A majority of the census views skiing as the sport of heavy winter coats, pounds upon pounds of equipment, and shivering in the frosty winds on the ski lift. In addition to this, flying down the mountains at high speeds is also associated with the addictive adrenaline rush along with bolting down couloirs, dropping cliffs and jumping out of helicopters into 3 feet of powder. To the everyday folks who fall in love with the sport, skiing is surely much more than that. Skiing is a communion with nature and spirit, and the real essence of skiing is the personal relationship that these selected develop with the experience. To the Scandinavian society, skiing is more than a sport, serving both political and civil roles. It cannot be detached from the ideological and social contexts of the time, especially nationalism. The oldest and most precise recorded evidence of skiing has been found in modern day Norway and Sweden. Early primitive drawings have been found in Rody in the Nordland region of Norway and dated to 5000 BCE that depict a skier with only one pole. The first primitive ski was found in the marshlands of Hoting, Sweden which dates back to around 4500 or 2500 B.C. Dating back to 1010, an archaic ski was found in a Norse settlement near Nanortalik, Greenland by Joel Berglund. He described it as and 85 cm long piece of wood and it is thought that Greenland’s oldest ski brought by Norsemen in 980 AD. The practice of skiing started to develop in many countries around the world in the late nineteenth century, long after the Scandinavian societies. Norway already had a long standing tradition both in the sport and had military troops on skis since the mid eighteenth century. In the early twentieth century, during a period of intern... ... middle of paper ... ...ons about society and about the foundations of legitimate power (Morales, Yves). In the eyes of the Scandinavians, they had invented skiing as a modern sport and led a policy that was a mixture of both conservatism and nationalism, which turned out to come off as isolationism. The will to quest and conquer the polar extremes, as well as the inland glaciers of Greenland, has been a part of Scandinavian polar history, to such a degree that it can be termed a national characteristic (Goksøyr, Matti). In a recent book by Tor Bomann-Larsen, he cites Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s opening Evige sne as a representative of how Scandinavian national culture, as the country was developing into a nation state, was one in which snow, and therefore skiing, became a catalyzing factor that gave the Scandinavian nations their uniqueness, their purity, and their right to be independent.
Cross-country skiing is as much of a competitive sport, as it is a back country one. Cross-country skiing is enjoyed by people of all ages, and can be relatively inexpensive. There is no need for lift tickets and with a little maintenance equipment can last for decades. As a result of its broad audience, many people don't realize that physics plays a large role in cross-country skiing. This web page was designed to briefly describe some of the concepts behind the physics of skiing, and give a basic understanding of both the sport and the science.
Skiers are very loyal athletes. They grow up learning on certain mountains and usually spend most of their lives skiing at those same ones. They remember every bump and turn on the way down. They know which lift to take because it is the fastest and has the shortest line. It takes a lot for a skier to stray from their normal habitat and adventure to slopes unknown.
Since the completion of my training program I have had students of varying ages, disabilities and skiing levels. They have provided many new learning experiences for me. Without a doubt I have consistently observed the pleasure this sport gives to the students and their families. Physical and mental growth are very important to the overall well being of the student. Sharing my skills and love of skiing has been fun and rewarding to me.
Back in 1965 Sherman Poppen laid the basic foundation of the snowboard. “On Christmas morning, Sherman Poppen went into his garage, cross-braced two Kmart skis together, stood atop his backyard hill and started surfing the snow (MacArthur)” This was it, the be. People flocked around Poppen as he carelessly paraded up and down the local sled hill. The demand for this contraption became apparent to Sherman and he quickly began work on producing more under the name of the Snurfer.” (MacArthur 1). Poppen began rummaging the town for it’s precious supplies and made dozens of the Snurfer. This caught the local media’s attention which lead to the licensing and production of the Snurfer.
As practitioners in the Orthotics and Prosthetic field we owe our patients not only our skills of mind and hand, but also the encouragement to live their lives to the fullest. We want them to have a life worth living in spite of whatever physical difficulties they possess. There are many ways to accomplish this, but one of the lesser known is adaptive snow sports.
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.
Fun at organized, purpose-driven sports is associated with achieving goals rather than physical expression and joy. The process is now secondary to the product, and the journey is secondary to the destination. People in postindustrial societies live with the legacy of industrialization. They emphasize organization according to rational principles based, whenever possible, on systematic research. Being organized and making plans to accomplish goals is so important that spontaneity, expression, creativity, and joy- the element of play- are given low priority or may even be considered frivolous by event planners, coaches, and spectators. Snowboarder Terje Haakonsen decided against performing in the Olympics because he didn’t want to endorse a form of sport in which organization and rationalization had subverted play. Haakonsen believe that fun and effort merge together in sports when they are done in terms set by participants. This merger collapse when sports are done for judges using criteria that ignore the subjective experience of participation. When creating sports, these are important things to remember because there is a tendency in postindustrial cultures to organize all physical activities for the purposes of rationally assessing skills and performances. Working to improve physical
One snowy Christmas day in Muskegon, Michigan, a young girl by the name of Wendy Poppen tried to stand up on her sled while sliding down the hill. Seeing this, her father Sherman ran into the garage and bolted a pair of skies together with wood to ""act as foot stops"" (Crane). While watching Wendy use the contraption, some of the local kids ran up to Sherman and asked him to build one for each of them. Little did he know that he had given birth to the “fastest growing winter sport” (Prosl) known as snowboarding. The history, simplicity, and rate of growth of snowboarding took the sport from being completely banned from ski resorts, to being accepted worldwide with its Olympic debut in 1998.
"Skiing History." / The Ski Museum / Home Holmenkollen. Holmenkollen Oslo, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
By using critical discourse analysis, I will explore how the media coverage of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics provides its viewers from their home country with a sense of nationalism and pride through the emphasize of physical fitness and athleticism. In additional to that, I will also draw from the Spartans millenarian mentality that also emphasized physical excellence from a young age for competitive purposes. I gather information by reading article of the Sochi Olympics from The New York Times and the NBC network as well as comparing them with Russian newspaper such as The Moscow Times and the Rossiyskaya Gazeta to see what type of strategies and themes are used by both country in conveying nationalism and fitness to their viewers.
Pieter and I were determined to become proficient water skiers, while Rhea had knee issues that limited her participation. The Gibson Girl only had a forty horsepower motor, which wasn’t sufficient power for faster skiing or for doing tricks like skiing barefoot. I remember using the Comfort for some of our skiing before Dad traded the outboard for a sixteen-foot Gar Wood Junior, which had an inboard motor and more power. Pieter and I spent hours practicing the basics of getting up efficiently, skiing across the wake and then jumping the wake. It wasn’t long before we developed a passion for mastering slalom skiing. I wanted to ski all the time during that period.
At the same time that sport is a product of social reality, it is also unique. No other institution, except perhaps religion, commands the mystique, the nostalgia, the romantic ideational cultural fixation that sport does. No other activity so paradoxically combines the serious with the frivolous, playfulness with intensity, and the ideological with the structural. (Frey & Eitzen 504)
Another great impact is of the waste water and the snow formation. The resulting environment left by skiing contains harmful levels of pesticides and toxins. This gets mixed in the water and the snow, and travels to surrounding areas contaminating
Skiing, as a sport has existed since the early 1800’s, although depictions of skis have been discovered throughout Europe dating back thousands of years. Skiing as a recreational activity became popularized in the mid 1800’s however it did not arrive in the United States until around 1841. Once the concept of skiing reached the states, it took off. The United States continued to power advances in skiing for decades, with the introduction of rope tows, then actual ski lifts. By the 1950’s several ski areas had begun snowmaking and trail grooming, two American born inovatio9ns which ensured better skiing conditions and launched the US far ahead of Europe in ski technology (Fry 38). Skiing continued to evolve throughout the 1900’s, constantly changing and adapting to improve athlete performance and recreational experiences. Skis and equipment changed quickly and frequently, ski bindings, which...
Skiing a sport that is used everyday for hundreds and thousands of people. It's long history and amazing facts will make you want learn so much more about its history. Skiing a adventure sport is known to many as a everyday activity. Despite its danger, millions of people enjoy the sport every single year and still don't know about its long history and unbelievable facts.