Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
True understanding of the sport from beginner to expert, April 11, 2005
This review is from: Unlimited Clean Oxygen Fed Sport (Nordic Skiing) Special Edition (DVD)
I'm the head coach of a college xc racing program and I enjoy new material to dig my teeth into. I picked this DVD set up for our local club's end of season party. Boy! I wish I had bought it sooner, and may be two copies. The kids and coaches played it over and over. The first DVD in the package is an "action documentary" - fun fun fun. Not only did it really capture the spirit of the sport, but explained the whole cross-training, dryland and on-snow stages in a skiers development. The technical standard of skiing presented in this disk is truly elite. No wonder it constitutes required viewing by the highest level coaching certification up in Canada. There are over 50 world class athletes and I lost count of the number of World Cup - Olympic Skiers showing their stuff outside of a racing context. The second DVD in the package has bout 3 hours of instuctional material, demonstrated in detail, by some of the best skiers in the world (Olympic Gold Medalists and World Champs again). The material takes someone from beginner right up to expert levels. The narrative, imagery and special features are rich in depth and show true understanding of the sport, at various levels. It is simply the most comprehensive package for the sport of xc skiing to date. The menu structure let us go directly to where we needed to. Although, I would have liked a play-all button. I researched the Internet, and spoke to my fellow coaches and club members, before purchasing this DVD. It was highly recommended and lived up to the praise. Incidently, the entire script is on the web site xczone.tv, so I knew exactly what to expect. I was surprised, however, to read the spiteful review by Mimi Westphalen from Colorado here on amazon. It appeared completely out of context with the 17 other reviews by Sports Associations, Olympic Coaches, Instructors, World Cup Athletes, all the major ski magazines and other skiing enthusiasts. To say that the DVD covers things in a superficial manner is bizzare beyond all reason. Sounds like there is a hang up here. As for race footage, just copy the events off TV like everyone else. Personnally, I prefer the superior and professional presentation that Unlimited Nordics Skiing provided to our club and coaching staff. My advice to readers is to ask around, read what reputable sources have to say and view the product web site xczone.tv for the scripts, previews and explainations in order to understand exactly what you are getting.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely gorgeous stuff, December 23, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Unlimited Clean Oxygen Fed Sport (Nordic Skiing) Special Edition (DVD)
I just watched "Unlimited" again - the first time, there was just too much to take in and talk about. This is another excellent film from xczone. It's different from "On Snow" and "The Dao", in that it is not just about xc skiing, but more about attitude and lifestyle and how great it is to be fit and in shape and living places where you can play outside and make your life wonderful. Consequently it plays to a much broader audience than either "On Snow" or "The Dao". If the xc scenes affect non-skiers the way the mountain biking segments hit me, this film will be very successful. The film covers a lot of ground - it's structured according to seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall) and covers deals with oxygen-fed sports and the people who do them and the places where they do them. The winter one is the opener, and has great stuff - starts out on woodies, with people trudging through the woods being retro, and then they come onto a skating track and two of them wind up skating in leather boots and 7'skis, with shots of guys telemarking backwards- it's pretty wild. Then they go nuts and show crazy people doing backscratchers and helicopters and all kinds of
outrageous stuff (on new gear this time). Then they go to Bend for the spring section and ski with Justin and Beckie up in the mountains - this is absolutely gorgeous stuff. Wadsworth makes the comment about how great it is when you're in shape that you feel almost superhuman, and can look at a ten thousand foot mountain and know you can run up it. (well, maybe he can...) The shots of him and Beckie are
absolute clinics on how to ski. The summer seg is mostly in the Gatineau Park and surroundings, and will make everybody realize why we live here - great mountain bike and trail running shots, and conversations with competitors and triathletes and it just goes on and on. There's a great segment in the last part of the film is what Dave refers to as BMX XC. They race two guys up a ski lift hill, then back down, and it's based on both speed and style, and they're encouraged to get in each others' way, and there's some fantastic and very entertaining stuff going on. There's also unbelievable talent in this film - masters champions, xc sprint champions, polar explorers, doctors, housewives, ski salesmen, people who have to be nuts, factory reps - excellent excellent people. The package comes with two disks - one is the "Unlimited" film, and the other is an instructional DVD that is invaluable for clubs and anyone who's teaching skiing. It's very very good. There's a whole bunch more on there, but too much to talk about - interviews, out takes, director's commentary, etc... all in all, well worth having. - Tim Dudley
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, January 30, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Unlimited Clean Oxygen Fed Sport (Nordic Skiing) Special Edition (DVD)
"Combining graceful athletes, fantastic locations and an upbeat soundtrack, XCZONE's "Unlimited" will certainly invite new people to try cross country skiing. Undoubtedly, current skiers will feel an adrenaline shot in the arm-or perhaps envy-just watching world class athletes ski top North American Nordic locations." - CROSS COUNTRY SKIER MAGAZINE
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