9781422280812

Andrew Luke

Andrew Luke

MASON CREST

Adventurous Outdoor Sports Series

Air Sports All-Terrain Sports Mountain Sports

Snow Sports Water Sports

Andrew Luke

MASON CREST

MASON CREST 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, Pennsylvania 19008 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll-free)

Andrew Luke

Copyright © 2017 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN (hardback) 978-1-4222-3708-3 ISBN (series) 978-1-4222-3704-5 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4222-8081-2

Cover and Interior designed by Tara Raymo; www.creativelytara.com

Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the Library of Congress

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Table of Contents

The World of Snow Sports

7

Cross-Country Skiing

8-11

Downhill Skiing

12-15 16-19 20-23 24-27 28-31 32-35 36-39 40-43

Ski Jumping

Freestyle Skiing Snowboarding Snowshoeing Yukigassen Snowmobiling

Want to Participate?

Further Reading, Internet Resources Photo Credits, Video Credits, Author Bio

44

45-46 47-48

Index

Key icons to look for: Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills.

Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there.

Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives.

Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis.

Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments and much more!

The World of Snow Sports

6

When the weather turns cold in northern climates, most people prefer to stay indoors, sticking to insulated, heated buildings and gathering around cozy fireplaces. Through the centuries, however, there have always been those heartier types who wait impatiently for the cold to return because with it comes the snow. For these people, the snow has always represented opportunity rather than impediment. Pristine, snow- covered hillsides are blank canvases crying out to be carved into, plowed through, and soared above.

People have long adapted to traveling over winter terrain. In northern Russia, cave paintings several thousand years old were discovered depicting people skiing. Geologists in Sweden found wooden skis that are four thousand years old. Skiing is one of the oldest snow sports. Originally developed for transportation, skiing took a competitive turn in the late eighteenth century as military troops from Denmark and Norway staged downhill races, some of which incorporated target shooting, as well as races across flatter terrain up to 3 km (1.9 miles) long. A Danish officer named Olaf Rye is believed to have staged the first-ever ski jump when he flew more than 9 meters (30 feet) to entertain his troops in 1808. The first mention of a ski race in a newspaper was recorded in 1843 about an event in Norway. In America, the National Ski Association (today known as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association [USSA]) was founded in 1905, 5 years before the sport’s international governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS, or International Ski Federation in English) was founded in Norway. Today, the range of sports performed on the snow still includes traditional skiing but has also evolved to include modern and mechanized styles and equipment to help people to have fun in the snow.

7

Cross-Country Skiing

Competition in the classic style of cross-country skiing takes place on a course with grooved tracks or in fresh snow.

biathlon: an event in which athletes ski over the countryside and stop to shoot rifles at targets. discipline: a field of study. Nordic: of or relating to the Germanic peoples of northern Europe and especially of Scandinavia. Words to Understand

8

The skate style of cross-country skiing uses shorter skis than the classic style, and competition courses are packed smooth.

The sport of cross-country skiing is also known as Nordic skiing and is the oldest form of the sport, a big reason that its inventors, the Norwegians, remain the best in the world at it. In this discipline , the skiers use their own strength rather than gravity to push themselves over the snow. Cross-country skiing requires strength and endurance, a large reason why it is less popular as a recreational sport than downhill skiing, where gravity does all the work. As a competitive sport, cross-country skiing has evolved over the years. Traditionally, competitors, wearing skis 15 percent longer than the athlete is tall, race in either grooved tracks or fresh snow in events of varying lengths. This is known today as the classic style. There is also the skate style, where there are no tracks, and athletes use shorter skis (only 5 percent longer than the athlete’s height) over a course that has been packed smooth. The style became popular in the 1980s. Rather than skiing with the skis parallel to each other, skate skiers push with alternating legs, keeping their skis at about a 45-degree angle. Another cross-country discipline that evolved from the origins of the sport is the biathlon . The modern version of the sport tests the athlete’s abilities both to ski quickly over a long distance and shoot a rifle accurately.

9

As these skiers in the Italian Alps could attest, cross-country skiing requires more strength and endurance than going downhill, which is a big reason that downhill skiing is the more popular recreational sport.

The modern sport of biathlon developed from old military training exercises where soldiers would ski downhill at top speed and fire at stationary targets from their moving skis. In the modern event, the competition takes place on a flatter cross-country circuit, and skiers have to stop at predetermined intervals to fire rifles they carry on their backs at five targets. For every shot they miss, they must ski a penalty loop, adding distance to their race. The difficulty for the athletes comes in controlling the heaviness of their breathing after a taxing interval on the skis well enough to make an accurate shot. Sidebar

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Text-Dependent Questions

1. What is another name for cross-country skiing? 2. What are the two styles of cross-country skiing? 3. What cross-country event requires the use of a rifle?

Research Project

Wax is very important in the sport of cross- country skiing. Investigate what types of wax are best for what snow or weather conditions.

Educational Video

Scan here to learn more about cross- country skiing.

11

Downhill Skiing

Downhill skiing is the most popular form of recreational skiing.

aerodynamic: having a shape that reduces the drag from air moving past. excess: to a great amount or degree. propulsion: the force that moves something forward. Words to Understand

12

Downhill skiing is the most popular form of recreational skiing. Unlike cross- country skiing, gravity does most of the work to provide propulsion . Weekend enthusiasts flock to hills and mountains from New England to California. Predictably, the sport is most popular in countries with mountainous regions, like those containing the Alps in Europe or the Rockies in North America. Competitively, downhill skiing (also known as alpine skiing) is divided into speed and technical events. Generally, the more turns an event requires, the more technical it is considered to be. The speed events in downhill skiing are the downhill and the Super Giant Slalom (super-G). In the downhill, skiers try to remain in a position as aerodynamic as possible while traveling from the starting line near the top of a marked course to the finish at the bottom of the mountain. The athletes must

remain on the course, marked by flags called

“gates,” which are spaced relatively far apart to mark the course. Speeds in the downhill event can approach 100 mph (161 km/h). In the super-G, the gates are closer together, giving the racer less time to get to the necessary position to turn and stay within the gates. Speeds in super-G can be in excess of 80 mph (129 km/h). In the technical events, the giant slalom and the slalom, the gates are very close together, and the skiers are constantly turning from edge to edge to keep their skis inside the gates.

Slovenia’s Tina Maze (shown here racing in a super-G) is a four-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. In 2013, she also won a World Cup season title in the super-G.

13

Norwegian skier Kjetil Jansrud attacks a control gate during the FIS alpine skiing World Cup slalom race in Val D’Isere, France. The slalom is a technical event requiring excellent turning technique rather than pure speed.

In giant slalom, there is a vertical drop anywhere from 250 to 450 meters (273 to 492 yards) with 46 to 58 gates for women and 56 to 70 for men. Speeds are up to 50 mph (80 km/h). In the slalom event, the number of gates is the same, but the course is shorter, with gates just 9 meters (30 feet) apart on a course only 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide. The gates come so quickly that skiers must swivel their hips constantly to stay in rhythm and on course. Slalom skiers wear special equipment to protect them from the impact with the gates, which are flexible, plastic flagpoles that bend on impact but can whip back at the skier. Even at the average speed of 25 mph (30 km/h), the whipping action of the gates can cause injury. All ski racers wear helmets, but slalom skiers have helmets with metal faceguards. They also wear shin pads and have hand protectors attached to the tops of their ski poles. Sidebar

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