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For many people, "skiing" refers to recreational downhill skiing where one visits a ski resort, purchases a lift ticket, dons cold-weather clothing, skis, ski boots and ski poles, and embarks on a chairlift, gondola lift. Or other means of mechanical uphill transport. Upon reaching the summit, the skier disembarks from the ski lift and travels downhill, propelled by gravity, usually along a marked run known as a piste. |
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| Some skiers use moguls to help them
ski. Moguls are bumps in a ski slope formed when skiers cut
grooves in the snow as they execute turns.
Once formed, a mogul tends to grow, as skiers will follow similar paths around it, further deepening the surrounding grooves. Since skiing tends to be a series of linked turns, moguls form together. |
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The stem technique in skiing is usually credited to Mathias Zdarsky, from Austria, who invented it in the 1890s. Its variations gradually replaced the telemark technique in alpine skiing. The technique involves "stemming" out the uphill ski - pushing it out from being parallel with the downhill ski to form a V shape. |
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| The invention of the Parallel turn in skiing is credited to Austrian Toni Seelos in the 1930s. The technique involves setting the uphill ski so it runs along its big-toe edge, and applying pressure to it. Because of the way skis are shaped (narrower under the foot) the ski will turn (to the left if the pressure is to the right ski, to the right if the pressure is on the left). As the turn progresses the two skis remain parallel, and the second ski also starts to run along the inner (little-toe) edge. The turn can only be made if travelling at some speed, since the speed of the skier generates the pressure needed to turn the skis properly as the skier banks into the turn. Turning the ski using a parallel turn without skidding is known as carving the ski. In the 1990s ski design developed to make this easier to accomplish. |
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