Dig This: At Winter X Games They’ll Be Racing on a Shovel

If Mike Miller had learned to ski 26 years ago, instead of sitting on his butt all day while working at a New Mexico ski resort, this weekend’s Winter X Games at Snow Summit at Big Bear Lake wouldn’t be nearly the wild and wacky Xtravaganza they promise to be.

It was Miller’s job, at Angel Fire ski resort, to fill in bare spots with fresh snow. With a grain shovel in hand, he rode the lift up the mountain each morning. Then he’d sit in the scoop, grip the D-shaped handle, and ride his shovel down, stopping to fill in bare spots along the way.

Some of the ski instructors got

on Miller’s case, so one day he challenged the ski school director, Bill Burgess, to a race.

Burgess, on skis, kicked Miller’s butt. Then Miller challenged Burgess to a race with both men riding shovels. Miller kicked Burgess’ butt.

The sport of shovel-racing was born.

Today, shovel races have become so popular at Angel Fire that its annual world championships draw more than 250 competitors in several divisions, from basic shovels to super-modified versions that don’t resemble shovels at all, looking more like dragsters with skis instead of wheels.

“But they all must have a shovel beneath the pilot’s posterior,” assures Burgess, now 59 and race organizer for the X Games.

Why has ESPN, creator of this made-for-TV madness, adopted this bizarre form of downhill racing?

Because it makes great television. There are only 12 competitors at Snow Summit--half of them from New Mexico--and all will be racing up to 500-pound super-modified shovels, also referred to as “sleds.” But they are 12 of the fastest-sliding, shovel-riding daredevils known to man, reaching speeds of more than 80 mph in their souped-up shovels.

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A brief look at the other “alternative sports” in the X Games, which run through Sunday and are being televised by ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC:

SNOWBOARDING

The “heart and soul” of the games features four disciplines for men and women. They are:

--Slopestyle. Boarders must negotiate a course loaded with such obstacles as bumps, berms, slides, spines and rollers and are judged on style, execution and originality.

--Half-pipe. Perhaps the most visually spectacular of the disciplines. Boarders ride a channel carved in the snow and perform such oddly-named tricks as 720 corkscrews, method leans, seatbelts, mute stiffies and front-side 540 spazes.

Big Air. Basically a big jump during which boarders are judged on the difficulty of their tricks and execution.

--Boarder X. Six boarders per heat in a downhill race over moguls, jumps, banks and bumps.

One of many to watch is Shaun Palmer, 28, of South Lake Tahoe. His list of accomplishments is impressive and he is the first to acknowledge that. “I’m the legend, the king of snowboarding,” he says.

On the women’s side, there is Megan Pischke of Vail, Colo., who got into competitive snowboarding despite her father’s objections. He thought “snowboarders just sat around on the couch and smoked pot all the time,” she says. “It took him a while to get used to it. When he saw me in magazines, he thought it was rad.”

SNOW MOUNTAIN BIKING

This is just like regular mountain biking, except the tires are studded for traction. Disciplines include dual downhill on a gated course with bumps, jumps and berms, and dual speed, down a slick course where riders reach speeds of more than 80 mph.

Definitely one to watch is Missy Giove, 25. The dreadlock-sporting, nose ring-wearing downhiller from Durango, Colo., who crashes more than most, knows no fear. Well, she knows fear very well, but she likes it.

“Anything that scares me, I love,” she says. “I like to end the day with a scary movie. I like to drive fast, like at 110 mph. I do better in extreme conditions.”

ICE CLIMBING

The X Games are introducing competitive ice climbing to North America, and the climbers will be judged on degree of difficulty and speed while ascending a refrigerated three-dimensional, 50-foot, 180-ton man-made ice tower.

Among those to watch is Alex Lowe, appropriately nicknamed “The Lung with Legs.” Lowe, 38, of Bozeman, Mont., once climbed from 7,200 feet to 19,200 feet on Alaska’s Mt. McKinley in 11 hours. In 1993 he made the summit of Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America at 22,835 feet, three times in a week. It was then that he was given his nickname, El Pullmon Con Piernas.”

CROSS-OVER

Just what the name implies. Basically, a competition with six pro snowboarders who also have talent in either in-line skating, skateboarding or bicycle stunt riding, and six who specialize in half-pipe skateboarding with talent in snowboarding.

The disciplines are slopestyle snowboarding and vert competition. In the vert competition, two in-line skaters, two skateboarders and two bicycle stunt riders, along with six snowboarders, will perform on the half-pipe, one with snow and the other, obviously, without.

Each of the 12 will take three runs down the slopestyle course, and then be grouped in fours according to discipline. Within each group, riders will take three runs, the highest of which will be the final vert score. The combination of final scores from slopestyle and vert contests will determine the winner.

BOATING

The 41st Southern California Boat Show, featuring nearly 1,000 boats in a 4,000-square-foot showcase, will celebrate its 25th anniversary at the Los Angeles Convention Center with a nine-day run beginning Saturday.

Show hours are 1-9 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. Cost is $8 for adults, free for children 12 and under.

ANTARCTIC BLAST

Borge Ousland, 34, the Norwegian polar explorer who set out last fall to become the first person to cross Antarctica alone and without airdrops, animal or motorized support, achieved his goal after trudging for 64 days on skis across a blustery, white wasteland where temperatures dipped as low as minus-63 degrees.

Ousland, who began Nov. 15 from Berkner Island on the Weddell Sea, with a sled loaded with 400 pounds of supplies, covered 1,764 miles, about 27 a day--he harnessed the power of the wind, when he could, with a para-sail--before arriving at McMurdo Sound on the Ross Ice Shelf on Jan. 17.