Some Common Winter Sports - A Mixed Bag

Winters bring with them many fun filled winter sports on the white snowy slopes and frozen rivers and ponds. Given below is a list of some of the most popular sporting activities that can be enjoyed in the cool winter season.

Skiing

Skiing is definitely the most popular among all winter sports! What makes it so popular is the wide range of varieties available in skiing! Some sporting events that make the use of skis on snow are

Alpine Skiing Downhill skiing on mountain slopes.
Biathlon Combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
Cross-country Skiing (XC Skiing) Skiing across large snowfields.
Ski Jumping Skiing down an in-run having a take-off ramp to jump from, one of the winter sports included in Winter Olympics.
Nordic Combined A combination of cross-country skiing and ski jumping.
Freestyle Skiing A demonstration event in the Olympic winter sports; includes Aerial Skiing and Ski Ballet.
Ski Archery Similar to Biathlon; replaces the gun with a recurve bow.
Ski Boarding Combines skating, snow boarding and skiing.
Skibob An early form of transportation in the Alps; involves a bicycle-like frame attached to skis instead of wheels.
Skijoring A winter-dog or horse-driven ski sport popular in North America.
Snowshoeing A common recreational sport popular with hikers and runners in winters.
Speed skiing Skiing downhill in a straight line as fast as possible, this is one of the fastest non-motorized land sports.

Snow Boarding

Also very common among the winter sports enjoyed around the world, this activity is similar to skiing, except that it uses a snowboard, and is inspired by surfing and skateboarding. Some common varieties of Snowboarding include Freestyle snowboarding, Alpine snowboarding, Boarder cross, Half-pipe, Slope Style and Slalom or Racing. The biggest snowboarding contests include the U.S. Open, Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand-Prix, Shakedown, Vans Cup, West Coast Invitational, Chevrolet Revolution Tour, X Games, and the Race to the Cup series.

Sledding

One of the popular winter sports, enjoyed by kids and youth alike, Sledding involves sliding down the slippery snow-covered slopes, seated on flat, plastic discs or wooden boards with metal runners or any such vehicle which becomes a sled!

Ice Blocking Racing downhill sitting on large ice-blocks.
Bobsleigh Sledding down narrow, banked, twisted, ice-tracks in gravity-powered sleds.
Luge One or two-person sled, on which steering is done by flexing the calf-muscles and shoulders, driving feet-first.
Skeleton One-person sled, driving headfirst down the track.
Dogsled racing Teams of sled dogs pulling a sled down the snowy tracks.
Toboggan One of the simple, recreational winter sports for children, using a sled with no skis or runners on the underside.

Apart from these, there are team winter sports too, like Ice hockey and Sleigh hockey; and recreational, non-competitive activities like ice-fishing, ice-swimming, ice boating, ice sailing, snowball fighting and Shinny.

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