The Various Types of Skiing
Every four years in the Winter Olympics, we see professional athletes compete in many areas ranging from downhill skiing to high-speed bobsledding. We see the professionals demonstrate their spectacular abilities, and we try to emulate them in our own activities. In the Olympics, cross-country and downhill skiing are two very popular sports, and even non-professionals can get into them. In this essay I will classify the various types of skiing into three categories and inform you about each.
The first type of skiing that I will discuss is cross-country skiing. As its name implies, cross-country skiing consists of horizontal travel across flat land and relatively few hills. Cross-country skis are not optimized for speed, but instead for easier long distance travel. This type of skiing is also the least expensive of the three types and has recently been gaining many new enthusiasts. A decent quality cross-country ski package would cost around $150.
English: Priit Narusk in the qualification for the...
English: Tracks of skis in snow in the Sarek Natio...
From a skiing trip to Skorafjell (1583 m a.s.l.) i...As for choosing equipment, the skier should pick out poles that are as tall as his shoulders. (For most people this would mean a 140 cm to 150 cm pole.) Skis come in three common sizes, 190 cm, 210, cm and 240 cm, and the proper length depends on the height of the person. To determine the size needed, the person should hold his hands above his head and choose the ski that most closely approximates the distance from the base of his palm to the floor. The following table gives some guidelines as to which ski lengths are proper for which heights.
Height: Proper Ski Length
~5'3' 190 cm ski
~5'10' 210 cm ski
~6'6' 240 cm ski
Table 1
The last thing the skier will want to decide on is whether or not he wants to have wax or non-wax...