A sport in which participants must travel on skis.
Self-propulsion on snow by means of elongated runners (skis) for the feet, slightly bent upward at the tip. It is a popular recreational sport, as cross-country ski touring or as downhill runs on mountain trails; events include downhill; slalom, in which a series of turns between flags have to be negotiated; cross-country racing; and ski jumping, when jumps of over 150 m/490 ft are achieved from ramps up to 90 m/295 ft high. Speed-skiing uses skis approximately one-third longer and wider than normal with which speeds of up to 200 kph/125 mph have been recorded. Recently, snowboarding (or monoboarding), the use of a single, very broad ski, similar to a surf board, used with the feet facing the front and placed together, has become increasingly popular.
Skiing was known as a means of transportation across snow in N Europe and Asia from about 3000 BC, but developed into a sport when innovations in ski design made it possible to maneuver more accurately, around 1896. Ski resorts then began as a winter vacation business in Europe and the US, but not until the 1970s did skiing become a recreation for any but the wealthy or those who lived in ski conditions. The Alpine World Cup was first held 1967.