Essay On Alpine Skiing

80 countries have some form of ski area. Also, for the past 4 years skier visits have been estimated at around 400 million. Alpine, Cross-country and telemark are all types of skiing and at least one of them is likely to interest anyone.

If anyone has ever heard about or watched skiing it is probably alpine skiing. Alpine skiing is the most traditional and popular type of skiing. Some of the necessary pieces of equipment needed for skiing are, helmet, gloves, ski pants and jacket, goggles, ski poles, ski boots and bindings, and last but not least skis. There are ten alpine skiing events in the olympics they vary from Downhill and Slalom, to Moguls and Slopestyle. Alpine skiing has been around since about 600 BC in modern day China. Earlier skiers used one big pole or spear not two like modern day skiers. Until the mid 19th century skiing was only used for transportation, but since then it is mainly used as a recreational sport.

Most people alpine ski but if a skier wants nice scenic views or encounters with wildlife perhaps he or she should try cross-country. Cross-country skiing, or nordic skiing is skiing in flat or small inclines of uphill or downhill terrain. It has a little different technique than alpine skiing. In alpine skiing the toes and heels of the skier are locked in the

bindings but in cross-country only the toe is locked in the binding. There is about six cross-country skiing events for men in the olympics and also six for women. They range from the fifteen kilometer to the biathlon where athletes ski for a while and the have to lay down and shoot targets with rifles. Cross-country skiing is popular for adults that may live somewhere that has a lot of snow and want to get in shape, it is not usually used for recreation as much as alpine.
While alpine and cross-country are the most well known types of skiing all skiers should also try telemark skiing.

Telemark is the least popular type of skiing between alpine, cross-country and itself and is similar to cross-country but it also has its similarities to alpine. Its similarity to cross-country are that the toes of the skier is the only thing locked in the bindings. It’s similarity to alpine is that telemark skiers actually ski down mountains and not on flat terrain like cross-country. One telemark skiing event in the olympics is the ski jump. In the ski jump event skiers ski down a very steep hill and go of a huge jump and try to go as far as possible in the

air.
Alpine, cross-country and telemark are just three of the most common types of skiing. Whether it is alpine, cross-country or telemark everyone should enjoy the awesome feeling of skiing at one point in their life. Stop being boring and lazy take some time to go on a ski trip whether it is one day or one month do something fun and go skiing.