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Park Avenue Skier Becomes YouTube Sensation

By Amy Zimmer | January 5, 2011 5:47pm | Updated on January 6, 2011 6:43am

By Amy Zimmer

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — Chris Branca, a 29-year-old who lives in the Flatiron district, is getting his 15 minutes of fame. A YouTube video of him skiing 40 mph down Park Avenue while being towed by a Range Rover the night of the big snowstorm has gone viral.

The video he sent to 12 friends as a sort of postcard from the storm has since been viewed more than 166,000 times. After being featured on New York Magazine’s website, it popped up on other media outlets from Gawker to CNN, and Branca made an appearance on "Inside Edition." (No one seems to have mentioned the speed limit on city streets is 30 mph.)

Branca told DNAinfo he had never ventured on snowy city streets before, but decide to this time because, "We had been inside all day…five of us in my little city apartment. I started getting a little cabin crazy."

His friends rigged a rope to an SUV just after midnight on Monday, Dec. 27, riding around for an hour on unplowed streets that gave them a nearly clear stretch — save for some abandoned cars, some pedestrians walking in the middle of the street (who Branca almost hit) and the potentially dangerous empty patches above steam vents and manholes. He did wipe out a few times, but walked away only with bruises.

"Park Avenue was the biggest stretch and all of the lights were timed perfectly," said Branca, who grew up skiing on the East Coast but "got better out West" when he went to college in Boulder, Colo.

"I had wilder sensations on downhill slopes when I didn’t see something, but I’d definitely get nervous in blind alley and side streets. And I had to deal with the wash of the vehicle," he said.

Branca assumes his moment in the spotlight will quickly fade. The notoriety only resulted in a bit of bounce: An old girlfriend he hadn’t spoken with in three years sent him an e-mail.

"She told me my name popped up in her Google news alert," Branca said.