Customer Reviews

Unlimited Clean Oxygen Fed Sport (Nordic Skiing) Special Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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

"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

"The Unlimited Nordic Skiing DVD by XCZONE.TV is remarkable, not only for its cinematography and energy, but for way in which the producers have actively engaged elite coaches, instructors and athletes throughout Canada and the USA, and achieved the best measure of consensus to date in what constitutes proper cross-country skiing technique." - ROGER ARCHAMBAULT, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR BIATHLON CANADA, CERTIFIED LEVEL 5 BIATHLON AND THE 1998 OLYMPIC COACH

Those Canucks really know how to do an outdoor sport movie.

None of this lame-o, poser stuff. It's all nature action all the time. With freely applied rowdy music. (The director's explanation part of the DVD says one of the main tunes was picked coz his young kid wanted it. Now that's a good reason! Play it if someone wants to hear it! Can't
lose.)

The DVD is "Unlimited: clean oxygen fed sport." Has everyone been watching theirs already?

OK, I'm already starting to feel, like, totally spoiled. I mean, what more do we need in this life anyway? We have that guy's TV feed uploads of XC racing to show us the best of how everyone is skiing with the click of a button. --Or to show us how the rollerski world cup is doing. I mean, everything we love is right there nowadays.

XCZONE came out with that last superhot XC film, now they come out with this one! My gosh! I hope it never ends, that's for sure!

Their new flick "UNLIMITED" follows a trajectory we all know and love and which no one else has paid attention to before: it shows what crazy outdoor people do all year 'round. Simple. Turn the camera on people doing their thing. Instant variety. Winter, spring, summer, fall, winter, spring... Plus lots of extra features. GEEZOPETES!

And holy smokes I just now realized that I haven't even watched THE TECH DVD YET! I've just been watching the MOVIE disc. Ha! More goodies ahoy. What a goof. ---I bet it'll even have something on why to not bring your feet together in V2.

Anyway, the darn movie starts as good as I could ask. Totally OYB: it's a video-show (I don't know what you call these things) that looks retro and is set up that way, to look like vintage 30's ski footage, of XC people on long old wood skis and ole leather boots. Then some freak in wool whips by doing a fool new skate move and the others join in. Fun follows as people explore what you can do with big boards: including some backwards tele action. Knickers in full deployment.

Then the whole rock'n'roll show starts in earnest and never lets up. You get yer skiing. Then a movie of a showdown between rock-runnin fools and mtbike champs on some great singletrack. Then bike racing, inline racing, rollerski racing, triathloning, a bunch of adventure racing...clapskating with Pilot-skates. My LORD! Toss in all kinds of nature footage, wave-paddling, hanggliding, and it's pure overdose.

The director's version is neat to watch because you learn how hard and tricky it all was to film. I guess filmmaker David had to do lots of running in front of and behind bikes on singletrack carrying a steadycam. Sounds like fun.

Did I say that Gatineau Park is HUGELY featured throughout??? WHAT A PLACE! I've never been there. Of course I have to go. I've had to go for years, now I really do. That RUINS stuff is wonderful! Why didn't y'all tell us?

The DVD ends up with a great long video-song of a rockin guitar playing dude in the Ruins with ski dudes and dudettes swirling around him the whole time. That video hugely needs some MTV rotation.

Thanks, David and Lise! Keep makin movies!

OK, I'm going to pop on that darn Tech disk now.

- Jeff Potter

The newest training supplement comes not in the form of a capsule, tablet, or liquid. No, it is a film titled, "Unlimited," and it packs more than 100% of the daily-recommended amount of adrenaline and motivation. The film captures off-road endurance sports at their finest and puts the beauty of Canada on the pedestal that it deserves.

Many a video has featured the excitement and adrenaline of gravity sports like snowboarding, white-water kayaking, or BASE jumping, but it is rare for a film to focus on "clean oxygen-fed sports" like trail running, Nordic and telemark skiing, rowing, triathlon, adventure racing, mountain biking, and in-line roller skiing. It is even more unusual for a film to portray these sports in such a fun and fluid manner. Fortunately for us viewers, XCZONE Film's principals decided to record their passions on film and produce "Unlimited" to create a very entertaining and exhilarating package. "Unlimited" follows the seasons with skilled athletes doing what they do best in different venues around Canada, highlighting its spectacular scenery as the film rolls.

David McMahon, an elite mountain runner, Nordic skier, and biathlete, and Lise Meloche, an Olympic and World Cup skier, combined their efforts to orchestrate the cinematography, location scouting, filming, and recruiting of talent that is a veritable who's who of Canadian endurance sports athletes. Runners will love the trail running scenes, some of which are mixed up with mountain bikers following or leading along tight singletrack and rocky trails. They will be able to learn from watching fast-paced trail and off-trail running that are nothing less then thrilling. Runners and non-runners alike will enjoy "Unlimited's" splashes of humor, shows of physical strength, fitness, and athleticism, the technical choreography, and the Canadian colors. - Running Times Magazine

These folks know how to do an outdoor sport movie. Actually, they're the ONLY folks who do aerobic outdoor action vid and I'm glad they do!

This is all nature action all the time. With freely applied rowdy music. (The director's track says one of the main tunes was picked coz his little kid wanted it. Now that's a good Canadian-style reason!)

This new flick follows a trajectory that outdoor people of so many stripes know and love and which no one else has covered before: it shows what we do all year 'round. Simple. Instant variety. Most people are generalists, no? So show it all...and this movie does.

Anyway, the movie starts as good as I could ask with retro footage of XC people on long old wood skis and ole leather boots...then some freak in wool whips by doing a fool new skate move and the others join in. Fun follows as people explore what you can do with big boards. Knickers and rock'n'roll in full deployment.

It never lets up. You get yer skiing. Then a showdown between rock-runnin fools and mtbike champs on singletrack. Then bike racing, inline racing, rollerski racing, triathloning, adventure racing...clapskating with Pilot-skates. LAND SAKES!

The thing is that none of it is what I'd call rad or extreme. There's air, but it's casual XC air that you can throw anywhere. People are bouncing here and there as they ski, but there's no special equipment. It's a movie about real life and fairly normal people, as action-movies go. It's truly just showing what an action outdoors person does all year. OK, these people are pros, and they have a great soundtrack, but many are MASTERS. They have KIDS. It's an accessible, friendly world of color. No attitude need apply.

They film a lot in Gatineau Park by Ottawa. I never knew how huge and rich that park is! Right by town. They have some worldclass XC events there for the whole family. I better visit!

The how-to disk is fine, too, using a lot of the same footage with coaching talk and slow-mo applied to teach all the various skills. Neat!

OK, and there's tons of other stuff included, including a whole other inspirational, instructional multi-media program called the Tao of Skiing that they usually sell separately. Whoa!

Those talented, techno-endurance folks up at Canada's xczone.com have cranked out yet another cutting edge product this fall. This time the two disk "Unlimited" DVD.

We've checked out a healthy amount of this product (there is a LOT there, believe us) and it is unquestionably a "next step" in both Banff festival-style XC film (of which xczone has produced the lion's share) as well as a worthwhile interactive competitor to the European "Perfect Skating" (featured in Summer 2003).

The music and image portion includes amazing footage and a driving soundtrack one usually finds more in X-Games than XC. Our favorite aspect of the DVD was the seasonal transitions and the comparisons between different endurance sports...still with a constant focus on the world's greatest sport. Very original ideas at work here!

--- XCSKIWORLD and AXCS (American Cross Country Skier)

"The motivational dimension of "Unlimited" is equally powerful, as the DVD captures and presents the excitement and energy of our sport with a passion that makes you wish winter was 365 days long." - CROSS-COUNTRY CANADA

"I have the video on nordic technique, its excellent...I took 50 minutes off my time at the Boulder Mountain Tour...." - Gary Szolnoki