Off-piste
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Off-piste
Backcountry skiing ( US), also called off-piste (Europe), alpine touring, or out-of-area, is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas either inside or outside a ski resort's boundaries. This contrasts with alpine skiing, which is typically done on groomed trails benefiting from a ski patrol. Unlike ski touring, backcountry skiing can include the use of ski lifts including snowcats and helicopters. Recent improvements in equipment have increased the popularity of the sport. Terminology The terms "backcountry" and "off-piste" refer to where the skiing is being done, while terms like ski touring, ski mountaineering, telemark, freeriding, and extreme skiing describe what type of skiing is being done. Terms for backcountry skiing exist according to how the terrain is accessed, and how close it is to services. Backcountry can include the following: * Frontcountry: off-trail within ski area boundaries where ski lifts and emergency services are close at hand. * Slac ...
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Alpine Skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for recreation or for sport, it is typically practiced at ski resorts, which provide such services as ski lifts, artificial snow making, snow grooming, restaurants, and ski patrol. " Off-piste" skiers—those skiing outside ski area boundaries—may employ snowmobiles, helicopters or snowcats to deliver them to the top of a slope. Back-country skiers may use specialized equipment with a free-heel mode, including 'sticky' skins on the bottoms of the skis to stop them sliding backwards during an ascent, then locking the heel and removing the skins for their descent. Alpine skiing has been an event at the Winter Olympic Games since 1936. A competition corresponding to modern slalom was introduced in Oslo in 1886. Participants and v ...
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Hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A History of Walking'', 101-24. NYU Press, 2004. Accessed March 1, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg056.7. Religious pilgrimages have existed much longer but they involve walking long distances for a spiritual purpose associated with specific religions. "Hiking" is the preferred term in Canada and the United States; the term "walking" is used in these regions for shorter, particularly urban walks. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the word "walking" describes all forms of walking, whether it is a walk in the park or backpacking in the Alps. The word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling , hillwalking, and fell walking (a term mostly used for hillwalking in northern England). The term bushwalking is end ...
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Avalanche Canada
Avalanche Canada is a non-government, non-profit organization whose vision is to eliminate avalanche fatalities and injuries in Canada. Avalanche Canada is Canada's national public avalanche safety organization. Based in Revelstoke, British Columbia, the organization's aim is to minimize public avalanche risk in avalanche terrain. Avalanche Canada develops and delivers public avalanche forecasts and special public avalanche warnings for many of the mountainous regions of western Canada, free of charge. Avalanche Canada also provides curriculum and support to instructors of recreational 'Avalanche Skills Training'' courses, delivers public avalanche education awareness and education programs, encourages public avalanche research, provides curriculum to teachers and organizations, and acts as a central hub for avalanche information. The organization was formed in 2004 as the Canadian Avalanche Centre, following a recommendation for the establishment for a national avalanche centre, wh ...
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Ten Essentials
The Ten Essentials are survival items that hiking and Scouting organizations recommend for safe travel in the backcountry. The Ten Essentials first appeared in print in the third edition of '' Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills'' (January 1974). Many regional organizations and authors recommend that hikers, backpackers, and climbers rigorously ensure they have the ten essentials with them. However, personal preferences and differences in conditions may dictate otherwise and with experience most adventurers add and subtract from the list depending on the situation. Some ultralight backpackers do not always carry all of the items and believe it is an acceptable risk they take in order to travel light and fast. List The ninth edition of ''Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills'', published in 2017, defines the Ten Essentials as: # Navigation: map, altimeter, compass, GPS device, personal locator beacon # Headlamp: with LED bulb and spare batteries # Sun protection: s ...
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Avalanche Transceiver
An avalanche transceiver or avalanche beacon is a type of emergency locator beacon, a radio transceiver (a transmitter and receiver in one unit) operating at 457 kHz for the purpose of finding people buried under snow. They are widely carried by skiers, particularly back country skiers for use in case a skier is buried by an avalanche. Before setting out on an expedition, all the members of a group activate their transceivers in the transmit mode, causing the device to emit low-power pulsed radio signals during the trip. Following an avalanche, if some members of the ski party are buried, the others may switch their transceivers from transmit into receive mode, allowing use as a radio direction finding device to search for signals coming from the lost skiers. The avalanche beacon is an active device powered by batteries; a ski suit may also contain a passive RECCO transponder sewn into the clothing. Early avalanche transceivers transmitted at 2.275 kHz. In 1986, t ...
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Telemark Skiing
Telemark skiing is a skiing technique that combines elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing, using the rear foot to keep balance while pushing on the front foot to create a carving turn on downhill skis with toe-only bindings. Telemark skiing is named after the Telemark region of Norway, where the discipline originated. Sondre Norheim is often credited for first demonstrating the turn in ski races, which included cross country, slalom, and jumping, in Norway around 1868. Sondre Norheim also experimented with ski and binding design, introducing side cuts to skis and heel bindings (like a cable). History of Telemark skiing 19th and 20th centuries In the 1800s, skiers in Telemark challenged each other on "wild slopes" (ville låmir); more gentle slopes were described by the adjective "sla." Some races were on "bumpy courses" (kneikelåm) and sometimes included "steep jumps" (sprøytehopp) for difficulty. These 19th-century races in Telemark ran along particularly difficult trails ...
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Angora Goat
Angora may refer to: Places *Angora, the historic name of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey *Angora, Philadelphia ** Angora (SEPTA station), a commuter rail station * Angora, Minnesota * Angora Township, Minnesota *Angora, Nebraska *Angora Lakes, a set of freshwater lakes in the Sierra Nevada ** Angora Fire, a 2007 forest fire near the lakes Fauna *Angora wool, from an Angora rabbit *Angora rabbit, one of at least 11 breeds of rabbit *Angora goat, a breed of goat *Angora ferret, a long-haired breed of ferret *Turkish Angora, a breed of cat originally known as just Angora *Oriental Longhair, a breed of cat formerly known as the British Angora Media *''Tygodnik Angora'', a Polish language publication *Angora (band), a musical group *''Drengene fra Angora'', a Danish satire show See also *Angara (other) * Ankara (other) *Angola (other) Angola is a country in Southern Africa. Angola may also refer to: Places United States * Angola, Delaware, a ci ...
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Sealskin
Sealskin is the skin of a seal. Seal skins have been used by aboriginal people for millennia to make waterproof jackets and boots, and seal fur to make fur coats. Sailors used to have tobacco pouches made from sealskin. Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and Namibia all export sealskin. It was traditionally used to make Scottish sporrans. The Inuit, a group of people indigenous to North America, argue that banning both seal products and seal hunting is detrimental to their way of life and the Inuit culture. However, many non-Inuit object to the use of seal skin, fur and pelts, and it is illegal to hunt seals in many countries, particularly young seals. The value of global sealskin exports in 2006 was over CA$16 million. Pinseal is the term for sealskin leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine ...
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Ski Skins
Climbing skins are strips that attach to the bottom of Nordic, alpine touring or randonnée skis to help while ascending backcountry slopes. They are designed to be removed for skiing downhill. They are typically attached to the skis via a loop on the ski tip, a hook on the tail, and adhesive on the base of the skin. They are called skins because they resemble sealskin, from which the first ski skins were made. They are typically made from nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ... or mohair or a combination thereof, and are designed to let the ski slide forward on snow but not backward. They are usually narrower than the ski to allow the ski edges to get a grip. Some ski resorts permit skinning. History Various ethnic groups living in the Arctic regions created ...
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Snowshoe
Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwear. Traditional snowshoes have a hardwood frame filled in with rawhide latticework. Modern snowshoes are made of lightweight metal, plastic, and other synthetic materials. In the past, snowshoes were essential equipment for anyone dependent on travel in deep and frequent snowfall, such as fur trappers. They retain that role in areas where motorized vehicles cannot reach or are inconvenient to use. However, their greatest contemporary use is for recreation. Snowshoeing is easy to learn and in appropriate conditions is a relatively safe and inexpensive recreational activity. However, doing so in icy, steep terrain requires both advanced skill and mountaineering-style pivoting-crampon snowshoes. Development Origins Before people buil ...
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