Snowboarding Vs. Skiing

9 Pages 2202 Words

Introduction

I am writing this report to compare and contrast snowboarding and downhill skiing. Snowboarding is a winter sport that includes just one piece of equipment – a snowboard. The snowboard is to be strapped to a person’s feet, and then they are sent down a snow filled slope. Skiing on the other hand requires more equipment. You need special boots, skis, and poles. You put on your ski boots, strap them into the skis, and grab onto the ski poles and try to make it down the same hill as the snowboarder. In this report, I intend to cover many aspects of both skiing and snowboarding through my comparisons and contrast. I intend to cover their history’s, their levels of difficulty, their images, and follow up these aspects with a conclusion.

History
History of Downhill skiing

Remnants of skis found in Norway and Sweden date from more than 4,000 years ago. Skiing began to assume its modern form in the mid-19th century, when the Norwegians developed bindings that greatly improved control over the skis and made it possible to jump and turn. The Nordic events as they are known today date from this period. Reports of the use of skis in late-19th-century Norwegian Arctic expeditions spread word of the sport and inspired mountaineers to introduce it into the Alps. Because of the steep slopes and deep snow there, the emphasis was increasingly put on the downhill run. This led to the development of competitive skiing.

Although Norwegian immigrants brought skiing to the United States about 1850, the sport did not gain popularity until the 1930s, following the installation of the first rope tow, in Woodstock, Vt., in 1934. The rope tow made it possible to learn to ski relatively rapidly and inexpensively. About 1,000 U.S. ski areas are now in operation, and millions of Americans ski. In recent years many of these areas have begun to feature cross-country as well.

Skiing has been an Olympic Games event since 1924.


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