Running 3,000 meters in a time of 2 hours, 6 seconds may seem like an easy challenge, but not when the three kilometers in question are not the distance covered, but the height of a mountain to climb. Vertical running, a unique subset of trail running or Skyrunning, is one of the most grueling competitions there is. It's a true test of stamina, strength and endurance. Short courses often mean all-out sprints from the get-go, but Red Bull K3 – the first 3,000m race – required some different strategy.
From sea to sky, Skyrunning spans the great outdoors, across the world’s mountain ranges…and the imagination of thousands of participants and fans. It’s a sport born in the wild, where the logic was to reach the highest peak in the shortest time from a town or village. Today it represents the peak of outdoor running defined by altitude and technicality and counts some 200 races worldwide with with around 50,000 participants from 65 countries. It is defined by the International Skyrunning Federation, as “running in the mountains above 2,000 meters altitude where the climbing difficulty does not exceed II° grade and the incline is over 30%”. Skyrunning was founded in 1992 by Italian, Marino Giacometti, President of the International Skyrunning Federation which sanctions the discipline worldwide and sports the tagline: “Less cloud. More sky”.
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Click on the map above to see a high resolution version The dialects spoken in Italy can be divided into four main groups:
Northern Tuscan Central Southern. The Northern are distinguished as follows: Gallo-Italic, spoken in Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy and Emilia, and so called because in these regions lived the Gauls; and Veneto. The Tuscan dialects are distinguished: Central, spoken in Florence, Western, spoken in Lucca, Pisa, Livorno; Southern, spoken in Siena and Arezzo. The Central dialects are: Northern Lazio; parts of Umbria; Marche The Southern dialects are as follows: Neapolitan, spoken in southern Lazio, Abruzzo, Campania, Basilicata and northern part of Puglia; and Sicilian, spoken in Salento, Calabria and Sicily. In addition, there are several other dialects: Sardinian dialects (Sardinia) The Istrian dialects (Istrian coast) Ladin dialects in Friuli, Dolomites. Each of these sub-classes of dialects can be broken down further into hundreds or thousands of local dialects. Still today, it is possible for hilltop villages within sight of each other to speak different dialects. Click the image above for a
VERY high resolution map of the City of Pompeii Click the photo above to watch the video Volo dell'Angelo translates as Flight of the Angel, but some may argue that the devil himself dreamed up this 70 mph zip-line adventure, the highest of its type in the world. You can find this taste of extreme Italy in the Lucane mountains of Basilicata, in southern Italy. The pinnacles towering over the twin villages of Pietrapertosa and Castelmezzano are called the Dolomiti Lucane. The villages and pinnacles are a reason to visit, even if there were no zip-line. The beauty of the rustic homes stacked among themselves, some carved out of the mountain and the amazing geology are something you won't want to miss. The villages are worth a 2-3 day stay, with rental apartments available to hikers and Angel flyers alike. These towns are a bit hard to reach, via extremely switch-backed mountain roads, often undercut (by floods and earthquakes). Just to drive to and from these villages is an adventure in and of itself. Personally, I loved the challenges and views offered on these precarious roads. The Volo dell'Angelo is created by tough steel wires crossing the valley--actually two lines, one going, one returning. There is a short but rugged hike up to the starting point from Castelmezzano, and a similar hike down to Pietrapertosa (in case you don't want a return flight). A ride is available to take you back to your starting point. Single or tandem flyers are "launched"--often with somewhat of a rushed, disorganized manner--with gravity sending across the gorge from one village to the other. At the time of writing, the Flight of the Angel is apparently the highest zip-wire in the world, and one of the fastest and longest. The top speed is around 120km/h / 70mph. While there, don't forget to climb the pinnacles in the towns... the views are amazing. --Jerry Finzi |
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