skiing

A cross-country skier in the Dolomites, Italy. The recreational sport of skiing can be broken down into four distinctly different activities, of which downhill (usually on a marked piste or run with only a limited amount of traversing across the slope) is the most popular. Slalom skiing involves many regular turns on a course set between flags; the other types are ski-jumping and cross-country skiing, the latter being more popular in the Nordic countries.

Self-propulsion on snow by means of elongated runners (skis) for the feet, slightly bent upward at the tip. It is a popular recreational sport, as cross-country ski touring or as downhill runs on mountain trails; events include downhill; slalom, in which a series of turns between flags have to be negotiated; cross-country racing; and ski jumping, when jumps of over 150 m/490 ft are achieved from ramps up to 90 m/295 ft high. Speed-skiing uses skis approximately one-third longer and wider than normal with which speeds of up to 200 kph/125 mph have been recorded. Recently, snowboarding, the use of a single, very broad ski, similar to a small surf board, has become increasingly popular. Monoskiing, where both feet face the front, side-by-side, on a single ski, is also practised.

Skiing was known as a means of transportation across snow in northern Europe and Asia from about 3000 BC, but developed into a sport when innovations in ski design made it possible to manoeuvre more accurately, around 1896. Ski resorts then began as a winter holiday business in Europe and the USA, but not until the 1970s did skiing become a recreation for any but the wealthy or those who lived in ski conditions. The Alpine World Cup was first held in 1967.