Sondre Norheim is the Father of Modern Skiing

The importance of being able to travel beyond the confines of your immediate surroundings has been recognized for a long time. Regardless of different kinds of weather conditions that man has had to overcome, transportation is and has always been a very important issue that has forced man from the very earliest times to innovate in order to move across land and sea using whatever means to traverse long distances. In countries that experience heavy snowfall the need to move has always been especially great and so it is not surprising to learn that skiing actually originated in Scandinavia where snowfall is abundant and the winter months are long and hard to survive in.

A Pastime And Sport

Though originally a necessity today this form of snow transport has become a pastime as well as sport and few if anyone today actually uses skiing to go from one place to another as did their forefathers. Sondre Norheim is the person that has been credited with developing the modern version of skiing as it was him that thought up the idea of making use of bindings that are very useful to a skier as they make turns while traveling downhill on a pair of skis.

Later, Mathias Zdarsky improved on Norheim’s concept and this gave birth to the sport called alpine skiing. The idea to rotate the body occurred to a person called Hannes Schneider and then came the Arlberg technique that popularized the sport even more.

When it concerns skiing events there are many types to choose from including alpine or downhill, backcountry or off-Piste, cross country or Nordic, extreme and heliskiing as too newschool, telemark and speed skiing. In addition there are ski jumping activities that are very popular and so too is ski mountaineering as too ski touring. And, of course everyone loves to snowboard while snow kiting too is very popular as too is Cat and freestyle skiing.

All these different types of skiing types have given birth to more unique and specific techniques that when mastered ensure that the skier can perform their activities in the best and most efficient manner. Even those people that have physical disabilities can learn the proper techniques and spend their time profitably and happily on a pair of skis – all thanks to the marvels of modern skiing technologies.

Ski boots are perhaps the most important items of skiing gear – after the skis themselves. It therefore pays to learn more about how to purchase the right pair of boots so that your time on the skis gets to be more fun, safer and you also don’t end up paying too much for this essential item of skiing equipment.