Alpine Skiing
Skiing is a tricky sport and just when you think you got it down the instructor shows you a new way of doing it. But you should always start with the basics and the most easiest – which is alpine skiing.
Alpine skiing developed in the Alps beginning in 1889. In Winterthur, Switzerland, Odd Kjelsberg may have been the first person in the Alps to try skiing. Previous to this time,the predominate Alpine winter sport had been tobogganing.
Skiing techniques are difficult to master, and accordingly there are ski schools that teach everything from the basics of turning and stopping safely to more advanced carving, racing, mogul or “bump” skiing and newer freestyle techniques. There are two primary types of downhill skiing — “telemark” and “alpine.”
For beginning skiers learning under a trained instructor, skiing speeds are low, the terrain is not steep and is often well-manicured, and the risks are relatively low. For extreme skiers, testing their expert abilities against ever more challenging terrain, the risks may be much higher.