FAI Skydiving Commission (ISC)

Parachute-Ski is a skydiving discipline within the ISC (International Skydiving Commission). The sport has its roots in mountain rescue operations, from back in the 1960’s, when there weren’t enough powerful helicopters which could deliver rescuers to the tops of the mountains. To reach their victims, the rescuers jumped in with PARACHUTES and then SKIED down the mountain to search for victims of avalanches.

The Para-Ski competition is a combined event where the Competitor performs an Accuracy Landing onto a slope and as the second event, they ski in a Giant Slalom, such as the events run at the FIS World Cup.   (Federation Internationale de Ski)

The first FAI World Para-Ski Championships took place in SARAJEVO (Former Yugoslavia) in 1987 followed by a World Meet which is held every two years.

Ranking:
As stated, this unique discipline of the Parachuting competition events combines the two sports which reflect the origins of this discipline - Giant Slalom and Accuracy Landing on a slope of between 25 and 35 degrees.

Each competitor makes two runs of a Giant Slalom course, designed and controlled by FIS under International Ski Regulations. Then, the competitor has to perform six parachute jumps from a helicopter, exiting at 1000 m. with the intention of landing onto an electronic landing pad which records the score.   The dead-centre target is a 2 cm disc in the center of the pad.

The electronics radiate outwards in rings of 1 cm increments to a maximum of 16 cm; being measured beyond by tape-measure to a maximum default of 30 cm.  If the jumper hits the 2cm disc with the first point of contact with the ground the score of 0 points as the best possible result is given. One point is added for each centimeter from the center.  At the end of the 6 rounds there is a cut-off for the final round which only counts for the individual event.

For the skiing portion of the event, the fastest time on the course is awarded 0 points as the best possible result. Each competitor's time is then converted to points; one point is scored for each 0,5 seconds slower than the fastest time. 

For the final ranking, the accuracy landing and skiing points are added.   The “Individual” winner is the competitor with the lowest total combined points. The winner of the Team Event is the team with the lowest added cumulative score of all team members (usually 4 members).

Parachute-Ski is an attractive skydiving discipline which generally takes place in ski resorts – however, the ski race can also be performed in ski halls..