Tag Archives: alpine

This Week’s Rent: Is North Face the Best Mountain-Climbing Movie Ever?

Mountain-climbing is, presumably, a balls-out thrill, but for the most part movies about mountain-climbing are dreary. The upward pace is glacial, the perils are predictable, the stakes are, shall we say, not so high. (Nobody starts humping K2 because they have to.) Truly, it’s the avocation of freaks, at least in the U.S. In the Alpine countries, it’s more of a hairy-chested lifestyle, and so Philipp Stölzl’s North Face (2008) has a intimacy with the ordeal that doesn’t come off merely as extreme-sport megalomania.

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This Week’s Rent: Is North Face the Best Mountain-Climbing Movie Ever?

2010 Winter Olympics Schedule: Don’t Miss A Thing

Olympics kick off tonight with the opening ceremony at 7:30 p.m. ET. By Josh Wigler Photo: Clive Mason/ Getty Images The 2010 Winter Olympics start Friday (February 12) in Vancouver, British Columbia, and while the various athletes and competitors are busy focusing on the tasks ahead, viewers at home have an important challenge of their own to overcome: figuring out when all the events will take place. While qualifying rounds for ski jumping and alpine skiing get under way Friday, the day’s main attraction is the highly anticipated opening ceremony. Coverage begins on NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET, but very few details are known at this point beyond the fact that it will take place inside of Vancouver’s BC Place before an audience of nearly 55,000 attendees. It marks the first time the ceremony has commenced indoors. Additionally, the much-buzzed remake of “We Are the World” is set to make its debut at some point during NBC’s coverage of the opening ceremony. Organized by Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones as a benefit for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti, “We Are the World — 25 for Haiti” features several artists such as Janet Jackson , Jordin Sparks , Kanye West and others, including some yet-unrevealed performers. The first full day of athletic competition begins Saturday, with events including alpine skiing (men’s downhill at 11:45 a.m. PT), speed skating (men’s 5,000-meter at noon PT), biathlon (women’s 7.50-kilometer sprint at 1 p.m. PT) and freestyle skiing (women’s moguls at 4:30 p.m. PT and 7:30 p.m. PT). A full schedule for the two-week competition’s events can be found below. All times are Vancouver time (PT). Saturday, February 13

Olympic Athletes to Watch

Lindsey Vonn The most successful female skier in U.S. Continue reading

Pope fractures wrist

Pope Benedict XVI emerged smiling from the hospital Friday after undergoing surgery for a broken wrist due to a fall at his Alpine vacation chalet.

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Pope fractures wrist