Freestyle skiing owes its beginning to the Norwegian skiers who performed acrobatics while they were on alpine and cross-country skiing training. These freestyle acrobatic skills were later presented in many non-competitive professional skiing exhibitions and gained immense popularity. Freestyle skiing gained importance in the mid 20 th century when it was popularly known as “hot-dogging”. Freestyle skiing was not a very safe sport as it caused severe knee injuries to the free style skiers.

Freestyle skiing was not accepted as a sport form in competitions for many years keeping in mind the dangers associated with it. But with time, new regulations were implemented on the game so that the danger elements of the game could be curbed to certain extent. Presently, freestyle skiing is divided into two branches . The first branch comprises of the more traditional events of freestyle skiing namely moguls and aerials. The new branch of freestyle skiing is called new school and encompasses events like half pipe, big air, slope style and skier cross. Specially designed twin-tip skis are prepared by various ski equipment manufacturing companies for free stylers. These special ski equipments help in enhancing the pleasures of freestyle skiing along with ensuring safety of the skiers. As freestyle skiing is a combination of skiing techniques with acrobatic skills, watching this type of sport is really exciting. There are many varieties of freestyle ski tricks that are performed like 180, 360, 540 Tail Grab, Corkscrew 720, D Spin 720 etc.

Grass skiing is a good way of keeping oneself busy in the sport of skiing even during the summer months with no snow in the mountains. The sport is suited to the adult as well as the young skiers all the same. The history of the game which was invented by Richard Martin dates back to 1966 when it was first started for training Alpine skiers. It is now a good substitute for snow skiing and is the best way for the ski lovers to remain engaged even during the summer months.

As the equipment for the year round sport of grass skiing, the skiers use two types of skis which are different from the earlier versions where rolling treads remained attached to the ski boots . The present skis are either wheeled or tracked . Of these, the wheeled one is usually used by the novice skiers while the other one facilitates fast skiing. The skiers also use ski poles and wear helmets and elbow and knee padding for protections. The speed and jumps can be performed by the skier using his skiing skills. The sport has spread all over the world and grass skiing centers have developed in several countries like Japan, Iran, Switzerland, China and others. The biggest competitive event of the sport is the Grass Skiing World Cup .

Grass skiing has become an extremely popular sport among both the young as well as the adult skiers. The sport, apart from being complete in itself, also acts as the training module for the skiers wishing to take on snow skiing in future.

Heliskiing is a popular skiing sport in which the skiers do not make use of the ski lifts and instead reach the skiing destination with the help of a helicopter .The adventure associated with the sport is making it extremely popular among the skiers most of whom have the basic skill of skiing down the snow filled tracks of the mountains.

Heliskiing, which usually involves three to twelve heli-lifts a day, has the group of skiers steered by a guide who finds the best and the safest skiing location. The main skill required to undertake Heliskiing is the knowledge of all kinds of snow conditions and an ability to manage them. Most of the heliskiers use the Freeride skis or all-mountain skis . However, apart from the different kinds of skis available, the heliskiers also need a number of equipments while undertaking Heliskiing. These include the goggles, ski gloves, hat, neck warmers and avalanche transceivers to fight against the extreme cold as well as the threat of the avalanches.

Heliskiing has achieved a lot of popularity across the world. With every passing day, the adventure associated with the sport is attracting new faces who are embracing the sport and making it spread across the globe even more.

Night Skiing gives the skiers an opportunity of enjoying the beauties of the serene mountains after the sundown and also gives a chance to have the adventure of skiing down the snowy slopes after sundown. The sport makes use of the floodlights making the paths visible amid the darkness and also beautiful. The sport offers a chance to the skiers who remain busy during the daytime to continue skiing even after the sundown.

Night skiing is usually organized from just after the sunset and continues between 8 in the evening and 10:30 in the night. The skiers have a chance to experience the adventures of skiing alone along the lonely pistes . The sport can be enjoyed most during the months of February and March, but is also equally scintillating in the month of January, provided measures against the chilling cold are promptly taken. The sport also offers better qualities of snow and skiing at night than during the day. The floodlights help to decipher the nature of the pistes easily and sometimes even better than the sunlight of late afternoon. Some of the important night skiing locations are Bretton Woods in Twin Mountains, New Hampshire, Michigan, Mt Olympus in New Zealand and others.

The low prices of skiing tickets and also for hiring the equipments during the night have made it easier for the skiers to avail them. This has also made the sport extremely popular among a large section of people and lately more and more skiers are opting for night skiing at the best skiing destinations of the world.

Skijoring is a special kind of winter sport which is extremely popular in North America and is an evolved version of the popular Scandinavian sport called pulka . The sport involves either the use of winter dogs or horses to drag a player on the skis over the snow covered fields. Sometimes a snowmobile is also used instead of a ski.

While skijoring, the rider has to wear a wide waistband which has a clip in it to attach a harness to it. The harness is worn by the dogs which carry the ski forward. The main techniques used in the sport are that of cross-country skiing or faster skate skiing . However, the skis are not hot waxed throughout as is done in cross-country skiing. This is done to keep up the fast speed of the dogs’ team which drags the ski. Skijoring has been quite a popular sport and has been a demonstration sport at the Winter Olympics of 1928. It has also been featured in Silver Wolf , a film made in 1998.

Skijoring is slowly becoming popular among the ski-loving people. It is gradually gaining good ground and is expected to be one of the major winter sports in near future.

Ski Jumping is a special type of skiing in which a skier, after skiing down a length of a path takes off in an attempt to jump as far as possible. The sport has evolved from skiing itself and is an adventurous version of the sport. Though it originated from Morgedal in Norway, the first official competition of the sport was held in Trysil in the year 1862. However, it is Holmenkollen in Norway which is the most popular destination for ski jumping across the globe.

The sport of ski jumping has a number of competitive events of which the World Cup Ski Jumping competition is the largest. It is of three types – Normal hill competitions, Large hill competitions and the Sky flying competitions . The sport is played both as a team game as well as between individuals and both men and women participate in it alike. The sport is governed by the International Ski Federation and is also a part of the Winter Olympics . The Nordic World Ski Championships is the most popular event of the sport. The scoring is done according to the view of the judges who take into notice the distance of the jump as well as its style. The world record of the sport is held by Bjorn Einar Romoren .

The sport of Ski Jumping has gained extreme popularity around the world and has received a lot of media coverage. It is already a popular game in countries like Austria, Germany, Japan and others and is gradually extending its boundaries.

Ski Mountaineering , a sport which gives the full chance of enjoying the beauty of the serene mountains, has evolved as a result of the combination of the skills of skiing and mountaineering . The skiers take on the sport with an aim of reaching the summit of a mountain by using their mountaineering skills and then ski down that very mountain top. The merging of the skiing techniques with that of mountaineering helps the skiers to climb some mountains which are otherwise not easily accessible.

The history of ski mountaineering dates back to 1855 and the honor of being the first ski mountaineer is bestowed upon John “Snowshoe” Thompson who used the skis to deliver mails across the steep eastern part of the Sierra Nevada mountains. However, it is the German skier Wilhelm von Arlt who is regarded as the Father of Ski Mountaineering . Other important ski mountaineers include Cecil Slingsby and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . A Ski Mountaineering Racing or Randonnee Racing is also organized in which the sport is converted into a timed race. Some of the equipments used in the sport are ice axes, ropes and crampons .

Ski Mountaineering is a sport extremely popular among the adventurous sports lovers. It serves the sports world well by making the interests of the people grow simultaneously in two sports-mountaineering as well as skiing.

Ski Touring involves skiing over the vast snow covered fields without the use of the ski lift or the snow vehicles and is performed on the steep mountains as well as the plane lands. A skier taking on a ski touring, a form of backcountry skiing , should have the skills of meteorology along with the skiing skills. Besides, a high degree of self belief is also required as the sport can often lead to accidents from where it is upon the tourers themselves to find a way of rescue.

A ski tourer is required to use several ski touring equipments like the crampons or different types of ski shoes depending upon the type of touring undertaken. The skiers also use various types of skis and bindings in the different ski touring. Among the main ski touring variations is the Nordic ski touring which uses bindings with free heels. It is again subdivided into the Traditional Nordic and the Backcountry Nordic . The other versions are the Telemark ski touring and the Alpine touring . The Alpine touring or Randonnee has another variation called the Alpine modified . Ski touring is popular all over the world and is performed in several locations including the Alps, Himalayas , locations in the US, Canada and others.

Ski touring has become an extremely popular sport across the globe. It involves several skills on the part of the skiers and the challenge involved in it is attracting new skiers with every passing day.

Skwal or Skwalling is a hybrid sport which has been inspired by the sports of skiing as well as snowboarding and is one of the most recently invented skiing activities. The sport came into being in the 1990s and attracted public attention for the first time in 1992. It was invented by Patrick “Thias” Balmain and Manuel Jammes , two ski school instructors who had aimed at presenting the world with a little more stir than just skiing and snowboarding .

The sport of Skwal or Skwalling is performed on a single board and is similar to snowboarding and monoskiing in this aspect. However, the sport differs markedly from these two sports in the positioning of the feet of the rider. In it the feet of the rider remains pointed to the direction of the board one followed by another and while doing this and the rider also has to have both his feet attached to a single board. The sport has gained immense popularity lately and a number of famous sporting goods manufacturing companies have got themselves involved in manufacturing the equipments of Skwal like Lacroix, Skwal Thias and others.

In spite of the efforts made to popularize Skwal, the sport still remains confined within its small boundaries. Yet the lovers of the sport are trying hard to make it popular and make people enjoy and love the sport just as they do.

Snowboarding , a sport inspired by surfing as well as skateboarding , involves the skier who descends the snow covered slopes of the mountains using the snowboard . The sport has started its journey in the United States of America and it was in the 1960s and 1970s when it first became popular across the globe. It is the favorite among most of the people loving winter games.

The sport of snowboarding is one of the major winter occupations of the skiers. The sport involves some dangers as it is performed mainly in the perilous slopes of the high and steep mountains. Hence the use of protective gears is extremely necessary to avoid unpleasant accidents. These include the helmet along with the wrist guards, protective snowboard pants to avoid injuries to the wrist, tailbone, head, spines, shoulders and the ankles as these are the most vulnerable parts of the body while snowboarding. Special snowboarding boots are also worn. The goggles are useful to prevent any snow particle from injuring the eye as well as in preventing snow blindness on bright and sunny days. The sport has been included in the Winter Olympic since 1998. Some of the famous players of the sport are Tom Sims, Craig Kelly and Terry Kidwell .

The sport of snowboarding is climbing the ladders of the popularity chart with every passing day. It has already been included in films like The White Album , Out Cold , A View to a Kill and others. The sport is expected to take the shape of a global sport in near future.

Snowkiting is one of the most recently invented winter sports using a snowboard , an alpine ski or a Telemark ski where the snowkiter travels uphill taking the help of the kites. Like most of the other winter sports, Snowkiting is also an outdoor sport and is played in the perilous slopes of the mountains. The origin of the sport can be traced back to the use of a square parachute by some Alpine skiers while skiing upwind on a frozen bay in the middle of the 1980s. Since then the sport has been played by a number of snowkiters on the frozen lakes and snowfields.

Snowkiting was first started with foil kites but the sport has gone through evolution since when it was born. Now-a-days the snowkiters use even their water gear and the power kites to use as their snow kites . More and more skiers are embracing the game as it is an easy game to learn and even easier than kite surfing . One of the reasons behind this is that with the wind blowing in the required direction, much less effort is needed in moving on the snow. Yet, a lot of risk is involved in the sport and protection on the part of the skier is necessary.

The sport of snowkiting is already a popular sport across the world. It is played in places countries like Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States of America. The sport is fast developing and is surely going to be one of the most played winter games in near future.

Speed Skiing is a special kind of skiing where the skiers reach an extremely high velocity while smoothly skiing down the slopes of the snowy mountains. This is a special kind of skiing and is usually practiced on the steep slopes of the mountains. These are held on courses which are specially designed and are mostly one kilometer in length.

Speed Skiers use special skis for the sport. These are mostly 2.2 to 2.4 metres in length and a maximum of 10cm in width. These are quite heavy and pair of ski weighs around 15 kg. The speed ski poles are of a length of minimum 1 metre and are bent in a shape to go around the body. The initial 300 to 400 metres of the course, which is known as the launching area , is the area where the skiers gain speed and reaches their maximum speed in the next 100 metres which is between 400 and 500 metres. The last 500 metres is known as the run-out area and is used to slow down the pace and come to a stop. There are several competitive events of the sport and it was included as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Winter Olympics . The records of the sport are held by Simone Origone of Italy and Sanna Tidstrand of Sweden in the men’s and women’s sections respectively and by Michael Milton of Australia in disabled men’s section.

The sport of speed skiing is fast gaining extreme popularity. The adventure associated with the sport is attracting young generation towards it. The sport of Speed Skiing is expected to expand even more in the coming years.

Telemark Skiing is one of the major skiing sports involving a turn called the Telemark Turn and is also known as the “ free heel skiing ”. The skiers use skiing boots which are connected to the skis by the bindings only at the toes with the heels remaining free. When the skiers make the turn, they keep the heel flat on the outside ski while pulling the inside ski beneath the body. The knee remains bend and the heel is raised above the ground level. It is one of the most rhythmic skiing sports.

Telemark skiing was made popular by the Norwegian skier Sondre Norheim and for the first time attracted public attention in 1868. The sport received its name from the Telemark region of Norway where it was mainly practiced. This type of skiing was initially quite popular among the skiers but this popularity waned gradually, taken over by Stem technique. However, it regained much of its lost popularity in the 1990s after its practice was started anew in the 1980s. The skis used for this sport are similar to Alpine skis along with leather ski boots and three-pin bindings . However, cable bindings or hinged plate bindings are also used.

Telemark skiing, because of the adventurous nature, is attracting more and more young skiers with every passing day. The sport is among the most popular skiing activities in the world.

Water skiing is one of the most exciting and adventurous water sports whicb has gained immense popularity in recent years. According to the American Water Ski Association, Ralph Samuelson was officially the first water skier with an acknowledged record of ski racing, ski jumping, slalom skiing and putting up a water ski show. The sport has apparently assumed diverse forms including trick skiing which basically involves a person wearing two finless skies water skis being pulled along by a boat and performs a variety of water skiing stunts. Slalom skiing is a little advanced form of the water sport in which a water skier dons only one ski instead of two which is equipped with special binding for both the feet, one behind the other.It involves a delicate finetuning of balance for the water skier , however, which demands a lot of practice and hard work on the part of skier.

A whole spectrum of water skiing competitions are organized in different parts of the world which include Slalom skiing tournaments, Ski jumping and water ski racing.Water ski shows are also organized by a number of water ski clubs around the globe in which a set of entertainers perform jumping, swiveling and different formations based on a particular theme.This page provides a number of useful links related to water skiing which can help you explore a great deal of information on the subject.