Curious Things to Know About Skiing – The Premier Winter Sport

You'll find that it's a bit hard to trace back the origins of skiing. The word itself. "ski", is derived from the Norse word for a piece of wood. According to archaeological discoveries made in the Scandinavian regions seem to suggest that people had taken to skiing – mainly as a method of food transport – all the way back in 4000 BC! This would also point to the fact that the concept of skiing was first developed by the people of these regions. However, other evidence suggests that skiing may have originated in the continent of Asia, specifically by mountain tribes that occupied parts of China and the Mongolian Steppe. Modern skiing – the sport we know and love today – was first popularised in Norway during the early 1800s.

While skiing started to become popular in the Scandinavian countries, it was also mostly confined to those regions as well. Skiing as a whole was not talked about much throughout the rest of Europe. This would change in large part due to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the famous Sherlock Holmes series. Doyle moved to Switzerland in 1893 in order to live in the mountains. It was here that he discovered the joy of skiing and he naturally began to write about his experience with the sport. These writings made their way back to England and other parts of Europe – suddenly, skiing was the new hip sport to try out. Well over a century later, skiing is now an excursion that's available in various parts of the world. You can try it out all over Europe or even in areas like British Columbia – particularly if you're staying at a Whistler hotel on offer – say, for example, the Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside.

As skiing's popularity grew, so too did its viability as a competitive sport. However, it would quite a long time for it to be taken seriously at a global level. Cross-country skiing had been part of the Winter Olympic Games since the competition's inception in 1924 and alpine skiing became part of the games in 1936.

Skiing downhill can be an absolutely exhilarating experience. In fact, the right skiers are able to achieve amazing top speeds during this act. Essentially, a professional can ski down a mountain much faster than you could drive. The current world record, for example, is an astonishing 156.2 miles per hour.

Skiing hasn't only been seen as a sport over the years, it has at times proved to be a vital component in the world's major conflicts. For example, in both of the World Wars, ski troopers were essential in keeping armies fed on top of being an incredibly useful reconnaissance unit.