Snow Skiing: Downhill, Cross Country or Dropping from the Sky

Snow skiing involves strapping something to the bottom of your feet and gliding across the snow. There are, of course, a gazillion different ways to glide across the snow and quite a few variations on types of skis.

Alpine Skiing: This is your basic downhill snow skiing. You strap on alpine skis and go downhill as fast as you can without getting hurt.

Nordic Skiing: Also called cross-country snow skiing, you propel yourself with poles, gliding across the country.

Telemark Skiing: Simplistically, this is a combination of alpine and Nordic skiing. You go downhill fast on Nordic skis. Telemark snow skiing requires special techniques and turns

Skijoring: Remember hookeybobbing? Skijoring is like that. Put on skis and harness yourself to a horse or big dog and have him pull you around.

Heliskiing: You get to ski down hills that are inaccessible to most skiers. Ride a helicopter up to the top of a mountain or glacier, jump out with your skis on and ski down.

Of course, these variations require different levels of skill and involve different levels of risk. Snowkiting and heliskiing are very risky and take a great deal of skill. Nordic snow skiing is easy to learn, and not terribly risky. Alpine snow skiing takes some skill, but most people can learn how to do it well. The risk is proportionate to the amount of fun you have; going very fast downhill is riskier than the bunny hill, but way more fun, too. Whatever kind of snow skiing you choose, the idea is to have fun.