Cross Country Skiing

The Great Outdoors

Home

Whoever invented travel over snow using skis must have been an explorer. It is obvious that the earliest skiers were people who lived in areas where snow was a predominant feature and travel was essential for survival. Cross-country skiing is thought to have originated in Scandinavia and may have even been prevalent among Native Americans. The credit for introducing this kind of skiing as a sport to North America goes to Norwegian emigrants, Snowshoe Thompson and Jackrabbit Johannsen. Today Scandinavian countries, especially Finland, ensure that their army is equipped to travel on skis in winter. As a winter sport, this is very popular in Northern Europe and Canada.

What is cross-country skiing? It is skiing through ski trails of varying lengths - a kind of "bushwalking on skis." It is the one of the toughest of endurance sports, using every muscle in the body, burning the most number of calories in an hour.

Like everything else in the world, cross-country skiing too, has its history. The skis themselves were made of wood with bamboo poles and leather grips. Boots with thick soles were the required footwear, and bindings were essentially twisted wood-based thread. Then came the Kandahar bindings that fastened both boots in the front as well as the back. The Rat Trap or Nordic fastening was done only in the front.

Today, skis are thin and long, built for speed, and spread the weight of the skier equally. Two poles are used for typical downhill skiing and are generally made of aluminum, fiberglass or graphite. The skier's heel remains free to facilitate movement. The length of the poles depends on skiing technique and free styling poles are longer than the ones used for classic skiing. Equipment maintenance involves waxing the skis, and waxes come in three variants: glide waxes, kick waxes and Klisters. Each one is specific to certain snow conditions. Waxless skis are a relatively new entrant in this field.

Cross-country skiing could be classified depending on the technique used. The Classic style is still used by a number of people because it's the one most learn first. The Skating style has been developed thanks to racing and is a faster means of skiing. Telemark skiing is also called backcountry skiing and is mainly a form of descending. And Roller skiing or Summer skiing is used basically for training.

With the right equipment and guidance, skiing can be a fun sport and provides an intense workout. Like any other sport, once bitten by the skiing bug, there is no cure except feeding the fervor.

Skiing provides detailed information on Skiing, Water Skiing, Cross Country Skiing, Jet Skiing and more. Skiing is affiliated with Colorado Ski Resorts.

Find Almost Any Kind of Outdoor Gear, New, Used