Cross-country skiing - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cross-country skiing is a winter sport

Winter sport

A winter sport is a sport which is played on snow or ice. Most such sports are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally such sports were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and ice allow more flexibility...

in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using ski

Ski

A ski is a long, flat device worn on the foot, usually attached through a boot, designed to help the wearer slide smoothly over snow. Originally intended as an aid to travel in snowy regions, they are now mainly used for recreational and sporting purposes...

s and poles

Ski pole

Ski poles are used by skiers to improve balance and timing. Early ski poles were simply sticks, then bamboo , then steel . In 1958, Ed Scott invented the aluminium ski pole...

. It is popular in many places with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.

Cross-country skiing is part of the Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing is a winter sport that encompasses all types of skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the ski, as opposed to Alpine skiing....

sport family, which also includes ski jumping

Ski jumping

Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long...

, and a combination sport of cross-country skiing and ski jumping called Nordic combined

Nordic combined

The Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in both cross-country skiing and ski jumping.- History :While Norwegian soldiers are known to have been competing in Nordic skiing since the 19th century, the first major competition in Nordic combined was held in 1892 in Oslo at the...

. Free-technique cross-country skiing is also the method of locomotion

Motion (physics)

In physics, motion is a change in position of an object with respect to time. Change in action is the result of an unbalanced force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, displacement and time . An object's velocity cannot change unless it is acted upon by a force, as...

in the combination sport of Biathlon

Biathlon

Biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...

, which adds rifle marksmanship to skiing. Another combination sport is ski-orienteering

Ski-orienteering

Ski orienteering is a cross-country skiing endurance winter racing sport and one of the four orienteering disciplines recognized by the IOF...

, which adds the skill of map navigation along snow trails and tracks.

Related sports are backcountry skiing

Backcountry skiing

Backcountry skiing is skiing in a sparsely inhabited rural region over ungroomed and unmarked slopes or pistes, including skiing in unmarked or unpatrolled areas either within the ski resort's boundaries or in the backcountry, frequently amongst trees , usually in pursuit of fresh fallen powder...

and Telemark skiing

Telemark skiing

Telemark skiing is a form of skiing using the Telemark turn. Unlike alpine skiing equipment, the skis used for telemarking either have a binding that only connects the boot to the ski at the toes, just as in cross-country skiing, or may be released to only connect there.Telemark turns are led with...

. The ski touring

Ski touring

Ski touring is a form of backcountry skiing involving traveling over the winter landscape on skis under human power rather than through the assistance of ski lifts or snow vehicles. It can take place in terrain ranging from perfectly flat to extremely steep...

article provides an overview of different ski styles and techniques.

Recreational skiing

Recreational cross-country skiing is most frequently known as touring. Some skiers stay out for extended periods using tent

Tent

A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs...

s and equipment similar to bushwalkers/hikers, whereas others take relatively short trips from ski resorts on maintained trails. In some countries, organizations maintain a network of huts for use by cross-country skiers in wintertime. For example, the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association

Norwegian Mountain Touring Association

The Norwegian Trekking Association is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism in this country". Today the goal is to work for simple, secure and environmentally friendly...

maintains over 400 huts stretching across hundreds of kilometres of trails which are used by hikers in the summer and by skiers in the winter.

Competition

As a sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

, cross-country skiing is one of the most difficult endurance sports, as its motions use every major muscle

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

group and it (along with running, rowing and swimming) is one of the sports that burn the most calories per hour in execution. One of the legends in cross-country skiing competitions is Bjørn Dæhlie

Bjørn Dæhlie

Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie is a Norwegian businessman and retired cross-country skier. With 8 olympic gold medals, Dæhlie is the most winning winter olympic champion of all time. With nine gold medals in the Nord World Ski Championships he is in addition the most winning World Champion skier...

(Norway). In a test performed by his physiologist, Erlend Hem, Dæhlie made a VO₂-max

VO2 max

VO2 max is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual...

of 96 ml/kg/min of O₂, a world record.

Modern cross-country ski competition is experiencing a revolution that is resulting in greater compatibility with audiences which began with the addition of the Sprint event to the World Cup and Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

competitions in 2002. Today more and more races are being held in audience-friendly formats, such as mass start, sprint, relay and pursuit (a race that involves switching skis, and styles halfway through the race). The modern events in which athletes compete in at the World Cup and Olympics are (distances presented in Female/Male format): 1 km Sprint, 2X1 km Team Sprint, 10 km/15 km Individual Start, 15 km/30 km Pursuit, 30 km/50 km Mass Start, and 4x5 km/4x10 km Relay.
Today, there are several types of cross-country competitive events, involving races

Racing

A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...

of various types and lengths, as well as biathlon

Biathlon

, involving a combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting with a rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

.

The Winter Olympics, the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships have been held in various numbers and types of events since 1925 for men and since 1954 for women. Championship events include nordic skiing's three disciplines: cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined...

, and the FIS World Cup events (including the Holmenkollen

Holmenkollen ski jump

Holmenkollbakken is a large ski jumping hill located at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway. It has a hill size of HS134, a construction point of K-120, and a capacity for 30,000 spectators. Holmenkollen has hosted the Holmenkollen Ski Festival since 1892, which since 1980 have been part of the FIS Ski...

) have long been a showcase for the world's fastest cross country skiers. There are also special distance ski races, sometimes called ski marathons

Worldloppet Ski Federation

The Worldloppet Ski Federation is a federation of long distance cross-country skiing events whose aim is to promote cross-country skiing through various ski races. The federation was founded in 1978 in Uppsala, Sweden.-Locations:...

, like Vasaloppet
Vasaloppet
Vasaloppet is an annual long distance cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March in northwestern Dalarna, Sweden between the village of Sälen and town of Mora. It is the oldest, one of the longest, and in popular consideration the biggest cross-country ski race in the world...

in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Birkebeineren
Birkebeinerrennet
Birkebeinerrennet is a long-distance cross-country ski marathon held annually in Norway. It is Norway's race in the Worldloppet Ski Federation....

in Norway, the Canadian Birkebeiner the American Birkebeiner

American Birkebeiner

The American Birkebeiner is the largest, and one of the longest cross country ski races in North America. The two premier events are the classic and the freestyle race from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin. The 2011 race will be held on February 26...

the Tour of Anchorage in Anchorage, Alaska

Alaska

and the Tug Hill Tourathon in the US. The skiing styles in these races might be fixed, or, in case of the so-called "double pursuit" event, the two styles are used each in their own separate half of the race (with a change of equipment in "pit stops" half way through).

The Canadian Ski Marathon

Canadian Ski Marathon

The Canadian Ski Marathon is the world's longest ski tour. It is held annually just north of the Ottawa River between the regions of Montreal and Ottawa, capital of Canada, in February and usually covers a distance of...

, despite its name, is not a race, but a tour, the world's longest, at 160 km. The skiers choose their distance challenge and try to accomplish it. The highest honour, the Coureur de Bois Gold, is given to those who ski the entire distance and camp out overnight, bringing all their food and gear with them in a big backpack.

Since 2005, one of the world's longest cross country skiing races has been held in Forestville, Quebec

Forestville, Quebec

Forestville is a town in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River along Route 138, approximately southwest of Baie-Comeau. There is a vehicle and passenger ferry service from Forestville to Rimouski, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence...

, Canada

Canada

. The Boreal Loppet has a race loop of 100 km.

Cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics
Cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics
Cross-country skiing has been contested at the Winter Olympic Games since the first Winter Games in 1924. The women's events were first contested at the 1952 Winter Olympics.- Events :- Medal table :- Number of Cross-country skiers by Nation :...
FIS Nordic skiing World Championships (including XC skiing)
XC skiing World Cup
Cross-country skiing World Cup champions
The tables below list the FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions. The medalists are the three contestants with the highest total scores at the end of the cross-country skiing World Cup season...

(weekly races throughout the winter seasons)

History

Cross-country skiing originated in Fennoscandia

Fennoscandia

Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are geographic and geological terms used to describe the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Kola Peninsula, Karelia and Finland...

n countries in prehistoric

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

times. It was still widely practiced in the 19th century as a way of moving from place to place in winter. Elk, deer and other animals were hunted by skiing. Nowadays many people in countries with strong cross-country skiing traditions — like Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Sweden

Sweden

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

and Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

— have used or regularly use skis.

By contrast skiing is relatively new in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

and was introduced by Norwegian

Norway

and Swedish

Sweden

immigrants in the 1850s. Snowshoe Thompson

Snowshoe Thompson

Snowshoe Thompson was a nickname for the Norwegian-American John Albert Thompson, an early resident of the Sierra Nevada of Nevada and California. He is considered the father of California skiing.-Background:...

is widely credited for introducing the sport to California in the USA. In Canada pioneers included Aldolf Olsen, Sigurd and Hans Lockeberg and Jackrabbit Johannsen.

In Canada, although Johannsen never claimed to be the first skier in Canada, he had a major role in stimulating an interest in the sport. He organized races, officiated events, and served as a guide, coach, and consultant for numerous skiing organizations, many of which he helped to found. An enthusiastic teacher, he helped coach Canada's Olympic team in 1932. At the age of 55, he shocked his Canadian Olympic pupils as he accompanied the team step by step through its rigorous training schedule—and still he had energy to spare. This was, however, still quite far from being the twilight of Jackrabbit's incredible skiing career, as he didn't ski his last official race until the age of 75, and still glided through the snowy woods on a daily basis well past the age of 100.

This form of skiing has been used by explorers as a means of transport

Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...

, and all Nordic armies have ski-trained infantry for winter

Winter

Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...

operations. Skis gave important mobility to the Finnish army during the Winter War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

and allowed the small groups of Finns to beat large armies of Russians. Similar tactics that utilize skis have been used in many times by the Finns and Karelians in the past. Pre-modern skiing troops were armed with crossbow

Crossbow

A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...

s and ski pole

Ski pole

Ski poles are used by skiers to improve balance and timing. Early ski poles were simply sticks, then bamboo , then steel . In 1958, Ed Scott invented the aluminium ski pole...

s which had a spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...

head on the other end.

Traditionally, all of the equipment was made of natural materials: wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

en skis and bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

poles with leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

hand straps. Footwear

Footwear

Footwear consists of garments worn on the feet, for fashion, protection against the environment, and adornment. Being barefoot is commonly associated with poverty, but some cultures chose not to wear footwear at least in some situations....

was usually sturdy leather boot

Boot

A boot is a type of footwear but they are not shoes. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle and extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....

s with thick soles. Bindings evolved from simple straps made of twisted wood-based thread, to the so-called Kandahar binding with the fastening of both the boot’s front and back, to the ‘Rat Trap’ front-only binding, which is today known as the Nordic norm, and has evolved in various modern bindings.

Skis

The ski

Ski

s are long and narrow, to distribute the weight

Weight

In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity. Its magnitude , often denoted by an italic letter W, is the product of the mass m of the object and the magnitude of the local gravitational acceleration g; thus:...

of the skier and allow the skier to move quickly. Typical ski dimensions are 2 metres in length, about 5 centimetres in width and one to four centimetres in thickness at different stations along the length of the ski. Depending on the ski design and purpose, they are fitted to the skier based on height and weight. The toe of the skier's footwear is attached to the ski with a binding

Ski binding

A ski binding is an attachment which anchors a ski boot to the ski. There are different types of bindings for different types of skiing.-Universal designs:...

, while the heel remains free.

Characteristics of cross-country skis:

Width – Generally, a skating ski is shorter and narrower than a classic ski. A ski intended for off-track use is wider and heavier. Cross-country skis are sometimes informally known as "skinny skis" because of their narrowness compared to alpine skis.
Tip – To help cut through deep snow, the tip of a cross-country ski is typically higher and more curved than an alpine ski.
Camber – for classic technique, camber
Camber
Camber may refer to a variety of curvatures and angles:* Camber angle, the angle made by the wheels of a vehicle* Camber thrust in bike technology* In the steel industry, the concavity of rolls...

, the amount of vertical curvature in the ski, is crucial to create a kick zone.
Bottom surface – Many skis have smooth bottoms which require waxing, but waxless skis are available.
Edges – For track skiing, skis usually do not have metal edges; Backcountry and Telemark
Telemark skiing
Telemark skiing is a form of skiing using the Telemark turn. Unlike alpine skiing equipment, the skis used for telemarking either have a binding that only connects the boot to the ski at the toes, just as in cross-country skiing, or may be released to only connect there.Telemark turns are led with...

skis however often have edges.
Sidecut
Sidecut
The sidecut is a general term for the inner curvature of a ski, snowboard, or skiboard. The sidecut depth is measured as the distance between the waist of the board and an imaginary straight line that strikes both of the contact points at the tip and tail. The sidecut radius is the radial...

– indicates the shape or profile of the ski. Sidecut affects the way a ski tracks (travels in a straight line) and turns. Skis with limited sidecut and a straighter profile (Classic skis) track or glide forward easily. A ski with lots of sidecut will turn more easily but not track as smoothly. Skating skis usually have minimal sidecut: the tips and tails are only slightly wider than the waist. This increases stability in the glide phase.
Materials – Formerly, many skis were made of wood alone, or with a fiberglass or synthetic coating over the inner wood layer. Modern skis have synthetic foam cores.

Poles

Like alpine skiing

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

, cross-country skiers carry two poles

Ski pole

Ski poles are used by skiers to improve balance and timing. Early ski poles were simply sticks, then bamboo , then steel . In 1958, Ed Scott invented the aluminium ski pole...

for steadiness and propulsion. Early ski poles were usually made from bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

, but this was supassed in the 1960s by aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

or fiberglass

Glass-reinforced plastic

Fiberglass , is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced by fine fibers of glass. It is also known as GFK ....

construction. More expensive poles are made of graphite or carbon fiber or some other strong but lightweight material.

Poles have a spike at the end to provide a fixed pivot when the pole penetrates through to a hard surface, and a plastic web or disc (called the basket), to provide extra purchase in snow and to ensure the pole doesn't sink too deeply. Different basket styles are available for different techniques and snow conditions.

Nordic poles are longer than poles for alpine skiing. Skating or freestyle poles are usually longer than those used for the classic technique. Poles should be sized proportionally to the height of the skier. The wrist strap helps prevent the skier from dropping the pole, and also assists with pushing in all poling techniques.

Bindings

The binding holds or clips the toe of the boot to the ski. Most bindings are mounted on the skis by screws.

Depending on technique, boots are generally much lighter in construction than alpine boots. Boots for track skiing are lower cut, with less ankle support, resembling a running shoe. Skating boots are usually higher, stiffer, and reinforced around the heel and ankle. The increased stiffness is designed to support the lateral push-off of the skating stride. Backcountry boots are heavier, with more ankle support.

Older styled three-pin bindings (Nordic Norm), with or without cables, are still used by backcountry and Telemarking enthusiasts. The sole of the boot is extended forward slightly at the toe. There are three holes in the bottom of the toe which mate with the pins in the binding. With this system the sole of the boot flexes as the skier strides.

There are three primary groups of binding systems used in modern cross-country skiing:

NNN (New Nordic Norm) – including R1-R3 and the new R4-R5 NIS (Nordic Integrated System) variants
SNS (Salomon Nordic System) Profil
SNS Pilot

Waxes

There are a wide variety of waxes for Nordic Skiing. The waxes can be classified into four main categories: glide waxes, kick waxes, klisters and waxtapes.

Glide wax

Glide waxes are used to make a ski glide faster, and are applied by ironing onto the ski. Glide waxes range widely in price, depending on quality; racing waxes can be very expensive, over $100 for a 60 gram block of wax. They are generally in the form of blocks, though they can be found as powders or liquids. Glide waxes are applied outside the kick zone of classic skis, or to the full length of skate skis. They are the only type of wax used on skating skis. Typically, three different categories of wax may be used, depending on the level of cross country skiing. Hydrocarbon waxes, made from simple paraffin waxes, are used in most recreational and lower level glide waxing. Race waxing may use a combination of fluorinated hydrocarbon waxes and fluorocarbon overlays. Fluorocarbons decrease surface tension and surface area of the water between the ski and the snow, increasing speed and glide of the ski under specific conditions. Either combined with the wax or applied after in a spray, powder, or block form, fluorocarbons significantly improve the glide of the ski and are widely used in cross country ski races.

Kick wax

The purpose of kick wax is to provide grip on snow when weight is transferred on a ski; they are used on classic skis only. Kick waxes are applied in the kick zone of classic skis if the ski is not a fish-scale, waxless ski.

Kick waxes are classified according to their hardness: harder waxes are for colder and newer snow. Using a wax that is too hard will not give sufficient grip, while wax that is too soft will cause the formation of an ice

Ice

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

sole that slows the skier down. It is not uncommon to apply a new layer of wax if the weather changes, or when moving in altitude.

The difficulty of choosing correct kick waxes to different conditions is nowadays greatly reduced by grip wax tapes, which have a wide temperature range, and are easily applied to the ski bottom. Although these are not used by competitors, who prefer the optimum waxing, they have proven to be quite suitable for fitness and recreational purposes. Many high-level competitive teams have "wax technicians" whose job is to apply the ideal wax combinations for the conditions.

Kick waxes generate grip by penetrating into the snowflakes when the skier puts his weight on the ski. Colder snowflakes are harder, and so is newly fallen snow. The most appropriate wax is the one that is soft enough to generate grip, but also hard enough not to accumulate snow and create a sole.

Waxes are usually colour-coded by usage temperature: the most common are red for above 0˚C, and blue for below. There are many other colours for more specific temperature ranges, for instance violet for around 0˚C, green for below -10˚C, and white for below -15˚C. The snow-temperature range given by the producer must be taken with a grain of salt, since new snow will require a harder wax.

Guessing the right hardness can be quite difficult, and the varying condition of the snow can make the right choice wrong after a few hundred metres. Furthermore, the snow in the beaten track is usually much different from the one immediately surrounding it, and works best with a softer wax. If skis are poorly tuned, sometimes the skier can solve thin snow soles caused by a soft wax by beating the ski on the track after kicking; the opposite problem may be handled by skating. One way around the problems of standard grip wax is to use a wax grip tape, which is applied to the kick zone of the ski in tape form. The tape can last for 100 to 200 km (62.1 to 124.3 mi) has a very wide temp range (-20C to +5C), and can be left on the ski at the end of the day and stored by covering in waxed paper.

Klister

If the temperature is above zero in Celsius scale, kick wax cannot provide any more grip. One must therefore resort to klister, which is basically a glue-like paste (in Scandinavian languages "klister" actually means "paste", "glue" or "size" used in papering). Klister is discouraging for amateurs, as it is very sticky, it is easy to apply but very difficult to remove.

Klister can be applied with a plastic blade or with the palm of the hand. The hand is then cleaned in the glove, rubbing against the glove fabric while sweating. Since klister is a non-polar substance, a non-polar solvent

Solvent

A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...

(such as mineral spirits) or a soap

Soap

In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...

is necessary to remove it. It is possible to buy solvents made specifically for cleaning skis. These should be used with care, as they are both flammable

Flame

A flame is the visible , gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic reaction taking place in a thin zone...

and toxic

Toxicity

Toxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage a living or non-living organisms. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...

if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Klister is also colour-coded: red, purple, blue and silver.

Waxless skis

In recent decades waxless skis have become popular in the recreational ski market. Introduced in 1970, waxless skis accounted for 75 percent of cross country sales in the United States in 1985, despite their typically poor performance compared with well-waxed skis.

Waxless skis have a fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

scale

Scale (zoology)

In most biological nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration...

, cross-hatched or ridged pattern in the kick zone to provide grip. A waxless ski is inferior to a finely tuned waxed ski, but does not require the sometimes time-consuming and sometimes costly selection and application of kick wax or klister and will work between temperatures, an important advantage in areas with many sun/shadow boundaries. Some skiers apply a layer of glide wax to keep them sliding smoothly and protecting the surface from dirt and ice build-up. There are specialty liquid wax products on the market manufactured for waxless skis, though standard glide wax can also be used on the tips and tails of the ski.

Waxless skis are better suited to recreational and casual skiers who want to ski with minimal time spent on maintenance, as they generally produce too much drag for competitive skiers and those who value comparatively effortless movement.

Waxless skis are sometimes used by Nordic racers during variable ski conditions such as temperatures over freezing. At the 1976 Winter Olympics

1976 Winter Olympics

The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated February 4–15, 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria...

held in Innsbruck

Innsbruck

- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...

, US ski team member Bill Koch

Bill Koch (skier)

Bill Koch is an American ski racer and the first world-class cross-country skier from the United States.A native of Brattleboro, Vermont, he is a graduate of the nearby The Putney School in Putney, Vermont. He originally competed in the NIS in the Nordic combined, but later switched to cross...

won a silver medal on waxless skis.

Styles and techniques

There are three main styles used in cross-country skiing: classic, skating and telemarking. There is also skiathlon, which combines classic and skating. Specially adapted equipment is available to suit each. Another style growing in popularity is skijoring

Skijoring

Skijoring is a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog or a motor vehicle. It is derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring meaning ski driving.- Dog skijoring :...

. In skijoring, the skier is pulled over the snow by one or more dogs, or, alternatively, a snowmobile. Both classic and skating techniques are used by skijorers.

Classic

The classic style is often used on prepared trails (pistes) that have pairs of parallel grooves (tracks) cut into the snow.

Skis have camber and should leave the centre section of the ski clear of the snow when the skier's weight is evenly distributed between the pair. The centre section of a classic ski will either have "fish scales", or ski wax

Ski wax

Ski wax is a material applied to the bottom of skis or snowboards to improve the ski's performance on snow. It can also be applied to other devices that slide over snow and ice such as toboggans.- Types of ski wax :...

that will stick to the snow (called the "kick zone" or "grip zone" of the ski). When full weight is transferred to a single ski the kick zone comes into contact with the snow. Glide wax is used on the tails and tips of the skis.

The basic techniques of classic skiing are classified by flat terrain, uphill, downhill and turning. On the flat terrain the diagonal stride is most commonly used and is a running action with parallel skis, kicking and gliding with each stride. The poles are planted alternately on the opposite side to the kick. Three-step and four-step diagonals are also used. The three-step is also known as a change-up or passgang and involved three strides to one pole push. Another flat-terrain technique is double poling, whereby the legs are not moved and all propulsive force is provided by the two poles used together. Double poling may be combined with strides in the one-step and two-step double pole techniques.

On uphill terrain classic techniques include the side step where the skis are used perpendicular to the slope, the herringbone, where the skis are "V"ed outwards and a tight diagonal, where the flat land diagonal technique is employed with much shorter glides.

Downhill classic skiing involves using the snowplow, whereby the skis are turned inwards with the tips nearly together to create drag and thus descent speed. Turning on flat terrain is often accomplished with a tip-turn, moving the skis round the turn from a diagonal stride. Another turning technique is the kick-turn, conducted by lifting the ski while double poling. The skate-turn transfers the weight onto the turning forward ski as in ice skating. Other methods of turning include the telemark-turn, using the trailing ski as a rudder, skid-turn and stem christie alpine-turn done from a downhill snowplow.

Skate skiing

Skate skiing involves a decisive weight transfer onto one ski

Ski

angled and then the other, supported by the inner edge of the ski on the snow, which looks similar to an ice skater

Ice skating

Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...

. As in classic skiing, transferring weight completely from one ski to the next is essential to learning to skate. Those who have learned to ice skate or rollerskiing may find ski skating technique easier to learn than classic skiing. The free technique in XC skiing is not to be confused with freestyle

Freestyle skiing

Freestyle skiing is form of skiing which used to encompass two disciplines: aerials, and moguls. Except the two disciplines mentioned earlier Freestyle Skiing now consists of Skicross, Half Pipe and Slope Style...

, which describes ski sport where the competitors compete over a mogul course and by performing aerial gymnastics such as spins after launching from a short ramp in the snow.

Skate skiing can be done either with skis specifically designed for skating or 'combi' skis for both skating and classic styles. Similarly, specialized skating boots or combi boots can be used. Skate skis tend to be shorter and stiffer than those used for the classical technique, and the poles are longer. Neither fish scale skis nor grip wax are used.

Different limb-movement patterns are used for different terrain and speeds. There is no internationally accepted naming convention for these techniques.

Names	Description
Gear 1	Similar to the classic herringbone but with a short glide on each ski. This technique is used in racing only on very steep hills. As the name indicates it is often used by weaker skiers, both in training and racing.
diagonal V
single-poling
coach's skate
granny skate
Gear 2	Slightly off-set double-pole on every other leg. Used mostly for hill climbing in competitions.
V1
Offset skate
Gear 3	Double-pole on every leg. Used on the flat for accelerating and on moderate uphills. Requires a good balance. Essential for any serious competitor but often not used nor mastered by hobbyists.
V2
1-skate
Wassberg
Gear 4	Double-pole on every other leg. Used on the flat, while climbing and on gentle downhills.
V2 alternate
Open field skate
2-Skate
Mogren
Gear 5	Skating without using the poles. Used exclusively on downhills at very high speed.
V skating
Free-skate

There are also variants of these techniques, most notably hop-skating, which involves dynamic tempo causing both skis to leave the snow at the same time; generally it is used as a V-1 (offset skate) variant on short hills, but a few racers jump-skate in V-2 (1-skate) sprinting.

Skating style became popular during 1980s. The Finnish skier Pauli Siitonen used the style in 1970s (in Germany in the 1980s skating was called "Siitonen-Schritt" in reference to him). Siitonen had found the style useful at the middle of the race he already thought was lost. After switching to skating Siitonen managed to win the race, to his surprise. The success of Bill Koch

Bill Koch (skier)

(USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) in 1982 Cross-country Skiing Championships held in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

drew more attention to the skating style. In the 1984 Winter Olympics

1984 Winter Olympics

The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated from 8–19 February 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Other candidate cities were Sapporo, Japan; and Gothenburg, Sweden...

of Sarajevo many competitors used an immature form of skating kicking extra speed with one feet (trail being in the middle of trace matured technique was not appropriate). This trend was yet stronger at Seefield's World Championships in 1985. The International Ski Federation (FIS) was confused about these developments. At Seefeld there were some attempts to force competitors to use the traditional style by using plastic walls during the 30 km race. However, later that year the FIS decided to start organising separate races for traditional and skating styles. Separate traditional and free events were used already in World Championships held in Oberstdorf (1987).

Skating technique is only suitable for use on prepared trails (pistes), firm and smooth snow or snow crust and frozen snow-covered lakes or rivers.

Skating is faster and different muscular exercise than classic skiing, except in extremely cold conditions where classic skiing may approach skating in speed. Adoption of the skating technique varies from country to country. In some countries the majority of non-professional racers now skate, although top skiers continue to learn and train in both styles.

The distinction between classic technique and free technique is made in competition i.e., a race will be designated as classic or free. In the case of the former only those propulsion techniques that are considered 'classic' are allowed whereas in the latter the competitors are free to use any technique although the majority of competitors will opt to skate. Large races will often have both skate and classic divisions and award prizes in both categories.

Recent developments in the sport include "double pursuit" races where the competitors complete the first part of the event using the classic technique and the second part using the free technique.

External links

FIS-Ski.com - The Governing Body for Cross Country Ski Racing worldwide
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association - The Governing Body for Cross Country Ski Racing in the United States

Videos

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Recreational skiing

Competition

History

Skis

Poles

Bindings

Waxes

Glide wax

Kick wax

Klister

Waxless skis

Styles and techniques

Classic

Skate skiing

See also

External links

Videos