Watch a Professional Skier Shred the Slopes With His iPhone on a String
Who needs a selfie stick when you have science and great balance?
Professional skier Nicolas Vuignier was tired of GoPro footage, so he did the next logical thing: tied his iPhone to a string and swung it around his head while bombing down a mountain.
The footage he got is dizzyingly awesome, with the camera orbiting his head as he carves, jumps, grinds, and crashes through a run. Vuignier says getting the technique to work took him almost two years of trial and error — apparently skiing down a professional level course while swinging your iPhone like a lasso isn’t easy.
Vuignier told Tech Times he used 3D printing to make the custom “Centriphone” rig, which managed to hold his iPhone steady as skied. The design and innovative filming style all rely on Centripetal force keeping the phone whirling around Vuignier as he hurtles downhill. Centripetal force makes objects, like Vuignier’s iPhone, follow a curved path around a certain point — in this case, his hand.
Diagram of centripetal force. Picture this, but with more snow and a Swiss skier in the middle.
Combined with gravity, it’s also literally what makes the Earth go around the sun, why the moon orbits the Earth, and why the Magic Teacups at Disneyland are still pretty fun as an adult. An iPhone doesn’t weigh much, but with only one ski pole it’s pretty impressive that Vuignier keeps his balance as long as he does. Skiing is his full time job, after all.
Watch the full video below.
