Peaks blanketed by snow and the chilling winds drive you to the white snowy ends of the earth to take you on the ride of a lifetime. Not all sports might seem interesting or appeal to the viewers equally, but this winter sport is one that has the potential or has remained one sport that people all around the world have loved watching or trying. This sport neither is the one that can be played on the normal grounds of the streets nor is the one that can be played within an enclosure on sleek wood panels. This is one adventure sport that many aspires to try out, and like any other adventure sport, this also requires proper guidance and grooming before hitting the snowy escarpments. Visit luxury ski holidays with skiweekends.com to explore more about the skiing possibilities and vacation packages (with all facilities including grooming) for a chilling and elating experience.
Skiing is the sport of sliding down the snow-covered slopes of the hills with a pair of long, flat runner pads called skis which is fixed onto the shoes or boots worn by the skier.
History of skis
Like any other sport, skiing too has a history and has quite an interesting course of events to list down in the historical section of this sport. Skiing was discovered in Russia, back in 8000 BC, not as a sport back then but people used to use these skis for transportation purposes. Many signs of the historic significance of skiing were found in the form of carvings and resides of skis in different parts of the world, mostly in Europe (Sweden and Norway).
The places with extremely cold climate and relentless snowstorms are the places where the use of skis was frequent for transportation and also for hunting. The invention of skis was claimed by the Lapps, from where the practice of skiing is believed to have been born. In some parts of Russia, skis are still used for transportation purposes.
Development of skiing into a sport
In the early 19th century the sport of skiing was curbed by fixing the boot to the ski only by the toe, making it impossible to ski downhill, which required great manipulation or maneuvering. Harnessing the ski to slide over the snowy surface at a smooth pace with those two poles is not an easy task, only ones with great experience can negotiate those sharp turns and risky edges. In 1930, the technology of rope tows and chairlifts was brought into the picture and hence made the ascend uphill easy, from where skiing was done downhill. Before that technology, people used to ascend the hill to a spot from where they could easily ski downhill with less risk.
With every new technology introduced into the field of skiing, the number of skiing aspirants subsequently increased. By the 1960’s the trend of TV coverage had taken over the sport to another level when the sport was let out of obscurity. Many people adored the sport and viewers started increasing in the years that followed.
Ski
The skiing equipment or ski, in the initial days, was manufactured using wooden materials and as time passed new components were added into the manufacturing of these ski pads. The laminations and plastic materials that were used in the later ages of the sport made the equipment more stable, and easy to use over the surfaces and durability was assured more with the skis that were made out of these materials.
The height of the Alpine ski should almost be equal to the height of the skier, be it a male or a female skier and this ski should have almost a width of 7.6 cm. In the case of Nordic classic skis, the height should be about 6.9 ft, whereas in the case of Nordic freestyle skis the height should be somewhat 6.2 ft.
Types of Skiing
Alpine skiing
This was developed as competitive skiing in central Europe in the Alps. In Alpine skiing, the skiing is done downhill with fixed-heel attachments to the ski, which is the trademark factor of Alpine skiing, whereas in the other skiing types ski jumping and cross-country skiing the attachments are free-heel.
Nordic skiing
Its evolution was within the terrains of Norway which later adopted by many skiers and is now categorized into different events which include ski-jumping and cross-country skiing.
The classification of skiing can be done also as:
- Recreational skiing:ย This is the type of skiing under which most skiing activities can be categorized. The people who occasionally visit ski resorts for recreational purposes and vacations are the recreational skiers.
- Freestyle skiing:ย This includes competitions like Freestyle Olympics and many more which incorporates the activities of people who freestyle; the experts do these in areas that are not completely patrolled.
- Backcountry skiing:ย this type is completely for the experts, which would unpatrolled areas and areas out of the limits of ski resorts which might not be well-guided or groomed.
Skiing has developed as an adventure sport which all people have an urge to try once in their lives. Skiing also is a healthy activity, which was proved with the downhill skiing being almost equitable to the activity of cycling. The skiing experience is a magical one that everyone should make a point to include in their bucket-list.
