I.

Introduction

Alpine Skiing, sport and technique of traversing snow-covered descents, over man-made or natural terrain, with the feet attached to long, narrow runners known as skis. The skis distribute the wearer's weight over a larger area, thus preventing the skier from sinking into the snow. Various kinds of skiing have developed: cross-country skiing (also known as Nordic skiing), freestyle skiing, and alpine skiing, named after the fact it was first practised in the mountainous Alpine areas of Europe. Alpine skiing is a competitive sport with World Championships, World Cups, and Winter Olympics, and is also a recreational and tourist pastime. Competitive alpine skiing has four main disciplines for both men and women: the downhill, slalom, giant slalom, and super giant slalom or super-G. The combined event consists of one downhill run and two slalom runs with the scores combining to produce a winner.

II.

Equipment and Clothing

Alpine skis are made from wood or synthetic materials and are attached to specially designed ski boots; the hard resistant surface of the skis, maintained by application of special ski waxes, produces high speeds in moving over packed snow. Skis are edged with metal and skiers are said to “carve” turns as they tilt the skis into the snow on descents. Skis vary in length according to the skier's height and can reach 1.8 to 2.1 m (6 ft 2 in to 7 ft 2 in) long. Ski width also varies, from 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) in the front, tapering slightly inward in the middle and widening at the rear; the front tip of the ski curves upwards. Downhill skis are longer than slalom skis as the turns on the downhill course are less severe. Skiers carry ski poles, commonly 1.2 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) in length, which are used for balance and to facilitate movement; they are made of light metal tubing, with handgrips and straps and a small disc at the bottom that allows a firm hold in the snow. In the downhill and super-G event the poles are curved; straight poles are used in slalom and giant slalom events.

Flat-soled, generally shin-high boots are an important item of equipment; they are made of rigid leather or plastic and are attached to the ski by a binding that clips at the heel and toe and affords flexibility and safety in the event of a fall. Skiers wear all-in-one skintight ski suits, protective helmet, goggles, and gloves. Slalom skiers wear protection on their wrists and forearms, which frequently clash with the gates on the course.

III.

Rules of the Sport

A.

Downhill

The downhill is considered the blue riband event of the alpine skiing programme, and arguably the highlight of most winter skiing championships. The object is to move down a sharply descending slope in the fastest possible time in essentially a straight line; this requires balance and coordination of the arms and legs, because speeds of 140 km/hr (86 mph) can be achieved. The skier follows the packed and prepared course by travelling through a series of gates, made up of poles with marker flags, placed in pairs, through which the racer must pass; these gates vary in width and placement. Knocking down a pole does not matter provided the racer has passed through the gate, though doing so can severely slow down a skier. In major competitions skiers are allowed to practise on the course before the event takes place. The winner of the event is the fastest to negotiate the course. The skier sets off the electronic timing as he or she leaves the “start hut”. Most men’s downhill races descend about 1,000 m and take about 2 mins to complete; women’s races have a shorter drop and the fastest times are around 1 min 10 secs.

B.

Slalom Racing

A second type of racing is the slalom (Norwegian, “sloping track”). Although this, too, is essentially a downhill course, it involves skiers performing zigzagging movements down and across the surface of a steep slope, negotiating red and blue gates in sequence. If a skier misses a gate he or she is disqualified. The average length of a slalom course is about 536 m (1,760 ft), with a drop of 140 to 220 m (460 to 722 ft). The skier must manoeuvre through 55 to 75 gates (45 to 65 for women), which involves tight, quick turns. For the second run of a slalom race the positions of the gates are moved to test the skiers’ abilities over two differing courses; whoever has the fastest combined time for the two runs is the winner. Skiers cannot therefore ski the course in advance. Quickness and agility are important in the slalom event, because a variety of irregular surfaces is encountered.

C.

The Giant Slalom

The giant slalom is similar to the slalom but the course is longer and the turns are not as tight. The course is usually 1.6 km (1 mi) in length, dropping about 300-500 m (985-1,640 ft) overall. Women's giant slalom courses are somewhat shorter. The gates are between 4 and 8 m (13 and 26 ft) apart and usually number between around 46 and 70 in total. Missing a gate leads to automatic disqualification. The race has two runs, with the best combined time for covering both runs determining the winner.

D.

The Super Giant Slalom

In 1983 the super giant slalom, a combination of downhill and giant slalom, was introduced into international skiing. It is generally known by the shortened term of super-G. Long, sweeping, high-speed turns make this event popular with spectators though it is not as fast as the downhill. The winner is decided in one run. The skiers travel between alternating red and blue gates, between 30 and 35 in number.

E.

Combined Event

The combined event consists of a single downhill run followed by two slalom runs and tests the full set of skills of an alpine skier, many of whom specialize in either the downhill or slalom but not both.

The governing body is the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS), founded in 1924 and based in Oberhofen, Switzerland.

IV.

History

The use of some kind of equipment for travel over snow is ancient. Greek historians mention skins, sliders, or shoes used for this purpose, and similar references occur in Norse myths. The earliest skis of which any record exists were found in bogs in Sweden and Finland. They are thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old and consist of elongated curved frames covered with leather.

A.

Europe

Modern sports skiing began in the middle of the 19th century in Norway and soon spread throughout Scandinavia. The first ski races were held in Norway in the 1850s and 1860s, after Sondre Nordheim had developed techniques and skis in the province of Telemark, Norway. The Norwegian Ski Association was formed in 1883, and the first international ski tournament was held in 1892 near Christiania (now Oslo, Norway). Cross-country and downhill skiing were eventually separated for purposes of competition, although prizes were given for the combined result. In the 1880s and 1890s, skiing began to gain popularity in other countries of Europe, in large part because of the written account by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen of his trip across Greenland on skis in 1888.

The first Swiss ski club was formed in 1893, and at the turn of the 20th century the golden period of ski mountaineering began in the Alps. The technique of alpine skiing was pioneered by Mathias Zdarsky of Austria at the end of the 19th century, and British enthusiasts did much to popularize skiing and develop winter sports and races. Most of the important ski expeditions were accomplished in these years, all the Alpine terrain being explored and marked out. The first ski club in Germany was formed in 1890, and ski competitions were held there in 1896. After a slow beginning, skiing became established in France in Chamonix in 1898 and thereafter steadily gained popularity. In central Europe and Russia, where favourable terrain and snow quality exist, skiing also rapidly gained enthusiasts.

World War I served as an impetus for the development of skiing, because the training and use of special ski troops spread knowledge of techniques. The Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS), with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, was formed in 1924.

B.

North America

In the United States, skiing developed first in Minnesota, which had many Scandinavian immigrants, about the middle of the 19th century; as a result of its popularity across the border in Canada, skiing then spread to the Rocky Mountain states. From the 1920s on, skiing began to enjoy continuous popularity, developing in areas of California and the Pacific north-west, as well as the north-east. The development of ski schools where competent instruction could be obtained, the accessibility of skiing areas to the car, the introduction of the ski lift in the 1930s, and the development of ski resorts (such as Aspen, Colorado; Sun Valley, Idaho; and Lake Placid, New York) made the sport more available. After World War II the sport expanded enormously, no longer limited to a small, affluent minority.

V.

Competition

Today, skiing competition has gained a much larger following because of television, which has brought isolated sites with limited spectator facilities into popular consciousness. Nordic skiing dominated international competition until 1936, when alpine skiing for both men and women (the combined event) was included in the Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. After World War II the programme of events expanded, with the downhill and slalom being introduced in 1948 at St Moritz, Switzerland, and the giant slalom four years later in Oslo, Norway. The super-G made its first appearance in 1988 at the Calgary Winter Games. The men’s downhill event has never been won by the same skier two Olympics in succession, despite seeing some notable names in the history of the sport achieve a single gold medal in the event, namely Toni Sailer in 1956, Jean-Claude Killy in 1968, and Franz Klammer in 1976. The first North American to break the domination of European skiers was Bill Johnson, who won the gold in 1984. Katja Seizinger of Germany has achieved back-to-back victories in the Olympic downhill, winning in both 1994 and 1998. Other notable winners have included Rosi Mittermaier of Germany (1976), Annemarie Moser-Pröll (1980), and Michela Figini of Switzerland (1984). The first non-European to win the event was Kerrin Lee Gartner of Canada in 1992.

Again, no male skier has won the slalom discipline in two separate Winter Olympics but two very versatile all-round skiers won both the slalom and the downhill in the same year: Toni Sailer in 1956 and Jean-Claude Killy in 1968 (both in fact won all three competitions open to them in those particular years). Slalom specialists Ingemar Stenmark (1980), Alberto Tomba (1988), and Benjamin Raich of Austria (2006) won both the slalom and the giant slalom in the same year. In 1992, Tomba became the first skier to win the same event twice after winning his second giant slalom. Famous women alpine skiers have included Deborah Compagnoni of Italy, gold medallist in the giant slalom in 1994 and 1998; Vreni Schneider of Switzerland, winner of the slalom in 1988 and 1994; and Janica Kostelic of Croatia, winner of four gold and two silver medals (1998-2006).

In 1967 the World Cup (alpine) competition was introduced. It is a season-long competition for each of the individual disciplines as well as for an overall title. Gustavo Thoeni, Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland, and the Austrian Hermann Maier have each won four overall titles; Marc Girardelli from Luxembourg holds the record with five titles (1985-1986, 1989, 1991, 1993). (See accompanying table for details.) In the women’s World Cup Annemarie Moser-Pröll leads the way with six titles. She also holds the record for most individual World Cup career wins with 62.

World Championships have been held since 1931. At first they were held annually but since World War II have been held roughly every two years except in Olympic years. Women’s skiing in the 1930s was dominated by Christl Cranz of Germany, who won 12 world titles before the decade was out.