Austrian ski racer explodes in colour

10th April 2015, by Abi Butcher

World Champion skier Marcel Hirscher in action. Photo: Markus Berger/Red Bull

Four-time World Champion skier Marcel Hirscher took part in an extraordinary stunt for Red Bull last week — painting the slopes of his local resort technicolour.

The Austrian champion skied down a specially designed course of slalom poles in Reiteralm filled with biodegradable cornstarch die that exploded with colour when he hit them.

The vibrant result against the blue sky and white snow — as these photographs and the below video demonstrate — was stunning.

Photo: Markus Berger/Red Bull Content Pool

“It was a surreal experience – simply amazing! I couldn’t ski with the speed I normally do in races, even though the course was very steep in the first part, up to 75 per cent incline,” Hirscher, 26, told Red Bull.

“At each gate I was blinded for a split second because I had to ski through a cloud of yellow and blue.”

And why did they do this?

“We wanted to bring a new, cool element into skiing and create unforgettable images,” he said, simply. “And I think we succeeded!”

Watch the explosive action video here.

• ski
• snow
• skiing
• austria
• race
• red bull

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