| Alpine skiing (or downhill skiing) is a | | | | based on colour alone. North American green |
| recreational activity and sport involving | | | | circles, blue squares, black diamonds, and |
| sliding down snow-covered hills with long, | | | | double blacks correspond to European blue, |
| thin skis attached to each foot. | | | | red, black, and yellow trails, respectively. |
| | | | |
| Alpine skiing evolved from cross-country | | | | Competitions |
| skiing when ski lift infrastructure was | | | | |
| developed at mountain resorts to tow skiers | | | | Various alpine skiing competitions have |
| back to the top of slopes, thus making it | | | | developed in the history of skiing. Broadly |
| possible to repeatedly enjoy skiing down | | | | speaking, competitive skiing is broken up |
| steep, long slopes that would be otherwise | | | | into two disciplines: racing and freestyle. |
| too tiring to climb up. The sport is popular | | | | |
| wherever the combination of snow, mountain | | | | Racing involves making fast turns around |
| slopes, and a sufficient tourist | | | | gates in an attempt to attain the fastest |
| infrastructure can be built up, including | | | | overall time down one or two runs of a race |
| parts of Europe, North America, Australia and | | | | course. Elite competitive skiers participate |
| New Zealand, the South America Andes, and | | | | in the annual World Cup series, as well as |
| East Asia (mainly South Korea and Japan, | | | | the quadrennial Olympic Games and the |
| although the popularity of skiing is | | | | biennial World Championships. Slalom, giant |
| increasing in China as well). | | | | slalom (GS), super giant slalom (super-G), |
| | | | and downhill are the four racing disciplines, |
| The main technical challenges faced by skiers | | | | with downhill being the fastest event and |
| are simply how to control the direction and | | | | slalom being the most technical. There is |
| speed of their descent. Typically, novice | | | | also a "combined" event that includes one |
| skiers use a technique called the "snowplough | | | | downhill run and two slalom runs on a single |
| snowplow" to turn and stop by pointing one or | | | | day. In 2005, the FIS |
| both skis inward, but more advanced skiers | | | | (Fédération |
| use more difficult but more elegant and | | | | Internationale de Ski) introduced a new event |
| speedier methods. Modern advanced skiing | | | | to the World Cup calendar called the super |
| technique is dominated by "carving." To | | | | combined, or super combi, consisting of one |
| carve, a skier rolls his or her knees from | | | | shortened downhill run and just one slalom |
| side to side while keeping the upper body and | | | | run. That year, the FIS also introduced an |
| hips facing down the hill, so that only the | | | | alpine team racing event at the World |
| knees and feet are turned. This method of | | | | Championships in Bormio, Italy. |
| turning allows modern skis to turn using the | | | | |
| radial properties of the edges of the ski | | | | Freestyle skiing incorporates events such as |
| without skidding or slowing down, creating a | | | | moguls, aerials, and sometimes "new-school" |
| smooth arc. | | | | events such as halfpipe, big air, slopestyle, |
| | | | and skiercross. Together with extreme skiing, |
| As skiers gain confidence, they may tackle | | | | new-school freestyle skiing is also sometimes |
| steeper, longer and more uneven slopes | | | | known as freeskiing. Until relatively |
| (including off-piste and ungroomed runs) at | | | | recently, freestyle competitions also |
| higher speeds. In North America the easiest | | | | included an event called ballet, later |
| slopes are marked by green circles, and are | | | | renamed "acro-ski." |
| typically fairly flat and smooth. Sometimes | | | | |
| known as bunny hills, they are usually | | | | In addition to racing and freestyle, other |
| groomed by specially equipped snowcats every | | | | types of alpine skiing competitions exist. |
| night. A blue square marks slopes of medium | | | | One discipline administered by the FIS but |
| difficulty; they are steeper than green | | | | not usually considered part of racing is |
| circles and may be left in a natural state | | | | speed skiing, in which competitors strive to |
| rather than machine-groomed. A black diamond | | | | achieve the highest total speed in a straight |
| slope is steeper than a blue square and often | | | | line, with no gates or turns. Numerous |
| involves challenging terrain such as moguls, | | | | non-FIS competitions have emerged over the |
| double fall lines, or gladed sections. A | | | | years. More traditional events include |
| double black diamond is for experts only; | | | | gelandesprung jumping (ski jumping for |
| these trails are steep, rarely groomed and | | | | distance on alpine equipment), and "powder 8" |
| often left in a completely natural state. | | | | contests; among the more recent introductions |
| There is no standard for these designations, | | | | are "big mountain" or "extreme skiing" |
| however, and each ski resort determines them | | | | contests, in which athletes start at the top |
| relative to their own terrain difficulty. So, | | | | of a mountain and ski a route down that |
| for instance, a blue-square (mid-level) trail | | | | involves wide, fast turns as well as cliff |
| at one ski mountain may be markedly more | | | | drops. The competitors are judged on the |
| difficult than a black-diamond (expert) trail | | | | technical difficulty of their routes and any |
| at another mountain. In Europe the system is | | | | tricks they perform on the way down the hill. |