Types of Skiing
Downhill Skiing
In Downhill skiing, competitors take a “set course from start to finish.”
They take turns racing and each run is timed. The person with the fastest time wins. Downhill racers use ski poles to pick up speed at the start and for balance when they take turns. They try to keep there skis as close as possible to the snow. As he leaves the starting gate he activates an automatic timing mechanism. Downhill racing is the fastest Alpine ski racing sport. Champion skiers reach speeds of over 90 miles per hour on the steep, strait parts of the course. The turns call for immense skill and powerful muscles. Taking tuns at fast speeds puts a lot of stress on the legs. The racers use helmets for protection, because falling at high speeds can be very dangerous. The sport needs a great deal of courage. The good thing about it is that it is probably the most exciting ski event ever. Large bumps called moguls, and steep pitches add to the hazards. The course ranges from about 1 and a half to 3 miles long.
The fastest recorded speed for a man on skis is 129.827 miles per hour. The fastest recorded speed for a woman is 124.759 miles per hour. Both records were achieved at Lees Acres, France, in April 1984.
Slalom
In slalom competitors race downhill through a series of gates represented by pairs of poles. The flags on the gates are either red or blue.
There are three types of events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super-G. Slalom has many gates and tight turns. Giant Slalom has fewer gates and wider turns.
Super-G is a combination of Giant Slalom and downhill racing.
Getting through the gates of a slalom course calls for great balance and skill. Races are won on the fastest time, as in downhill, but if a gate is missed or taken wrongly it means disqualification of the racer. Olympic slalom events require a course to have a vertical drop of at least 650 feet from the beginning to the finish.
Cross Country
Cross Country skiing requires great stamina. The standard courses range from 3 to 30 miles and some are even longer. There are fewer sharp turns or steep slopes than there are in Alpine racing. In a biathlon competitors make stops to shoot at targets. They carry their rifles strapped to their backs as they progress from target ...
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...rs covered with flaps and drawstrings for durability. Gloves should be large enough to let the fingers move and thick enough to keep the fingers warm. Make sure the cuffs go over the wrists and the palms have extra padding.
Goggles give protection to the eyes against the cold, the snow, or sunlight. Keep them in your jacket when you are not using them to avoid getting them scratched or lost.
Ski pants or “bibs” should have straps that feel comfortable over your shoulders. They should also feel snug but not too tight around your waist. They should have pockets and also be waterproof and windproof.
Bibliography
Weber, Robert E. The Greatest Ski Resorts in America, Dallas, Texas; Guide
Book Publishing Co., 1988.
Walter, Claire The Best Ski Resorts in America, New York, New York; Randt and Company, Inc., 1988.
Bartelski, Konrad + Neilands, Robin Learn Downhill Skiing in a Weekend,
Toronto; Daring Kindersley Limited, 1991.
Markels, Alex “Travel Watch,” Snow Country, March/April,” page 37.
Skiing.” Comton's, 1992 page 311-314.
Barritt, Norman Snow Sports, New York, New York; Franklin Watts, 1987.
Skiing By: Bryan Colter
* In case you are curious, the engine rpm got up to about 7000 rpm and the track speed got up to about 60 mph or more during this clip. I supported the track with a stand and ran the throttle while an observer ran the camera.
From the figure above, it is also easy to see that the kinetic friction remains almost constant for a range of speeds. This kinetic friction is the force which slows the skiers down after they start moving.
The Barkley Marathons are run in the Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area near Oak Ridge in Tennessee. The park is bordered by two prisons and a coal mine and is thirty five minutes away from closest the city. The course consists of a twenty mile loop, which for the most part traces the border of the park. The actual length of the course is an issue of large debate however. The twenty mile figure was derived by the race director from a topographic map. Most that have run the loop feel that it is longer, since the distance associated with elevation change and winding trails isn't taken into account. Some feel that the loop could be as long as twenty six miles. At the other end of the argument is the distance that was derived from a survey crew in who measured the park to make a new map in 1993. The distances they got for many portions of the course were actually shorter than Gary Cantrell had listed them to be. On any account the distance assumes that the runner does not get lost, which is a rarity at the Barkley.
What’s 10th? It’s moving from start to finish in 4 minutes 37 seconds, while others took anywhere from 4 minutes 29 seconds to 6 minutes 2 second. It’s qualifying.
The Seagate Ultras on November 26, 1994, included races of 60 km, 50 miles, and 100 km, each run on the same 1.1 mile loop. There were approximately 10, 10, and 6 runners, respectively, in these races, which were judged separately. My 9:29 time for 100 km was not very fast, but it won that race easily, and I also went through 60 km and 50 miles faster than anyone in those races. So I am not a novice.
First, a trip to the track takes longer than a street race, since the closest track in the southwest suburbs of Chicago is an hour away. Going to the track is a hassle versus the get set, ready, go drag race down the street. Simply, street racing is nearby and does not disturb anyone as the contest usually takes place in the dead of the night or in the wee hours of the morning. Secondly, legal racing at a circuit track costs hundreds of dollars. Drag strips are shorter, most commonly a quarter of a mile, than the longer circuit tracks, but the entrance fee is about twenty dollars, which adds up over repeated visits. On the other hand, street racing is free and in 20 seconds, a winner emerges from the duo. Lastly, racing at a track puts enormous stress on a car. By driving fast for extended periods on a track, consider the brakes and tires shot since both will need replacement from tracking over 200 miles per hour. In addition, launching a car from a dead stop at a track versus from a rolling start, as in street racing, is more difficult and can easily ruin the car. Although street racing is not as organized as track racing, impromptu racing has the advantages of availability, affordability, and economic
The events and games of the Olympics are of several different types. There are individual contests, where each athlete plays alone. To win this type of contests, one athlete must be better, faster, or stronger than other athletes.
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.
The agency I chose to do is the Hillandale golf course, which is located in Durham North Carolina. The reason why I chose to do my project on Hillandale golf course because since the beginning of the semester I have been traveling over to the golf course twice a week for a class learning the rules and the way the game of golf is played. Hillandale golf course is named the “Granddaddy golf course of Durham/ Research Triangle golf”. Hillandale was donated to the Durham area back in 1911 through the philanthropic interests of long-time Durham resident John Sprunt Hill. Donald Ross and Perry Maxwell originally designed the course. Donald Ross had designed the first 9 holes and Perry Maxwell came up with the last 9 holes. Since 1960 over 1.7 million rounds of golf have been played that being an average of 45,000 yearly. This public golf course provides a challenge from each level of players in the game of golf. In 1960, the Hillandale Golf Course was moved to its current location in Durham and was redesigned by George Cobb, who is also the designer of the Surf Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
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.
When someone goes to a race track what they really want to see is the wrecks. They want to see a car flipping over or even catch on fire. Even though it might look awesome from the outside of the car, inside the car it's extremely dangerous. The community of auto racing is working altogether to create new innovations to make racing as safe as it can possibly be. Auto racing is becoming a safer sport with all of the new innovations introduced in the past couple of years including the caught fence, safety barrier, and Han's device.
Thin air encompasses me as I commence the final day of skiing at Vail, Colorado. Seven days of skiing elapse rather painlessly; I fall occasionally but an evening in the Jacuzzi soothes my minor aches. Closing time approaches on the final day of our trip as I prepare myself for the final run of the vacation. Fresh off the ski lift, I coast toward the junction of trails on the unoccupied expert face of the mountain. After a moment of thought, I confidently select a narrow trail so steep that only the entrance can be seen from my viewpoint.
braking system slow, so the riders don’t go into shock, but fast enough to be fully stopped before
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.