals and competing

at the olympics. now I have a second career. And even though I’ve twice been

snow kiting world champion, I’m now concentrating on freeriding. there are no

limits. I want to make it clear: I can fly. My life consists of kites, snow, surfing and sex. snow kiting’s a full-time job.”

SNOW KITING

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sFilip Polc “My father first took me snow scooting. he reckoned that as a cross between bMX and snowboarding it would help me get a feel for speed, the skid-point and to survive the winter. As a pro downhill mountain-bike racer in Central europe, I used to have to head south, away from the snow. scooting means I no longer have to. riding free through the countryside is best: powder, bluffs, doing jumps – flat-out! but I also like to get out on the slopes every now and again. Carving turns with the scoot feels like riding a motorbike on track. My speed record of 84mph has been broken – but there’s more to come. (And, just in case you were wondering, there are no brakes on these ‘snow-bMXs’…)”

SNOWSCOOTING

In full flight: the Flying Steps breakdancing crew show off the skills that they aim to pass on in their Berlin dance school

Blabla:Rud magna feugiam corper sequis doloreet ulla conseniam zzrit duis delenibh eugiamet ullan henisci psusci.

Blabla:Rud magna feugiam corper Rud magna feugiam corper Rud magna

sequis doloreet ulla feugiam corper sequis doloreet ulla feugiam corper

conseniam zzrit duis delenibh eugiamet ullan henisci psusci.eugiamet ullan henisci psusci.eugiamet ullan

gets applause and high-fives from 20 or so wannabe B-Boys wearing baggy tracksuit bottoms and white trainers. Woolly hats or thick-padded baseball caps are an optional extra. A short while later, the whole training area is standing on its head, more than 40 legs waggling in the air. The juniors try to match teacher, and Benny watches his pupils in a mirror on the wall. “You’re doing great,” he enthuses, “just don’t get dizzy!”

The Dance Academy run by the Flying Steps is in Berlin’s Tempelhofer Ufer, in

the district of Kreuzberg. ‘Learning from the best’ is the motto here, because the Flying Steps B-Boy crew have come a long way in the world of breakdancing since they formed in 1993. They’ve won scores of national championships and four world titles – more than any other crew. They’ve used success to go global, touring the world with their workshops and shows on skates and treadmills for much of the past 15 years. But a year and a half ago they also got themselves a fixed abode. And it’s in their home

Benny keeps turning and turning on his head, his hands free. When he does a headspin, gravity seems to have been put

on hold. With each rotation, his upper body gives him new momentum, and whereas the public sitting watching him are getting dizzy, this B-Boy just smiles, relaxed, and spins tirelessly on, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. This human spinning top is a member of the Flying Steps, the best breakdancing crew in the world. After his show, he

A C T I O N

Deep down, you’ve always wanted to pop a back-flip, stand on one arm, then spin on your head, haven’t you? This Berlin

dance school will show you howWords Florian Obkircher Photography Marcel Köhler

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secondly because Mikel met like-minded dance dreamers. Together, they formed their first crew. “That’s a vital part of breakdance culture. When things were starting out in New York in the ’70s, B-Boy crews would get together to face off against each other,” Mikel explains.

All of which explains why ‘battle’ is the classic form of breakdance competition. Two crews form a circle and the dancers take it in turns to show what they can do in the middle. DJs mix the beat-heavy instrumental parts of their funk records – the breaks – to give B-Boys a perfect rhythmic sample. In the early days, no jury picked winners; it was the dancers themselves. “But winning wasn’t the goal,” says Mikel. “Most important in a battle was, and still is, co-operation. You push and inspire each other. And even if the battle steps portray beating each other in an almost pantomime-like way, it’s never meant aggressively.”

Violence is not something you’d expect from Mikel – at least, not if appearances are anything to go by. He hides his muscles under an XXL-sized shirt and his baseball cap is pulled down modestly over his pale face. When he talks, though, you can’t miss the sparkle

town that they bring beginners and professionals of all ages a little closer to their magical shape-shifting world.

The professionals monitor (literally)every step of their pupils’ progress. The styles on offer have exotic names, but there’s no foxtrot or tango. Here, it’s urban dance moves: there’s ‘B-Boying’ and ‘popping’, ‘locking new style’, ‘house’ and ‘krumping’. Strange terms for the uninitiated: enough to intimidate or bewilder the rookies? “On the contrary,” says Mikel, a Flying Steps member and dance teacher for 12 years. “We show everyone the differences and give advice on which style would probably be best.”

Mikel, otherwise known as Michael Rosemann, first came into contact with breakdancing in 1990. Watching hip-hop videos on MTV and the film Wildstyle gave him a taste for it, “because it looked so acrobatic, so spectacular”, he recalls. “I taught myself my first moves using videos, standing in front of the mirror in the nursery. But the lack of space meant my parents soon threw me out onto the street with a PVC mat.”

After that, things progressed to his local youth club in Tiergarten, firstly because there was more room and

in this B-Boy’s eyes beneath his cap and glasses. His passion is obvious, too, when he’s working with his youngest pupils. Mikel teaches kids of six and seven. He’s patient enough to show the youngsters simple step sequences, then let them romp around the floor on all fours and play dancing games with them. “You’ve got to progress carefully with the little ones,” he says, “because many of them still aren’t fully in charge of their motor skills. So we introduce them to simple exercises that will prepare them for basic breakdancing moves.”

The teenagers are altogether more ready to rumble. Some of them might not want to do the warm-up, for example. Mikel calls them ‘Kamikaze pilots’ because he knows from his own experience how easily dancing can cause injury if the body’s not ready. Power moves are currently the youth rage – handstands, head-spins, all sorts of quick turns. Whatever moves look the most spectacular or the most powerful are the most popular. And there’s no way to learn the basic steps once they’re beyond the battle and downrock stage, Mikel explains, “or even just to practise their sense of rhythm – because the

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LIL’CENGOne of the biggest talents in the B-Boy world, as he proves in breakdance movie, BC One

VARTANFounded the Flying Steps in 1993

BENNYImmortalised as a character in the Sony PlayStation game, B-Boy

A C T I O N

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DRESS TO KILL

“Styles have changed quite a bit since the ’70s. You don’t see the classic Adidas tracksuit much these days – young dancers wear baggy T-shirts now. They’re more comfortable and they make some moves look more elegant. For the legs it’s jeans or tracksuit bottoms – whatever you feel most comfortable in. Shoe choice is dictated by dance style: for locking, dancers like to wear trainers with a hard sole because they wind over the tips of the toes better, but power-movers prefer light running shoes. Knee- and wrist-protection are indispensable, as is a fat sweatband to pull over your elbows if you’ve grazed them. If you’re spinning on your head, a woolly hat makes things easier. With that little lot, there’s nothing to hold you back.”

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moves mustn’t just look acrobatic. A good B-Boy always moves to the beat.”

One who knows these maxims well is Khaled Chaabi. The 21-year-old signed up to Mikel’s lessons in 2000. Spotting huge talent, Mikel formed the new B-Town Allstars crew with Khaled, and KC-1 – that’s his stage name – is nowa permanent Flying Steps member. Lil’Ceng, otherwise known as Gengis Ademoski, has also made the transition from student to professional. In 2007, the Flying Steps made him one of the team, and this year Lil’Ceng represented Germany at the Red Bull BC One in Paris, where he proceeded to knock out tournament favourite Kid David and reach the semi-finals of the competition. “It’s great to see your pupils outdoing you. Then you know you’ve been doing something right,” says Mikel, proudly.

And Flying Steps isn’t just for boys. Danish dancer Lil’Steph, who’s real name is Stephanie Nguyen, is the new shining star of the urban dance scene. In 2007, she won the world’s most important hip-hop battle, Juste Debout, and she’s definitely started a trend. “Ever since then, more and more girls have been coming to us,” reveals Mikel. “B-Girls

used to be a bit put off by the way the men dominated the scene, but now our man-woman ratio is about 70:30.”

Lil’Steph has also entered the limelight as the singer on the Flying Steps’ latest hit single, Operator. And Dancing, it seems, just isn’t enough for this particular crew. With their music videos and dance shows, they are also trying to attract a public from beyond the scene. From choreography with basketball hoops to tables and treadmills, the Flying Steps are always going forwards. “The ideas are mostly spontaneous,” says Mikel. “After a mammoth Tekken session on PlayStation, we simply imitated the figures’ acrobatic fight moves from the game during training. This ended up turning into the show which made us world champions at the Battle Of The Year in 2000.”

The Flying Steps have even taken on an hour-long theatre piece for this year. Fifteen additional dancers have been recruited, though Mikel is coy about further details of the project. “But you can be sure of one thing. It will live up to our motto: ‘Welcome to the next level’.”For more information, go the official websiteat www.flying-steps.de

For B-Boys, it’s all about comfort and style, as the Flying Steps’ Mikel explains

KC-1Former Flying Steps student, now full-time with the crew

MIKELTrains wannabe breakdancers in youth centres AMIGO

Inspired by the dream of bringing urban dance to the stage

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www.kAESTlE-Ski.Com or www.ChRiSDAvENPoRT.Com

Ski magazine

2009

Palme 2009

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Further educating you in travel, food, gear and more

Paul Bonhomme page 76 Avalanche survival page 78 Winter sports travel page 81 Day& Night page 84 Stephen Bayley page 98

Red Bull Air Race pilot Paul Bonhomme in a rare

appearance on the ground at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria

More Body & Mind

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There’s not much Paul Bonhomme can’t do with an aeroplane, but then he is the youngest member of a family of pilots, and learned how to fly aged 14.

Thirty years on, his day job is flying passengers around the world for British Airways, after which he swaps pilot’s cap for helmet to carry out death-defying aerobatic stunts as one half of the Red Bull Matadors team, and compete in the Red Bull Air Race World Series.

Having come frustratingly close to winning the title for the past two years, the Englishman is quietly hopeful that 2009 will finally see him in the top slot, although he already knows this year’s proudest moment will be outside the cockpit, when he becomes a father for the first time. Amid preparation for races and babies, he found time to meet The Red Bulletin.

So here we are in Hangar-7. You must have been here a lot over the years...For anybody who’s interested in aeroplanes it’s a dream, really, as you have a hangar full of planes, a restaurant and a bar all in the same place.

Your dad and brother are pilots and your mum’s an air hostess: was your occupation predestined?Actually, I had a couple of years where I wasn’t sure. But then I found Waltham airfield [in Berkshire] near where I lived and started pushing aeroplanes around because I wasn’t qualified to do anything else. That cemented my interest.

Did your dad want you to follow in his footsteps?No. He said whatever you do, don’t become a pilot, do something sensible like becoming a doctor or a lawyer.

If you couldn’t be a pilot, where do you think you’d be sitting now?Maybe up a tree. I always think of being a tree surgeon: I like trees, I like being outdoors and it’s peaceful, I’d imagine.

So you wouldn’t miss the adrenaline?I probably would. Maybe I’d do karting or motorbiking, but I’m not mad enough to do well at them. I do some off-roading on motorbikes; it gives me a huge buzz, but I’m always a bit reserved because I’ve fallen off bikes and it hurts. I like the idea of doing funny things in aeroplanes as I can always get away from the ground.

Do you feel safer in the air?Yeah. When I was 14 I cleaned aeroplanes at Waltham in exchange for aerobatic lessons. I love the three-dimensional freedom of it. You can do what you like. There are limits, but if you work within those you don’t really have boundaries.

Some of your aerobatic manoeuvres are heart-stopping to watch. They must be a bit nerve-racking to perform, even for you?If I get it wrong, the outcome will be pretty disastrous, but I make sure I’m not doing anything that increases the risk. You make it into a routine and you say, “Well actually I got a bit closer than I should’ve been,” and then you change it again. Once you’ve done that a few times then I think you just become quite happy with it. It doesn’t become routine, but there’s a sense of normality about it. Though if there was a passenger in there they’d think, “This is normal? Crikey.”

You’ve come a close second in the Red Bull Air Race for the last two years...Thanks for reminding me of that.

Has that made you more determined to win, or more frustrated?It is frustrating. I won four races last year, and Hannes [Arch, who won the title] only won two, so that’s something to take away. I think the competitive element is brilliant – as long as you win. There’s that lovely phrase we have in England: “It’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking part.” I’ve never heard so much rubbish in all my life. You’ve got to win it.

Flying’s in his blood, so what better place for the Red Bull Air Race ace to tell us about his world above and below the clouds than the spectacular plane-filled space next to Salzburg airport

Paul Bonhomme

TheHangar-7 Interview

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Being a pilot must have been an advantage with the ladies over the years?No. Not at all. In fact, it’s disastrous. When I was 23, I was in a pub in South Wales and my mate and I were trying to chat up two girls. When they asked what we did for a living, I thought they wouldn’t believe us, so I said we were astronauts. When they asked what we really did, I came clean and said, “Actually we’re pilots.” later we overheard them say, “Bloody idiots. First they reckon they’re astronauts and now they’re pilots!” So no, it hasn’t worked well for me.

You have a baby on the way. Do flying and family mix?laura [Bonhomme's girlfriend] knows the risks, but she understands – she likes what I do. Our baby is due this month and people have smirked when I’ve said, “Surely it won’t make any difference.” I don’t think having a child will change my outlook much as I know what’s important already – but ask me again in six months.

Do you ever just stay on the ground and watch TV with a takeaway?Oh yeah, definitely. I do like a night in, usually preceded by a night out. I love natural history programmes, but if you eat when one’s on, you’re guaranteed to see an insect devouring another insect the minute you raise your fork to your mouth.

What’s your culinary weakness?For me, the point of getting through a dinner is to get to the pudding. I love food, but I’m not a great cook – if I try to cook laura stops me. Although I did win a round of Surprise Chefs, a TV show where three people from a given industry cooked: I was one of three pilots. We went to a gastro pub in Berkshire and I cooked honey-glazed duck.

What would your flying soundtrack be?I love music, but if you named a year I’d have no idea what I was listening to. What would get me going? [long pause] Oh, I don’t know. I enjoy a bit of Pink Floyd, but normally when you say that people think, “Boring old fart”.

Are there any planes that you'd particularly love to fly? I’d love to fly a floatplane again. That’s the ultimate holiday machine. Can you imagine? You’d have 10 friends, a box of wine, cheese and bread, and land on a lake in Italy somewhere, moor up for the night and sleep on the beach. Fantastic. The ’09 Red Bull Air Race World Series begins in April; keep up to speed at www.redbulletin.com

m o r e b o d y & m i n d

“April 5, 2008, Alaska… I suddenly heard a roar, then the ground under my feet began to move. I didn’t have a chance to cling on to anything – the whole snow cornice had broken away. I took a couple of hard knocks, then I was in the air again and I didn’t know which way was up or down. I was waiting for the collision with the rock that would turn the lights out…”Freeskier Sven Küenle survived this skirmish with an avalanche at G-Tower in Alaska with a couple of scratches and fresh insight. Clearly, even a piste expert can be caught out, and messing with nature can kill you faster than you think. So before you head out of the lodge and hit the slopes this year, check whether they might be the kind that eat winter sports enthusiasts for breakfast.

1. If in doubt, turn back“Check out the snow conditions, wind and avalanche risk in advance.”Don’t let your keenness to ski or board cloud your judgement.

German freeskier Sven Küenle, 25, gained fame last year for conquering the famous Mausefalle on Kitzbühel’s Streif piste with a spectacular backflip.Read more about Sven at www.svenkueenle.com

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Ski slopes are among the most beautiful places on earth, but they can be avalanche timebombs. Our expert guide, freeskier Sven Küenle, tells you how to reduce the risks

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6. Heed warning signs“It often happens that on days where there’s been lots of snow I avoid a slope that looks incredibly inviting.”rumbling noises signify danger, as do cracks in the snow cover, avalanches in the area, avalanche blasts or submerged, older tracks.

7. Improve your equipment“I always have a helmet, shovel, avalanche probe, avalanche transceiver, saw, radio and, starting this year, an Avalanche Airbag System (ABS) rucksack with me.”The transceiver (switched on!), shovel and probe are the most important aids you need to help find and dig out avalanche victims. The only way to stop yourself getting buried is to have an ABS rucksack. its volume will ensure you remain on the surface.

8. You’ll never walk alone“You’re unlikely to get any help on the mountain other than from people you’re with. Acting as a group is critical.” The most important rules: – never go off on your own!– have the right equipment and know how to use it. – Follow the instructions of the guide or most experienced group member.– Avoid land traps and known avalanche routes.– navigate critical slopes individually and from a safe location. Always leave enough distance between each other when ascending, too. – when crossing steep slopes, keep a good distance from each other.– Always pay attention to the person climbing or descending.

9. Avoiding burial is the difference between life and death“If you get caught up in an avalanche, try to get out of it.” inflate your ABS. Get out of your binding, binding straps and ski-stick straps. Fight against the avalanche using swimming motions. if it slows, keep an airhole free with your hands and arms. Conserve energy and call out loudly and clearly if someone is close.

10. Rescue safely“If one of your team is buried, make sure you don’t become a victim yourself.” First, make sure the avalanche has stopped. if possible, summon more help and begin the search-and-rescue operation straight away. This is why everyone needs to know how to use the transceiver, probe and shovel. Check vital functions and administer first aid.

Avalanche!(and how not to get caught in one)

● Avalanches only occur shortly after fresh snowfall.● well-trodden slopes are safe from avalanches.● There are no avalanches in forests.● The more snow there is, the greater the risk. ● if there are tracks, there’s no risk of an avalanche.● rumbling noises mean the snow cover is settling.

Six fatal fallacies

2. Pay attention to the weather“It can change drastically overnight.”heavy, prolonged snowfall combined with a strong wind and frost means a high avalanche risk, as does a rapid rise in temperature combining with rain or wind. Temperatures of around zero help the snow cover to settle – temperatures of under minus-eight slow that process down.

3. Information: is it local?“Local mountain rescue guides hold vital and up-to-date information.” Also contact the local avalanche agency, the mountain rescue service, slope service or lodge-owners.

4. Assess the terrain“Judging the terrain depends largely on the snow conditions.” Quantity of snow, wind direction, air humidity, sunshine, slope gradient and the direction the slope is facing are factors. The risk is highest on steep slopes protected from the wind.

5. Assess the slope“Choose a slope with an escape route.”if there is a moderate risk (level two), avoid gradients of more than 39° – at level three avoid gradients of more than 34° and rocky terrain. when the risk is high or very high (four and five), stick to delineated and open ski slopes.

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Yep, they happen in the UK, as well

Crash helmet Transceiver

Avalanche probe ABS rucksack

Martin Chester, internationally qualified British Mountain and Ski Guide, explains

The word ‘avalanche’ usually conjures up images of thunderous white clouds ploughing down steep mountainsides to engulf the Alpine villages that cower below. it’s a dramatic winter scene that you might think could never happen in the uK, but you’d be wrong.

The worst avalanche incident in uK history took place in lewes, Sussex, in December, 1836, when a huge avalanche swept from the South Downs onto the cottages in Boulder row, burying 15 people in its path. eight people were killed. (Somewhat unfortunately, the local public house is called the Snowdrop inn.)

But you don’t need to look back in time to find avalanches in the uK. This winter, avalanches will scour the slopes of the Scottish highlands throughout the winter months and well into the spring. if you don’t believe it, just look up all the latest activity on the web. The Scottish Avalanche information Service (www.sais.gov.uk) sends committed professionals out into the winter hills daily to take readings as they observe and record details of avalanche activity. This is all fed into a huge and sophisticated database which, like some mountaineering equivalent of the supercomputer hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey, chews the numbers over with the weather forecast, and spits out the probability of avalanches for the following day. Forewarned is forearmed.

The problem in Scotland is rarely the scale of the avalanche, or the risk of large-scale burial. These are not the village-eating monsters of Alpine proportions. The problem is one of consequence and the serious nature of the terrain. it may only require a small avalanche to sweep you off your feet – but if that ends in a precipitous fall onto rocky ground, it can feel every bit as serious as a burial.

Martin Chester is chief instructor of Plas y Brenin, the National Mountain Centre, which runs a full range of educational courses. Visit www.pyb.co.uk for a course or www.bmg.org.uk for a guide. A DVD called Off Piste Essentials, which tells you howto deal with avalanches, is available from the BritishMountaineering Council at www.bmcshop.co.uk

If you’re serious about winter sports, you need serious anti-avalanche gear. Here’s a reminder of the essentials…

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a) A slope has a gradient of 45° if two sticks of equal length placed into the surface, one vertically and one horizontally, form a right-angle at the point of contact.b) on less steep slopes, lay one stick onto the snow. Then put the ends of two sticks at either end of the print left by the stick in the snow. if the lower stick is vertical, the slope has a gradient of 30°. if it leans towards the mountain, the gradient is lower. if it leans towards the valley, the slope is steeper.

Equipped to survive

How steep is the slope?

A crash helmet helps prevent head injuries; a shovel allows you to dig others out of deep snow; transceivers are vital in tracing avalanche victims; a probe is another essential bit of kit for locating an avalanche victim; a radio will help you keep in contact with members of your group; an ABS rucksack can stop you being buried

Avoid steeper slopes if there’s an avalanche risk

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Shovel (collapsible)

Radio

1. Snow kiting, Silvaplana and the Bernina paSS, SwitzerlandSnow kiting does away with the need for lift passes, tracked pistes, and gravity altogether. Kiters are hoisted by the wind to untracked slopes, and are free to ski, board or float back down at their leisure. In Silvaplana, thermal southerly winds brush over an expansive frozen lake perfect for kiting on the flat. Further into the mountains is Bernina, a freeride spot with hills descending to another smaller lake. www.snowkiter.co.uk

2. Skiing, gulmarg, kaShmir, indiaAt an altitude of 13,400ft, Gulmarg in the Indian Himalayas has one of the world’s highest gondolas for skiing. But don’t be

fooled into thinking a cable car means comfort. Aside from a few challenging runs from the midstation at Kangdoori, everything above is virtually untouched backcountry skiing. The region that straddles India and Pakistan has suffered years of territorial conflict between the two nations, but tourists are accepted as a vital economic boost. Travellers should seek advice from their own governments first, though,

as skiing in a danger zone on top of the world is as out there as it gets. ski-gulmarg.co.uk

3. ice-climBing, Banff, canadaBanff, in Alberta, Canada, is home to arguably the most awe-inspiring ice-climbing locations in the world: skyscraper-sized routes like the 600m high Polar Circus on Cirrus mountain, a natural frozen waterfall as magnificent in size as

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Want to leave the crowds behind on the pistes and head for a cooler kind of action holiday? Try one of these destinations for a thrill-packed snow-and-ice-fest

it is challenging to climb. Adventure tour company Banff Adventures offers introductory and advanced climbing tours from December to March, with specialist equipment included. However, with temperatures sometimes dropping as low as -20ºC, bringing your own correct kit is essential. www.banffadventures.com

4. ice Speedway, aSSen, netherlandSThe city of Assen is steeped in motor-racing history, having been on the MotoGP calendar since 1949. But March 15 sees superbikes make way for ice speedway, where riders charge around a purpose-built rink on a motorbike while basically trying not to fall off. The event will be the final of the ice speedway season with

2007 European Champion and Red Bull athlete Franky Zorn looking to find success once more.www.visitassen.com

5. Snow kayaking, lienz , auStriaSnowboarding was once viewed as the folly of an eccentric bunch of cranks. Try telling that to the multi-million dollar industry it is today. Snow kayaking is a sport in its infancy, but that doesn’t stop committed paddlers hitting the slopes once the river freezes over. A bunch of maniacs skimming down the piste in a canoe is many resorts’ worst nightmare, but Lienz has had the foresight to host the snow kayaking world championships. So when the sport produces its own Tony Hawk or Shaun White, you know where you saw it first. www.austria-trips.com

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TrAVeL ToP 5

WINTER SPORTS DESTINATIONS

Winter wonderlands

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This page, clockwise from top left: Petzl Ecrin Roc helmet, £54.80; Arc’Teryx Men’s Theta SV GTX Pro Bib R trousers, £293.61; Beal Ice Line 8.1mm x 60m Dry rope, £117.44; Black Diamond Reactor ice axes, £126.25 each. Opposite page, clockwise from top: Arc’Teryx Men’s Stinger jacket, £415.96; Black Diamond Blizzard men’s harness, £58.71; La Sportiva Nepal Evo GTX climbing boots, £293.61, and Grivel Mont Blanc G14 NewMatic crampons, £129.99.

All items supplied by Ellis Brigham Sports, +44-870 444 5555,www.ellis-brigham.com

Get The Gear:Ice ClimbingWe’ve picked the axes and we’re sold on the boots: this is what you need to get up a glacier

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DAYSPOTS

ALPINE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIP 03.02.09 - 15.02.09 Slalom, downhill, super-g and combined competition.Val d’Isère, France

SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP 05.02.09 - 07.02.09 Slopestyle and halfpipe contest for men and women.Bardonecchia, Italy

RED BULL SNOWSCRAPERS 05.02.09Big Air in the Big Apple: 16 world class snowboarders, one giant jump - snowboarding comes to NY.New York City, USA

SNOW FEVER 05.02.09 - 15.02.09 Big Mountain freeskiing contest, which is also a qualifi er for the World Freeride Tour.Fieberbrunn, Austria

RED BULL CRASHED ICE 06.02.09 - 07.02.09 The toughest race on ice-skates looks for skaters with strong elbows. Easy in the country of the fi ve times hockeychampion.Prague, Czech Republic

CHILL AND DESTROY TOUR 07.02.09 Tour stop of snowboarding and freeski race series for rookies. Heubach, Germany

ICE SPEEDWAY GP 1 & 2 07.02.09 - 08.02.09 Brave riders take their bikes onto the ice to do battle.Krasnogorsk, Russia

CHALLENGE THE WALL TOUR 2009 13.02.09 Four of the most successful sports climbers bring the

adventure of mountain climbing to the city. Second leg of a tour featuring Kilian Fischhuber, David Lama, Angela Eiter and Anna Stöhr.DAV Kletterhalle, Stuttgart, Germany

BOOST MOBILE PRO SHOW13.02.09 - 15.02.09 Twenty of the world’s best aerial surfers, including Mick Fanning, Julian Wilson and Kelly Slater, battle it out gameshow-style for a prize of A$20,000. Gold Coast, Australia

ICE SPEEDWAY GP 3 & 4 14.02.09 - 15.02.09 The riders swap Krasnogorsk for Ufa in rounds three and four.Ufa, Russia

BIATHLON WORLD CUP 14.02.09 - 22.02.09 The world championship arrives in Asia for the fi rst time.Pyeongchang, South Korea

RED BULL REVOLUTION ON MACHINES14.02.09 - 28.02.09Freestyle snowmobile contest held in three of Russia’s most historic cities. It features international athletes and a crowd of 25,000 is expected.Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, St Petersburg, Russia

DAYTONA 50015.02.09This classic motor race is the fi rst points event of the 2009 NASCAR series.Daytona International Speedway, Florida, USA

NORDIC WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIP 18.02.09 - 01.03.09 Featuring cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined.Liberec, Czech Republic

MULTISPORT ADVENTURE

90KM RUN 01.03.09

Entrants run, cycle and canoe over a 90km course.

Jureré Beach, Florianópolis, Brazil

REVOLCON GUADALAJARA

01.03.09 Mexican bike star Hector Garcia

takes on the competition in this BMX event, part of

the Revolcon series.Parque Extremo,

Guadalajara, Mexico

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Unmissable daytime events in February and March

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CHECK THE RIPPER 19.02.09 - 22.02.09 All-Mountain Snowboard and Freeski competition, part of the Nordpark Session. Seegrube, North Park, Innsbruck, Austria MALAMUTE CHALLENGE IV20.02.09 - 22.02.09Snowboarding slope contest with both day and night runs. A photography competition runs alongside and there’s a music event in the evening.Girona, Spain

WORLD ROOKIE FEST TOUR 200920.02.09 - 22.02.09Snowboarding up-and-comers from around the world compete for the 2009 title. Kopaonik, Serbia

FC RED BULL SALZBURG VS SK RAPID VIENNA 21.02.09 Football action from the Austrian Bundesliga.Red Bull Arena, Salzburg, Austria

AVIVA GRAND PRIX21.02.09Indoor athletics championship featuring British athletes Craig Pickering and Jeanette Kwayke, and many international Olympic and world champions.Birmingham, UK

BOWL-A-RAMA21.02.09The world’s best skateboarders compete by Bondi Beach. Featuring Tony Alva, Rune Glifberg and Bob Burnquist. Sydney, Australia

PARAGLIDING WORLD CUP 21.02.09With gliding heroes Hernan Pitoco and Pablo Lopez. Valle de Bravo, Mexico

RED BULL MAHALA 21.02.09 - 22.02.09 A small street in the old town will be transformed for a snowboard contest, complete with jumps.Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

AUTO CLUB 50022.02.09This now-traditional NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana features Red Bull drivers Brian Vickers and Scott Speed.California, USA

GRAND RACING 26.02.09 - 28.02.09 Following its successful 2008 debut, Grand Racing returns with the Speedcar Series, GP2 Asia Series and Private Drive Super Car Show. Dubai Autodrome, United Arab Emirates

WOMEN’S DOWNHILL AND SUPER-G 26.02.09 - 01.03.09 The course at Bansko now features a new, more diffi cult ski route to make the World Cup even more challenging.Bansko, Bulgaria

RED BULL UPSPRING28.02.09 - 04.03.09 Snowboard freestyle training camp for eight German athletes aged 13 to 16. Featuring Olympic gold medallist Nicola Thost.Munich, Germany

JUNIOR ALPINE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIP 28.02.09 - 08.03.09 Young ski stars of the future show what they’re made of.Kandahar, Gudiberg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

ASP WORLD TOUR 28.02.09 - 11.03.09 Surftour season opener with the Quiksilver Pro and Roxy Pro. Previous winners have included Sofi a Mulanovich, Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning. Gold Coast, Australia

MOVISTAR KITEBOARDING WORLD CUP 02.03.09 Fifty of the world’s best kitesurfers compete for the title. Featuring Aaron Hadlow, Susanna May, Gisela Pulido.Playa del Carmen, Playa Mamitas, Mexico

NATIONAL WAKEBOARDING

SERIES 17.02.09 - 19.02.09

SA’s fi nest contest this national championship.

Vaal River, South Africa

WRC NORWAY RALLY13.02.09 - 15.02.09

The second leg of the 2009 World Rally Championship

drives into Scandinavia, with Sébastien Loeb looking

for another victory. Norway

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NIGHTSPOTSDiscover under-the-moon fun and festivities around the UK and rest of the world this month

THREE 6 MAFIA AT GET FAMILIAR 06.02.09 Innovative DJ/producer Sinden is joined by the award-winning American hip-hop outfi t Three 6 Mafi a and guests for his regular night, Get Familiar, at London hotspot Fabric. Based in a Victorian meat market, Fabric was recently voted World’s Best Club by the globe’s fi nest DJs.Fabric, London, UK

RED BULL MOONLIGHTING 06.02.09 - 09.02.09 An isolated surf spot in New Zealand will be lit up by the moon and two 9m-high light towers so the country’s best surfers can take advantage of the full-moon tides all night.Auckland, New Zealand

FIS NIGHT JUMPING07.02.09 - 08.02.09 The International Ski Federation’s Team Tour 2009 arrives in Germany. Seventeen of this year’s 39 events will be at night, and 40,000 spectators are expected to turn up to watch the masters at work on the world’s largest ski jump at a fl oodlit Mühlenkopf Arena. Willingen, Germany

RED BULL BIG AIR 10.02.09 Snow from the mountains is being used to create a slope for a snowboard air contest at night in the Iranian capital.Tehran, Iran

BIG EARS FESTIVAL06.02.09 - 08.02.09

Big Ears celebrates stepping away from the mainstream and

giving you a chance to open your ears and eyes to things you

won’t fi nd at other festivals. This year’s event features Anthony

and the Johnsons, Fennesz, and Philip Glass.

Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

LAURA DAWSON SHOW12.02.09

You can look forward to a prominent guest-list at

New York fashion-designer Laura Dawson’s Autumn 2009

show: she designs clothes for musicians and singers

such as the Scissor Sisters, Moby and Mick Jagger.

Red Bull Space, New York, USA

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BURAKA SOM SISTEMA12.02.09 - 13.02.09 The Portuguese Kuduro/breakbeat four-piece play London and Brighton on consecutive nights. They’ll be playing another nine dates in Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway and Denmark over the next month before jetting off to Australia.Scala, London/DIGITAL, Brighton, UK

BALL DER WIENER KAFFEESIEDER13.02.09 The ‘Ball of the Viennese Coffee House Owners’ kicks off the social season in an apt way for the coffee capital of the country, with the Vienna Opera Ball orchestra and the National State Ballet waltz programme providing the entertainment at the Hofburg, the splendid former Imperial Palace.Vienna Hofburg, Vienna, Austria

CHLOÉ 13.02.09 Paris-based DJ and producer Chloé, a student at the Red Bull Music Academy and member of the Kill the DJ collective, heads to Pitch Club in the heart of Porto, Portugal’s second city, with her unique blend of hypnotic electro beats.Pitch Club, Porto, Portugal

SKREAM AND BENGA 13.02.09 - 14.02.09 The dubstep duo are swapping south London for sushi as they head to Japan for dates on consecutive evenings in Osaka and Tokyo.Triangle Club, Osaka, Japan/Unit, Tokyo, Japan

GUSTAV15.02.09 Graz-born Eva Jantschitsch, aka Gustav, performed live for the fi rst time in 2002 backed by a children’s cassette player, but has latterly had Oliver Stotz and Elise Mory to accompany her for live performances of her alternative pop and electronica.ARGEkultur Center, Salzburg, Austria

Q-CLUBWe fi nd out why thousands

of revellers are happy to queue to get into this massive Munich venue every weekend: page 88

RED BULL PLAYSTREETS 14.02.09

Sixteen of the best new-school skiers battle for a win at this

unique city slopestyle event in the old town of Bad Gastein, which uses real kerbs, roofs

and walls as obstacles. Bad Gastein, Austria

TODDLA T The Sheffi eld dance sensation

is making it big in the Steel City. But where are his favourite places to eat, drink and party?

Find out on page 92

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Until 1996, the Kultfabrik, a huge former industrial site near the Ostbahnhof, Munich’s eastern railway station, was a factory producing ready-meal potato dumplings.

Its reincarnation has turned it into something decidedly cooler, with styled-out clubs and bars now occupying the space where conveyor belts and packaging machines once stood. A decadent 90,000 square metres of space ensure that the Kultfabrik leaves no one wanting. At weekends, as many as 20,000 people flock to this nightlife mall, and pubs such as the delicately named Titty Twister, the 24-hour Kantine restaurant and the small bars are full to bursting point.

The centrepiece of all this is the Q-Club, a magnificent disco temple with a glittering façade complete with a brightly lit Q that stretches 40 feet into the air. It is from here that a queue snakes on most weekend nights, the wait made bearable thanks to comfy sofas scattered about a Mediterranean-style terrace. The leafy plants, Italian stone and

With nine lounges and 11 bars, this is the high temple for Munich’s nightclubbers

small tables make it the perfect place for some reflection in the quiet before the storm.

In the Main Arena, dozens of spotlights turn the space into a shimmering sea of colour, and the DJ has the place heaving to house, rock and R ’n’ B. This floor alone can fit 1,000 revellers, regardless of whether they’re cutting up the dancefloor boards or lounging on the expansive, curving sofas. The design has seating and bars flowing organically through the space, allowing for a seamless transition between dancing and resting with a drink.

One floor below, the atmosphere is decidedly more down-tempo. Upholstered in heavy velvet and furnished with renaissance-style pieces, the Red Room offers a sumptuous respite from the madness above, with the neighbouring Aqua Lounge going for a discreet, minimalist interior. Those so far unimpressed need not despair – there are four other lounges to ensure that every taste is catered for. www.q-club.de

world’sTop clubs

q-ClubMuniCh

Join the Q

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Turn IT Loose16.02.09The documentary film about the Red Bull BC One breakdancing event, featuring stunning B-boy dance creativity and physical prowess – and great music – has its festival premiere in Ireland’s capital city this month. The director and members of the cast will be in attendance at this showcase before the film’s general release in April. Dublin, Ireland

BrIT AwArds 200918.02.09This is the 24th BRIT Awards show and this year, the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award will be presented to the Pet Shop Boys in recognition of their huge success over two decades, with record sales of more than 50m. If you can’t make it to the event, the show will be broadcast live on ITV1 – expect some of the usual memorable moments! Earl’s Court, London/ITV1, 8pm

HArmonIc 31319.02.09 Harmonic 313 is a mixture of instrumental hip-hop, techno and ambient funk from Global Communication’s Mark Pritchard, a man born in Yeovil, Somerset, but influenced by the sounds of Detroit.Plastic People, London, UK

PeTer Fox 19.02.09 The German reggae and hip-hop artist, who released his first solo album, Stadtaffe (City Monkey), last year is playing live in this Austrian venue.Posthof, Linz, Austria

FArmers’ BALL 20.02.09 The hardworking farmers of Austria get a ball in their honour.Stadthalle Graz, Austria

musInk TATToo & musIc FesTIvAL 20.02.09 - 22.02.09The festival celebrating music and tattoos is back for its second year, with bands Reverend Horton Heat, Danzig and Atreyu headlining the event. More than 200 of the world’s most accomplished tattooists are also expected to descend on Orange County, looking for fresh skin. Don’t forget your camera.Orange County, California, USA

Right on Q: if dancing to all kinds of music

is your thing, you can’t really go wrong

at Munich’s Q-Club

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London FAsHIon week20.02.09 - 25.02.09The crème-de-la-crème of British design showcase their latest collections: the talented Christopher Kane on February 22 in Dalston, and star-in-the-making Erdem on February 23 in Bethnal Green.London,UK

redouTe vIdeo Lounge 21.02.09 In a country that loves its balls, Carinthia’s Redoute is among the more glamorous events. It has been an artistic and musical highlight for the past 20 years, and the main guest at this year’s ball will be Kelvin Kalvus, who recently starred in Austria’s version of Pop Idol. Fairgrounds, Klagenfurt, Austria

unTITLed! duBsTeP FuTure BeATs21.02.09 The night begins with a Belgian premiere of dubstep documovie Bassweight, followed by sets from Glaswegians Rustie and Hudson Mohawke. Trix, Antwerp, Belgium

red BuLL Bedroom JAm23.02.09Young bands have their chance to be seen when they upload performances onto the Red Bull Bedroom Jam site. Votes cast by their fans decide a weekly winner who will then have a live performance professionally streamed across the Internet, creating a virtual gig.UK

sHockwAves nme AwArds25.02.09The annual NME bash honours the best from the music scene, as picked by the public. The Cure will be crowned Godlike Geniuses at the ceremony for their 30-year contribution to music, joining an exclusive club that includes past winners John Peel, Primal Scream, New Order, Manic Street Preachers and the Clash.Brixton Academy, London, UK

THe nme BIg gIg26.02.09The Cure headline and are joined by Crystal Castles, White Lies and more.O2 Arena, London, UK

outselling the Boss,” laughs permanently distracted drummer Jon Hammond. Despite battling flu, he is still finding time to marvel at his band’s achievement of beating Bruce Springsteen’s latest release that week in the US download chart. OK, so the festive time of year might have something to do with their tongue-in-cheek charity cover of Phil Spector’s Sleigh Ride suddenly surging up the charts. But that BS-free sense of self-worth is what actually sets them apart.

“We’re not what a lot of people expect from a British band,” explains singer, guitarist and co-songwriter Max Arnold, scratching a three-day beard. He’s trying to pin down where their sound originated. A love of American indie such as Pavement and Sonic Youth is obvious, but The Late Greats’ melody-packed debut, Life Without Balloons, released in mid-2008, also owes a lot to classic British square pegs such as XTC.

As the band plug in for soundcheck, the skinny bespectacled frame of joint-frontman and co-songwriter Ryan Griffiths emerges stage-right. He’s joined by Max, laconic bass player Ben Miles and wiry, coiled-spring of a drummer Jon. They’re an untidy-looking lot and you wonder where the miracle is going to come from. Cue the music.

The Academy freezes as stagehands, bar staff and soundmen are assaulted by the start/stop/flatten-the-front-row intro of Future’s Gold. It’s unnerving to see it spill out from such an easygoing bunch of guys.

As the band leave the stage to replace broken strings and snapped sticks, a member of support band Strangeways greets them on

The bricks behind the back curtain at the O2 Academy Islington are graffitied with the setlists from previous acts – anonymous notes that don’t read like a hall of fame, more like a collection of desperate letters scrawled by shaking hands before the final charge. Rock’n’roll’s preoccupation with the absurd looks a little sad here; you suspect the authors of Jumping Jack Straw and Feeling Fascist? may still be missing in action.

Gathered tonight under that monument to glory chasers are The Late Greats. But if the noise-pop four-piece have brought their game faces to the ego parade, they’re not showing them yet. Unassuming, funny and engaging, they crack jokes as they lug gear from the service lift to the stage. “We’re

green room

the lategreats

the ‘loner band’ from eastbourne win new fans in north london

Making a noise in Islington

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their way out: “Nice one, lads. That sounded f***ing massive!” In the dressing room, beers are passed around and the guys are upbeat about the positive reaction. But it’s clear their outsider status is something they’ve come to value – perhaps even thrive on. “This is a bit of a loner band,” deadpans Jon. “But that’s just the way it’s always been. It’s what works for us,” adds Ben.

It’s clearly working for a few others, too. Radio 1 DJs Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens have both played Life Without Balloons on their flagship music shows, with Stephens inviting the band to record a session for the station at the end of last year.

Back onstage, the band launch into Kitty, a hazy, summer-pop anthem that warms the crowd to The Late Greats’ view of the world. The audience isn’t really the band’s ideal demographic. Groups of young men with Gallagher haircuts and ageing mod couples are clearly here to see tonight’s terrace anthem-peddling headliners Dogs. But once the jittering bombast of new single Destroy My Brain is over, The Late Greats’ easy charm and subtle nuances are converting a new set of fans to their intelligent guitar pop. The crowd that was standing towards the back of the room at the start is now moving nearer the stage, nodding along and hopefully taking home a special memory. Life Without Balloons refers to losing the fun and fragile things in life that make it worth living, and that’s what The Late Greats are trying to preserve in the music. Now in their mid-20s, these four schoolfriends have developed a sound that is as fresh and inviting as it is knowing and intelligent. There’s no telling how huge their crossover appeal could be, but the number of faces coming closer out of the darkness tonight is a strong sign.

But where’s the big hit that can change court jesters into rock icons, or vice versa? Ryan strums the opening chords of Sleigh Ride and the band sportingly throw out a singalong ending for the crowd. It’s a tender, slightly confusing moment, but a typical Late Greats contradiction. These outsiders would be yours alone to savour if they weren’t already thinking bigger than the Boss.

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“I’ve got two proper nights in Sheffield. I do Kabal on a regular basis and that’s a proper party. It’s me and Winston Hazel (of early 1990s Warp Records duo and bleep kings Forgemasters) and it’s a proper Sheffield thing. We’ve done them in old churches, in clubs – even in a morgue. We didn’t do that last one because it used to be a morgue, but because it was an amazing space that just happened to be an old morgue! DJ Pipes, Winston Hazel and I played, and we lobbed everything together from bassline house to garage, techno and old bleepy Warp stuff.

“The other night I do regularly is at a bar called The Bowery. It’s owned by Andy Nicholson, who used to be in the Arctic Monkeys, and Matt Helders, who’s in the band now. It’s a 250-capacity venue with a Funktion One sound system and it’s serious. My night is just me and my mates. I’ve had Chris Duckenfield, Jaguar Skills, Martello – just people I like and respect.

“Sheffield’s small, which has its ups and downs. You can be DJing next to your ex-girlfriend who’s doing your head in or your best mate who’s wicked. It is small, but we mix up our styles. Just because you’re making digital ragga, or whatever they want to call it, doesn’t mean there won’t be some rock band getting it.

“The day before an event, I just make sure everyone knows it’s happening – lots of Facebook, MySpace and texts. Then it’s making sure I’ve got good music ready. I never plan sets, ever. I play on Serato

[audio software] now and I don’t overthink it. I just do what I do. I like to eat before I go out. There’s a wicked Thai called Siam Inter. I always get the sweetcorn cakes for starters – that’s standard. Then there’s Turkish joint Zeugma, who do posh kebabs.

“Where else do I go? There’s a good night called Tuesday Club. It’s a student night, but it’s quite forward musically. They’ll have Kode 9, Count and Sinden… Oris Jay. It’s a student thing, but it’s nice. There’s a pub called The Sheaf, too, which does proper booze – home-brewed local stuff, bitters and ales. I’m an after-party man, but I don’t take drugs. People who can’t hold drugs, people who it doesn’t agree with – it does my head in. It’s just ugly, man.” www.toddlat.com

Toddla’s Top Five Tracklist1. Ladyhawk – My Delirium (Toddla T & Ross Orton remix)2. Alison Hinds – Roll It Gal (A Little Bit Funky VIP remix)3. Burger Boy – Murder4. Nastee Boi vs Nas & Ginuwine – U Owe Me (remix)5. Basement Jaxx ft Serocee – Wheel N Stop

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it’s grime time in the city that gave us the human league and the arctic Monkeys. tom bell, aka 23-year-old studio engineer-turned-bassline poster boy toddla t, runs emma Warren through his favourite venues and pre-gig routines

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oAsIs26.02.09 Fresh from the success of their latest crictically acclaimed album, Dig Out Your Soul, the Gallagher brothers take to the stage in Austria as part of their extensive European tour.Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria

LosT In musIc 27.02.09 Young German guru Manuel Tur brings his distinctive deep house sound to this regular Viennese club night.Sass, Vienna, Austria

gILLes PeTerson’s worLdwIde FesTIvAL 28.02.09 Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson takes his Worldwide show out of the studio and gets on a plane to showcase talents including deep house producer Henrik Schwarz and experimental dubstepper Appleblim. Istanbul, Turkey

mArco PAssArAnI 28.02.09 The Italian techno pioneer takes over the turntables for a Red Bull Music Academy night in the German capital. Panoramabar, Berlin, Germany

FAT Freddy’s droP LIve 28.02.09 With their new full-length album BIG BW hitting the streets, soul/jazz/reggae band Fat Freddy’s Drop, one of New Zealand’s best-loved acts, take to the stage on home turf.Black Barn Vineyards, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

BusH PArTy 2009 AT musIc mounTAIn mATAkAnA28.02.09Held in a natural amphitheatre high in the hills of New Zealand, Bush Party 2009 is a summer (yes, we know it’s winter here) festival near Auckland boasting music under the stars from the Black Seeds, Salmonella Dub and Little Bushman.Matakana, New Zealand

sIsTers oF mercy 03.03.09 English rockers Sisters of Mercy, who started out in 1980 and had hits with This Corrosion, Dominion and Temple of Love, play to their Austrian fans.Gasometer, Vienna, Austriaw

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Delivery across 110th Street

A Story by Simon Van Booy

Why is everyone on the train looking at the man with the box? Why is he looking at them? Above all, what is in the box and why is he hiding it?

At 110th Street, traffic has stopped. A large woman in tight clothes pushes twins in a stroller. The eyeballs of the twins slide up to the elevated train. The train pulls into the station.

Gabriel watches the twins and then looks into the space where they are being pushed. Gabriel looks down at his watch and shuffles into an alley behind a bakery. His package should be ready.

A steel door opens, separating a word sprayed in white. Two trembling hands emerge holding a box tied with string. There is a bird tattooed on one of the hands. Gabriel places his hands on the top and bottom of the box, and only when the other hands feel the weight transfer do they release and disappear back behind the steel door. Gabriel taps twice and looks around.

As Gabriel makes his way through the alley towards the subway, he pauses beside a motorcycle lying on its side. He is tempted to open the box for a quick peek at what’s inside.

Two men waiting for the train look Gabriel over. Their trousers are baggy and remind Gabriel of sails. Their eyes want to know what he is carrying and why he is handling it with such care. They look at the hole in Gabriel’s shoe. They look at Gabriel’s scar. He was in a fire. (There were several deaths.) It crosses his cheek and disappears under his ear. People notice it because it is a lighter shade of brown than the rest of his face. His mouth hangs open, a habit which makes him look absent, but which his wife loves.

As he stares down the track at the approaching train, he considers what he is doing and thinks about his mother. The train brings with it a cold wind which makes the two men on the platform forget all about Gabriel.

The silver doors slide open and the station intercom spits out a muffled message. The subway car is full of short Mexican men with paint on their sneakers. They are huddled together but don’t talk. One of them is reading a tattered children’s book to improve his English. Gabriel notices a boy and a girl, perhaps seven or eight years old. Their grandfather, his moustache curling down each side of his chin, is asleep with his mouth open. The boy is amused by this. The Mexican man reading the children’s book is concentrating so hard that he doesn’t notice the girl lean and mouth the words as he thinks them.

The train crosses an unmarked boundary into Brooklyn. Gabriel looks at the other passengers, but only an old woman is watching him. As he looks il

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About the authorSimon Van Booy lives in New York City, but was born in London and spent his childhood in Oxford and rural Wales. He is the author of the acclaimed short story collection The Secret Lives of People In Love, and lectures at the School of Visual Arts and Long Island University. www.simonvanbooy.com

back, her eyes fall onto the box and then she turns her body away from Gabriel towards the door. Gabriel’s mother once told him that if you keep thinking of someone dead, you summon them.

As the train rushes into light and slows, Gabriel is able to see the people who might step into his car. He notices a transit cop. The transit cop doesn’t move from the platform, then is lost behind the rush of men in suits and women in long coats with long hair. He moves the box onto his lap and rests it on his thigh. As he pulls the bottom of his coat over it, he realises how dirty he must look, because his shoe has a hole in it and his coat is stained black in places. He looks at how clean the new passengers are, and remembers the smell of freshly ironed shirts on Sunday nights. He hasn’t worn a shirt since his wedding. His mother was still alive then and made paper butterflies for his bride’s hair.

The people standing around Gabriel do so uncomfortably. He is hiding something and they know it. He wants to stand and offer his seat, but the package must be delivered intact. When Gabriel coughs, people bury their heads. His wife wants him to see a doctor, but doctors cost money, he tells her.

A woman with short black hair wearing a pink raincoat is laughing to herself. She is drinking Red Bull and reading something on her mobile phone. The woman reminds Gabriel of his sister who lives in a suburb of Havana. She is always depressed because the man she loves is a drunk.

Gabriel is being watched by tourists. He knows they are not from the city because they are each holding a map and the women have hair which is neither styled nor untidy. They are huddled together like the Mexican men next to them. The women chatter and the men stare coldly at the floor and at the bulge under Gabriel’s coat.

The car is continually full, because when people alight, others are there to take their place. Gabriel wonders how many people occupy one seat in a day, and if the seat could record the thoughts of the occupants, what it would say about human beings.

Another stop, and a young blind man is helped onto the train by a girl with bleached hair. She tenderly applies pressure to his elbow. A suit immediately rises and the young blind man sits, nodding gratefully for each gesture. Everybody looks at the blind man because he cannot look back at them. He knows people are watching him and sits very still, only once adjusting the

white stick so it’s propped against his thigh. Gabriel closes his eyes and imagines being blind. He feels the box below him in the darkness and grips it tightly, making sure it is still only a bulge under his coat. When he opens his eyes the train is not moving and the blind man has vanished.

It is his stop. Gabriel pushes past the bodies stepping into the car. He positions the box under his coat and then walks towards a stairway at the platform’s end. Leaning against a steel girder, Gabriel peers down at the tracks. Only last week someone jumped.

There is a Chinese woman playing a bamboo flute. The weather is cold but she is barefoot. A pink scarf is tied around her neck. Gabriel listens to each note. It is a very slow song which Gabriel thinks is somehow related to the pink scarf. She has no box or hat to collect money. He lays a quarter next to her.Gabriel steps into the emptied car of a new train and sits below an advert for laser eye surgery. He carefully raises the box to his nose and sniffs. From the smell, he tries to conjure a picture of what could be inside and what his wife will think.

Gabriel stands up and looks into the neighbouring car. He can see a homeless woman with her head slumped over. She is holding a shoe and crying. Gabriel cannot make out her features because the glass in the door has been graffitied. Gabriel thinks about the photograph of his sister from Havana taken at Coney Island when she came to visit. She has her arm around Gabriel’s wife. It is his favourite photograph because it is how he dreamed life would be as a child.He remembers how they had laughed and eaten hot dogs with ketchup dripping off the ends.

Gabriel alights and then waits for the train to disappear into darkness before making his way above ground. On the yellow strip which separates the platform and the track there are broken crack vials. Gabriel tries to conceal the box with even greater effort. His footsteps echo as he makes his way onto the cold street. As he passes a gas station,

“The people around him stand there uncomfortably. He is hiding something and they know it. The package must be delivered intact”

he can see two fat men watching soccer on TV and smoking. Further along he passes a man yelling into a payphone and Gabriel notices that the receiver is no longer connected.

The houses here have white bars dividing the glass and the street, but through the bars Gabriel can see people eating, watching TV and arguing. In one, there is a boy sitting eating an orange.Gabriel turns down a street which used to be a row of crack-houses. But they’ve been bought and will be demolished soon. He comes upon an old factory building. With trembling fingers he pulls out a key from his pocket and pushes it into a thick steel door. He steps over an empty suitcase and climbs the stairs.His hands are shaking so much that he is worried about damaging the contents of the box. He reassures himself that it will be soon be out of his hands. When he reaches the top, he stares out through a window at Manhattan. The Empire State Building is shrouded in mist. Perhaps one day it will be on display as an ancient obelisk. Below the window a woman screams once.

Gabriel knocks seven times on the door and then slides keys into several locks. He pushes on the door and slips inside. At one end of the room is the faint glow of a television. A sunken couch sits beside a bed covered in mostly broken toys. Asleep on the couch is a boy just turned three. Gabriel kneels before him as his wife emerges from behind a curtain. “José sneak it out the back like he say?” his wife asks. Gabriel nods.

The light from the TV flickers across the boy’s face. Gabriel touches the boy’s knee and then shakily unties the string of the box. As the boy rubs his eyes and sits up, Gabriel opens up the box lid. “Surprise!” Gabriel and his wife say.

The boy stares at the cake – the skilfully written number three, the thick icing which rounds the edge like a crown and the cream which lazes from the middle. The boy doesn’t touch the cake but covers his face with his hands and peeks from behind small fingers.

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Bull’seyeIt’s been one of the harshest winters for years, but there are some folk (armed with pen and paper) who aren’t letting the bad weather freeze their sense of humour

INSIDE THE WORLD OF RED BULL

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What exactly is a genius? We get the idea from Roman mythology where an individual’s ‘genius’ is his guiding spirit, a goodwill fairy who nudges the rudder at all stages of life’s voyage. If you were lucky, the genius assigned to you would be bent on pleasure. Sometimes you might have two genii; bad luck was caused by a bum steer from your opposition evil genius. The Middle Eastern djinn had a similar role.

But at some stage in the history of the West, this charming idea went through a transformation and genius came to suggest an extraordinary capacity for imaginative creation. Like most of our traditions – including Welsh national costume and morris dancing – this version of genius was an invention of the 19th century. This was a period when an exceptional number of innovations occurred in art, engineering and science, and so a new concept was required to explain their origin. This was the individual as his own genius, a person who generates new ideas. Where do ideas come from? A genius!

Additionally, a genius was, according to historian Thomas Carlyle, someone with a “transcendent capacity for taking trouble”. Soon, literature and painting began to furnish us with models of what this genius might look like, how he might behave. He was usually a solitary eccentric, an outsider in perpetual conflict with society. Often he was malodorous and impoverished too. If he was an artist, he laboured alone in a lofty garret, worrying away at his canvas or chipping at his marble as he growled at his demons. Or in Puccini’s La Bohème, our creative types live outside society in a freezing Paris flat.

This version of the genius survived into the 20th century, influencing, for example, our interpretation of the

prodigal Albert Einstein. How else to explain the ability to conceptualise black holes, gravitation, the clock paradox, mass-energy and quantum mechanics? Simply as the genius-as-whack-job: a solitary inventor of ideas with apatchy record in human relationships.

Certainly, some forms of creativity actually require solitude. Writers are one example: for most, it is simply impossible to practise their craft in an environment with any distractions – chattering people, music or seductive views. The writer’s working life is necessarily a lonely one and a monk’s cell does just fine. It is what Edward Gibbon – who, as author of the immense Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, knew a thing or two about the social privations required of writing – called ‘the school of genius’.

Much the same is true of composers. And, like writers, among composers there is often a very high incidence of

mental illness, plus drug or drink opportunities. Indeed, so far are the need for solitude and the tendency towards aberrant behaviour mixed, that some psychologists believe genius is, in fact, an abnormality. Certainly, the majority of American Nobel Prize winners in literature have been hopeless anti-social drunks. And to say that is not to stigmatise a civilised glass or two of Sonoma County Zinf with dinner, but to describe a genius unable to get out of bed without downing a quart of liquor. “Ain’t nothing I got that whiskey won’t cur,” William Faulkner once said. So much for genius as a useful attribute.

But wait. Aren’t these rather dated ideas? An opposite argument says contemporary creativity is largely collaborative. Maybe the romantic genius is dead, replaced by the faceless ‘team’. After all, art is no longer made in ateliers. Music is no longer created by scruffy long-haired Germans struggling to finish unfinished symphonies.

The great creative forms of our age are the movies, industrial design and rock music. And these are all so complicated, it is impossible to attribute authorship to an individual. Who made the movie? The scriptwriter? The director? The cinematographer? Or a combination of all three? We’ll not even mention the actors. Or take the design of an automobile. Yes, an individual called a designer at some stage imposed his creative will onto a problem set by the marketing department and by product planners, but the designer’s contribution to the finished product is, in terms of time, cost or influence, only a small percentage of the whole. In most manufacturers, the designer genius is subordinate to production engineers and fixed-cost accountants.

And is Richard Rogers a genius of an architect? Of course, but he has about 200 very helpful support genii around him in his studio. And still he had to hire structural engineers to work out how Heathrow’s Terminal 5 stands up.

The modern genius has a multiple personality. Jonathan ‘iPod’ Ive is a designer of rare creative originality, but Apple CEO Steve Jobs made Ive’s achievement possible. T.S. Eliot once moaned about working in the dark, struggling with the ‘madness of art’. Eliot was a poet of genius, but we simply don’t do poetry any more.

Stephen Bayley questions the notion of individual brilliance in a collaborative age

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What isgenius?

Mind’s Eye

M O R E B O D Y & M I N D

THE RED BULLETIN IS PUBLISHED BY RED BULLETIN GmbH. PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NORMAN HOWELL EXECUTIVE EDITOR ANTHONY ROWLINSON CHIEF SUB-EDITORS PAUL WILSON, NANCY JAMES PRODUCTION EDITOR REBECCA ELING CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ANDREAS TZORTZIS PHOTO EDITOR SUSIE FORMAN DEPUTY PHOTO EDITOR CATHERINE SHAW DESIGN MILES ENGLISH, JAMES GREENHOW, PHIL SLADE CONTRIBUTORS TOM HALL, RUTH MORGAN PRODUCTION MANAGER ADAM CARBAJAL DEPUTY PRODUCTION MANAGER LEE LAUGHTON WEB MANAGER WILL RADFORD CHIEF WEB EDITOR PAUL KEITH WEB EDITOR TOM HOWELL OFFICE MANAGER KATE ROBSON ADMIN ASSISTANT SARAH THOMPSON. THE RED BULLETIN IS PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN AUSTRIA, THE UK AND GERMANY ON THE FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH. UK OFFICE: 14 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON W1D 3QG, +44 20 7434-8600. AUSTRIAN OFFICE: HEINRICH-COLLIN-STRASSE 1, A-1140 VIENNA, +43 1 90221-28800. WEBSITE: WWW.REDBULLETIN.COM. PRINTED BY PRINOVIS LIVERPOOL LTD, 4 DAKOTA DRIVE, ESTUARY COMMERCE PARK, SPEKE, LIVERPOOL L24 8RJ. FOR ALL ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: SALES MANAGER, THE RED BULLETIN ADAM PHILLIPS +44 (0)20 7434 8605, OR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, THE INDEPENDENT SIMON HOSANNAH +44 (0)20 7005 2137, OR EMAIL [email protected]

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Your contribution makes a difference. Donate on www.wingsforlife.com

It was in a car accident that he suffered a severe injury of the cervicalspine and for him time in just one second seemed to freeze. About 2.7 million people worldwide have a very similar story to tell. But they were less lucky than Gerhard Berger. Since their accidents these people have been confi ned to wheel chairs. Diagnosis: paraplegia.

Spinal cord injuries were long deemed to be uncurable. Trail-blazing successes in laboratory tests, however, have proved that cure is feasible. To guarantee progress in the complex field area of nerveregeneration, the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundationsubsidizes the world’s top research projects to cure the injured spinal cord.

Because paraplegia must not remain a question of fate.

Gerhard Berger.10-time Formula 1-Grand Prix winner and Wings for Life Ambassador.

“Fate sometimes takes a turn in just one second.”

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For all things Animal check out:

Photographer: Robin Kitchin

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