Skiing

Encyclopedia : S : SK : SKI : Skiing

Members of the US Air Force skiing (and snowboarding) at Keystone Resort's 14th Annual SnoFest

An alpine skier

Deep powder skiing

Skiing is the activity of gliding over snow using skis (originally wooden planks, now usually made from fiberglass or related composites), with metal edges, strapped to the feet with ski bindings. Originally used primarily for transportation, skiing evolved into a popular recreational and competitive activity during the 20th century.

Contents

History

Skiing probably evolved gradually from snowshoeing and originally was a practical way of getting quickly from place to place in snowy climates. Early forms of skiing resembled today's Nordic, or cross-country, style.

Sondre Norheim is often called the "father of modern skiing". In the 19th century, Sondre Norheim invented bindings that enabled the skier to do turns while skiing down hills. This form of skiing was called Slalom (sla låm, Norwegian dialect expression for a difficult track) by Norheim and his contemporaries. This form of skiing is now referred to as Telemark or Telemark skiing.

The invention of firmer bindings to anchor the skier's feet to the ski, likely by Austrian Matthias Zdarsky, enabled the skier to turn more effectively and led to the development of Alpine, or Downhill, skiing.

Shortly thereafter, in the early 20th century, Austrian Hannes Schneider pioneered the idea of rotating the body to help steer the skis. Soon this Arlberg technique, named for his home region, spread around the world and helped make skiing a popular recreational activity.

Types of skiing

Many different types of skiing are popular, especially in colder climates, and many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Ski Federation (FIS), and other sporting organizations. Skiing is most visible to the public during the Winter Olympic Games where it is a major sport.

In skiing's traditional core regions in the snowy parts of Scandinavia, as well as in places such as Alaska, both recreational and competitive skiing is as likely to refer to the cross-country variants as to the internationally more well known downhill variants.

For many people, "skiing" refers to recreational downhill skiing where one visits a ski resort, purchases a lift ticket, dons cold-weather clothing, skis, ski boots and ski poles, and embarks on a chairlift, gondola lift, or other means of mechanical uphill transport. Upon reaching the summit, the skier disembarks from the ski lift and travels downhill, propelled by gravity, usually along a marked route known as a piste, 'run,' 'trail,' or 'slope'. Most ski resorts use mechanical equipment to 'groom,' or pack down and smooth, the snow surface on certain ski trails. Grooming is normally associated with trails of lesser difficulty. Off-piste skiing includes skiing in unmarked or unpatrolled areas either within the ski resort's boundaries or in the backcountry, frequently amongst trees ("glade skiing"), usually in pursuit of fresh fallen snow, known as powder.

Skiing or snowboarding outside a ski resort's boundaries, also known as out of bounds skiing, is illegal in some ski resorts, due to the danger of avalanches on the un-patrolled areas; or the cost of search-and-rescue for lost or overdue skiers. France and Canada are two of the few countries permitting this activity. However, lost or overdue backcountry travellers are usually held responsible for the cost of search-and-rescue service if uninsured. Backcountry skiers traveling in steep terrain prone to avalanches are encouraged to take avalanche training, travel with other experienced people, and carry special equipment for self-rescue.

Emergency medical technicians evacuating an injured skier from a ski area

Skiing technique is difficult to master, and accordingly there are ski schools that teach everything from the basics of turning and stopping safely to more advanced carving, racing, mogul or "bump" skiing and newer freestyle techniques. The venue, speed and technical difficulty associated with the sport can lead to collisions, accidents, hypothermia and other injury or illness, occasionally including death. Regional Ski Patrol organizations, such as the National Ski Patrol in the U.S., exist as a voluntary organization to provide guidance, help, medical assistance and emergency rescue to those in need of it.

Many non-skiers wonder why skiers are willing to risk such injury. Skiers have a variety of answers to this question, but a common explanation is that skiing simply feels exhilarating, rather like flying, and that, when done carefully, poses no greater risk of injury compared to other sports. Also, since the sport is often performed in remote areas at high altitudes, the air is clean, and the views may be very beautiful. Of course, there is some aspect of danger, but facing the danger is part of the appeal for some. For beginning skiers learning under a trained instructor, skiing speeds are low, the terrain is not steep and is often well-manicured, and the risks are relatively low. For extreme skiiers, testing their expert abilities against ever more challenging terrain, the risks may be much higher. Many skiers have had experiences where they have achieved a union of the mind and the body by practising this sport; where the mind trusts the body to perform in an exceptional manner and the body trusts the mind not to lead it off an un-navigable cliff. A sense of harmony and of peak experience can result in a feeling of wholeness of self.

In addition to its role in recreation and sport, skiing is also used as a means of transport by the military, and many armies train troops for ski warfare. Ski troops played a key role in retaining Finnish independence from Russia during the Winter War, and from Germany during the Lapland War, although the use of ski troops was recorded by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in the 13th century. The sport of Biathlon was developed from military skiing patrols.

Skiing was pronounced "she-ing" at the start of the 20th century, after the Norwegian pronunciation, and was usually written "ski-ing".

Skiing for people with disabilities

Snowbird ski resort

Downhill skiing for people with disabilities is a recreational pastime open to those with any manner of cognitive and/or physical disabilities. Adaptations include the use of outriggers, ski tip retention devices, ski sliders, sit skis (dual and mono), brightly colored guide bibs, ski guides, and inter-skier communication systems or audible clues for blind skiers. Recreational skiing programs for people with disabilities exist at mountains across the globe. In the Northeastern part of the United States, Maine Handicapped Skiing is one of the largest, operating out of the Sunday River ski resort. In the western part of the United States, the National Sports Center for the Disabled at Winter Park Resort near Denver, Colorado attracts world-class disabled athletes from Europe, Asia, and North America. Currently the International Ski Federation (FIS) sanctions a number of regional, national, and international disabled skiing events. Skiing for people with disabilities became popular after World War II with the return of injured veterans.

Skiing and society

In some places, particularly in the United States, skiing is often associated with wealth. Some resorts, particularly several in the American state of Colorado, are known as places where the affluent go on vacation.

The term "ski bum" has been used to classify skiers who want to spend the entire skiing season at the resort, engaging in their favorite sport and obtaining simple jobs, mainly in the local tourism industry to make a living; in reality, however, many different types of people engage in skiing. Some people take days off of work occasionally, go after work, after school, or on the weekends, for short trips if the ski resort is near their home. Recently, skiers and snowboarders have engaged in rivalry on and off the slopes, which is usually friendly and increases the notoriety of both sports; snowboarders often share hills with downhill skiers.

Trail ratings

North America

Man skiing slope overlooking Lake Tahoe

In North America, a color-shape rating system is used to indicate the difficulty of trail or slope.

There is no governing body that assigns difficulty ratings to ski trails. Instead, resorts assign ratings to their own trails, marking a given trail according to its relative difficulty when compared with other trails at that resort. As a result, identically-pitched trails at different resorts can have different ratings.

Although slope angle is the primary consideration in assigning a trail rating, other factors come into play - including trail width, normal snow conditions and whether or not the resort normally grooms the trail.

The ratings are as follows:

Green circle: The easiest pistes at a mountain. Green circles are generally wide and groomed, typically with slope angles ranging from 6% to 25%. These trails are typically the most popular trails among newer skiers and snowboarders.

Blue square: Intermediate difficulty, usually more difficult than slopes marked with a green circle. The slope angle commonly ranges from 25% to 40% and the snow is usually groomed. Blue runs comprise the bulk of pistes at most ski areas, and are usually among the most heavily trafficked.
Black diamond: Amongst the most difficult at a given mountain. Black diamond trails are steep (often 40% and up) and may or may not be groomed, though the introduction of winch cats has made the grooming of steep slopes both possible and more frequent.
Double black diamond: Even more difficult than black diamond, due to exceptionally steep slopes, and other hazards such as narrow trails, exposure to wind, presence of obstacles such as steep dropoffs or trees. They are intended only for the most experienced skiers. Until the 1980s, by convention, North American ski resorts limited trail ratings to green circle/blue square/black diamond. But technological improvements in trail construction and maintenance, coupled with intense marketing competition, led to the creation of this new trail rating symbol.
Variations: Variations such as doubling a symbol to indicate increased difficulty, or combining two different symbols to indicate an intermediate difficulty are occasionally used.
Terrain Parks: Terrain parks are small parts of trails, or sometimes their own, that have a variation of jumps, halfpipes, and other "extreme" sporting obstacles. The trails are represented by an orange horizontal oval-like shape. Usually, if you want to know how challenging the terrain park will be, notice what level trail it is on. If it is on a diamond or a double diamond, you can deduct that the obstacles will be more challenging than then others in places where the level is a square.

Europe

In Europe, pistes or slopes are classified by a similar, colour-coded system, although shapes are not used (all ratings are circles). The ratings are:

Green: Learning or 'baby' slopes. These are usually not marked trails, but tend to be large open, gently sloping areas at the base of the ski area.
Blue: An easy trail, similar to the North American Green Circle, and are almost always groomed, or on so shallow a slope as not to need it.
Red: An intermediate slope. Steeper, or narrower than a blue slope, these are usually groomed, unless the narrowness of the trail prohibits it.
Black: An expert slope. Steep, may or may not be groomed, or may be groomed for mogul. It is worth noting that 'Black' can be a very wide classification, ranging from a slope marginally more difficult than a 'Red' to very steep avalanche chutes like the infamous Couloirs of Courchevel.
Yellow: In recent years, many resorts reclassified some black slopes to yellow slopes. This signifies a skiroute, an ungroomed and unpatrolled slope which is actually off-piste skiing in a marked area. Famous examples are the Stockhorn area in Zermatt and the Tortin slopes in Verbier. In Austria, skiroutes are usually marked with orange squares instead.

Alpine slope classification is less rigidly tied to slope angle than in North America. A lower angle slope may be classified as more difficult than a steeper slope if, for instance, it is narrower &/or requires better skiing ability to carry speed through flatter sections while controlling speed through sharp hairpin turns, off-camber slope angles or exposed rock.

Japan

Japan uses a color-coded system, but shapes do not usually accompany them. Some resorts, mainly those catering to foreigners, use the North American or European color-coding system, adding to the confusion. When in doubt, check the map legend. The usual ratings are:

Green: Beginner slopes. These are usually near the base of the mountain, although some follow switchback routes down from the top.
Red: Intermediate slopes. At most ski areas in Japan, these constitute the majority of the slopes (40% to 60%, depending on how the slopes are accounted).
Black: Expert slopes. These are the steepest and most difficult slopes at the ski area. The difficulty of these compared to like-classified slopes at other ski areas is heavily dependent on the target audience.

Japan has more than 600 ski areas (108 in Nagano Prefecture alone), many of them small and family-oriented, so comparisons between the three slope classifications in Japan and "equivalent" slopes in Europe or North America should be taken with a grain of salt.

Snow and weather

Skiers and snowboarders can encounter a wide range of snow and weather conditions, in part due to the location of specific resorts and global weather patterns at the time.

Natural snow ranges in consistency from very light and fluffy to dense and heavy, depending upon atmospheric conditions as it falls. Snow is often measured by moisture content, or the amount of water in a given volume of snow. Some areas of the United States' Rocky Mountains, for example, can receive considerable amounts of snow with a moisture content as low as three to five percent; in the Northeastern United States and the Alps, moisture content is more typically 15 percent or more. Snow made by mechanical snowmaking often has moisture content of 35 percent or more.

Temperatures play a critical role in snow moisture content, but other atmospheric conditions are also relevant. Air currents and other factors determine snow crystal shape; obviously, the farther apart given snow crystals are, the more air is contained in the newly settled snow, resulting in lower net moisture content in a given volume of snow. Snow produced mechanically typically has high relative moisture content and low amounts of loft because the crystal structure resembles small, dense pellets.

Even the fluffiest snow has mass, and snow typically settles under its own weight after time. This is one reason why untouched snow measuring 20 cm on the day it falls might be measured at 15 cm the day following. Snow is also subject to sublimation - a process by which water can go directly from a frozen state to a gaseous state without first melting. It is this same process that ultimately makes ice cubes shrink in a freezer.

There are other factors that impact snow beyond its moisture content and crystal shape, however. Snow is impacted by wind, sunlight, skier traffic, ambient air temperature, relative humidity and grooming equipment; all of these factors combine to change snow crystal shape and density over time.

Thus, skiers and snowboarders typically encounter a wide range of snow conditions over the course of a season. Some of the more common conditions include:

Powder: Light, fluffy snow, found during and immediately after a snowstorm. Skiing and snowboarding in deep powder snow is a favorite among skilled, experienced skiers and snowboarders; sometimes know as powderhounds.

Packed Powder: Packed Powder is powder snow that has been compressed, either by means of mechanical snow grooming apparatus or skier traffic. The term can also be used to describe snow that has been properly made with adequate control over snowmaking apparatus. This snow condition is favored by beginners and the majority of recreational skiers, in that it tends to be relatively forgiving, easy to turn upon, and requires less skill to negotiate than powder snow.

Granular snow: Granular snow crystals are small pellets. Depending on sun and temperature conditions, it may be wet granular snow - meaning that there is a considerable amount of unfrozen water in it, or loose granular snow, which has no unfrozen water. Wet granular snow will form a snowball; loose granular snow will not. Wet granular conditions are often found in the springtime. Loose granular conditions are generally produced when wet granular snow has re-frozen and then been broken up by snowgrooming apparatus.

Corn snow: Corn snow is the result of repeated daily thaws and nightly re-freezing of the surface. Because of the thaw-refreeze cycle, snow crystal shapes change over time, producing crystal shapes somewhat akin to wet granular, but larger. True corn snow is a delight to ski or ride.

Ice: skiers and snowboarders typically regard any snow condition that is very hard as 'ice.' In fact, true ice conditions are comparatively rare. Much of what is perceived to be ice is actually a frozen granular condition - wet granular snow that has refrozen to form a very dense surface. Telling the difference is comparatively easy; if one can get a ski pole to stand up in it, the surface is likely to be more of a frozen granular surface than an icy one - and while it's certainly not as enjoyable as many other snow conditions, skilled skiers and snowboarders can successfully negotiate it. In fact, it's a preferred condition among racers, in that the surface tends to be quite fast and race course conditions tend to remain more consistent during the race, with fewer ruts developing on the course. Another form of icy condition can be found at higher elevation resorts in the Rocky Mountains and in Europe; direct sunlight can melt the top layers of snow crystals and subsequent freezing and produce a very shiny, slick surface.

Crust: Crusts are extremely challenging conditions. A crust condition exists when soft snow is covered by a harder upper layer upon the surface. This crust can be created by freezing rain (precipitation formed in warmer upper levels of the atmosphere, falling into a temperature inversion at which surface temperatures are below freezing, and freezing on contact with the ground), by direct sunlight, and by wind loading which packs down the upper layers of the snowpack but leaves lower layers more or less unaffected.

Spring Conditions: a catch-all term ski areas use to describe conditions when numerous different surface types can be found on the mountain - usually in the later part of the season, although the term is sometimes used during an extended midwinter thaw. The term also generally reflects the presence of bare spots and/or areas of thin cover. With spring conditions, the snow is usually firm in early morning (even reaching frozen granular status if left ungroomed), breaking a softer corn or wet granular surface mid-day, and is often very soft and mushy in afternoon (many skiers refer to this type of snow condition as 'mashed potatoes," due to its heaviness). In some instances when the snow is untracked, sun baked, slightly dirty, with the consistency of a snow cone, it is called 'tecate powder.' The speed with which conditions change on a given spring day is directly related to the exposure of the slope relative to the sun. East- and south-facing slopes tend to soften first; west-facing slopes generally soften by mid-day. North-facing slopes may hold on to their overnight snow conditions throughout the day.

New developments

The combination of kiteboarding technology with skiing has led to the creation of a new sport, snowkiting. Harnessing the pull of the wind with a kite, snowkiters are able to make very large jumps and travel uphill.

Trivia

Skiing is one of the few words in the English language that contains two "i"s in a row.

Skiing topics

Types of skiing

Alpine skiing (also known as Downhill skiing)
Backcountry skiing (also known as Off Piste skiing)
Cross-country skiing (also known as Nordic skiing)
Extreme skiing
Freeskiing
Heliskiing
Newschool skiing
Telemark skiing
Speed skiing
Ski jumping
Ski mountaineering
Ski touring
Snowboarding
Snowkiting
Freestyle skiing

Cat skiing is a type of snow skiing that involves the use of a snowcat to transport skiers up mountainous terrain rather than helicopters or ski lifts used at ski resorts. It is considered a form of backcountry skiing or off-piste skiing, as the hazards encountered in a backcountry mountain environment are the same and professionals often guide participants.

Turning techniques

Stem techniques
*The Snowplough - (also known as the wedge) - see snowplough turn
*The Stem Christie
Parallel turn
Carve turn
Telemark turn

Equipment

Competition events

Arlberg-Kandahar competition
Winter Olympic Games
Winter Paralympic Games
Four Hills Tournament
Winter X-Games

Alpine events

Nordic events

Skiing organizations

International organizations:

International Biathlon Union (IBU)
[International Free Skiers Association (IFSA)]
International Ski Federation (FIS)
[International Ski Instructors Association (ISIA)]
[International Skiing History Association (ISHA)]

National organizations:

Ski safety

Ski resorts

[National Ski Areas Association]

Ski lifts

Aerial tramway (or cable car)
Chairlift
Detachable chairlift (often a higher speed chairlift)
Funitel
Funicular
Gondola lift
Rope tow
Platter lift (or button lift)
T-bar lift
Telemix
Magic carpet

Other

Health and injuries

Ski videos and movies

Skiing and snowboarding video and movies as a genre, emerged with such classics as Otto Lang (film producer) Ski Flight, Warren Miller, Dirk Collins and other now famous ski movie makers.

[Snow Fun Down Under]A new 104-min (approx) Feature Documentary ('Digtial Movie') about snowplay in Australia (2006). Written & Producd by Paul Norris.

Ski video podcasts

With the new wave of podcasting, ski video podcasts started to appear, with pioneers such as:

[Northeast Ski Podcast] - Kevin Ashley's video podcast about skiing in the Northeast of the US.

[Snowflix] - A TV-style weekly podcast featuring plenty of riding, competitions, how-to's, rider interviews, reviews, top 5's and more.

[Ridertech.com] - Skiing and snowboarding video blog from the Pacific Northwest.

Related sports

External links

[Weather Forecasts and Snow Reports for resorts around the world] -- SNOW FORECAST
[Skiing Guide] -- The New York Times
Outdoor skiing alternative: Dubai Ski Dome (external link with statistics and images) ["Dubai Ski Dome"]
[Ski safety information] from Seattle Children's Hospital.
[Retro Ski - Ski History]
[Whistler chalets - rental agency in North America's top resort]

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