h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Skiing? Pah!

With skiing you at least have some form of control over the downard direction, and it's not too hard to avoid trees, other people, the dangerous, rocky cliff edge with 200 foot vertical drop.

For a real winter time adrenaline rush, try sliding down a slope on a black plastic bin liner bag. Steering? - forget it! Stopping? - again forget it! Ending up facing the same direction you started in?.......I think you can probably get the gist of this oh so popular sport.

Speaking of adrenaline rushes, what of cross-country skiing? This article seems to sum up the entire skiing experience as the tourist's version of Alpine or downhill skiing! The competitive side of the sport is also not dealt with... I'm probably just being picky, though: product of an upbringing in a mountain ski-tourist town.

For all that, though, it is a good article, and rather funny, given my own experiences in the field! I sympathise strongly with the perception that skiing costs much more than it should - even if not more than it's worth. Money is the only universal leveler in the field of snow sports.

The picturesqueness of ski resorts is also almost universal: I was at a place in China a few years back which was later used to stage the skiing sections of the Asian Winter Games. Yabuli [I think that that was the place's name] was quite close to Korea, and the sparse and wild nature of the countryside in the area provided a vivid contrast to the rest of China that I saw! The lack of snow cover on the ground, however (which I gather is also almost a universal feature of ski resorts these days!) made skiing itself a little difficult...

Hi my name is kasia i have seen your reply and I wonder whether you could help me a bit. I am writing a skiing dictionary but i don't really know much about skiing as i have started skiing a year ago but i really love it.
I wonder if I could ask u about some wocabulary that I don't understand or words that I can use in my dictionary?
I would be greatfull I you could help me with that
sorry to bother you
Kasia