The origin of skiing

Skiing is a competitive sport. Athletes put their skis under their boots and accelerate, jump and slide in the snow. It originated in Scandinavia, which is extremely cold in the northern part of Eurasia. In Norwegian, "skiing" means wearing snowshoes, and "obstacle skiing" means sliding on a sloping road. At first, people may use belts to tie large animal bones to leather boots as skiing tools. 1896, the Austrian Zasky invented a method to push the sled into the snow slope at a certain inclination angle to control the downhill speed. At the beginning of the 20th century, Austrian Schneider developed a brand-new turning and braking technology based on Zasky's invention.

1924 the international ski Federation was established. In the same year, Nordic skiing was included in the first Winter Olympic Games held in Chamonix in 1924. Since then, skiing has become more and more popular. Ski equipment is also increasingly updated, and it is popular to make it from wood, metal and plastic. Skiing is also divided into two types with the development of the times: Nordic skiing and alpine skiing. Alpine skiing includes downhill, giant slalom and giant slalom (slalom) and alpine skiing. Nordic skiing events include cross-country skiing, platform skiing and Nordic mixed events. At present, the main international skiing competitions are the World Ski Championship and the Ski World Cup. The leading countries of skiing in the world are Scandinavian countries, such as Norway, Sweden and Finland, and countries around the Alps in western Europe, France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Sweden, as well as the United States and Russia. Because of tradition and geography, Scandinavian countries have advantages in Nordic skiing, while alpine countries have advantages in alpine skiing.

Skiing entered China relatively late. Before 1996, only professional athletes and skiers from the embassy in Beijing participated in this sport. According to the statistics of relevant departments, the number of people who experience skiing in ski resorts reaches more than 10 thousand every year, and it is on the rise year by year.

1. The emergence and development of skiing is in the process of human conquest of nature.

Skiing originated from the process of human conquest of nature, provided that it is cold, snowy, mountainous, forested and the early origin of human civilization.

The earliest skiing activities are the means of walking, hunting, transportation and war that people began to use and conquer snow around 2500 BC. Skiing traces can be found in the historical records of Altay region south of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Sculptures of people wearing skis have also been found on cave rocks in Norway. The earliest ski equipment may be the equipment in the shape of "snow tread", which is tied to the feet with a thong, mainly to avoid falling into the snow, and then used as ski equipment on the snow surface. The use of ski poles began with ski poles.

In the 4th century BC, when Greek historians were traveling in Asia Minor, they saw relevant records. Amiers Mountain people wore primitive snow boots, just like putting a cloth bag on their feet, sliding on the snow. See figure 1, figure 2 and figure 3.

2. Altay, China is the birthplace of human skiing.

Many people in the world (especially Europeans) call Norway "the hometown of skiing". However, according to the data kept by the Sapporo Winter Sports Museum in Japan; On the origin of skiing in Russian skiing textbooks; Mr. Liu Yongnian, the first chairman of China Skiing Association, wrote the exposition "Altay region in Xinjiang is one of the cradles of human skiing" in 1994. Relevant industry insiders visited Altay's regional history and skiing on the spot; Famous foreign historians have studied the origin of human skiing, and their knowledge is:

1. People in Dingling, Altay have been skiing since ancient times, which is the earliest skiing activity of human beings.

In Shan Hai Jing, an ancient geography book in China, the 18th volume Hai Nei Jing once recorded that "there is a Dingling country, whose people have hair below the knee and whose hooves are good at walking", which is the earliest exposition on skiing in China. The so-called Dingling State is a nation engaged in nomadic activities from the south of Lake Baikal to Altay Mountain in northern China.

2. China's ancient book "The Volume of Wei" pointed out at the end of 35 that "there is a country with horse legs in the north, and its people are as strict as geese, and they are leaders from above the knee, with hair below the knee, and horses' legs and horseshoes can sprint without riding a horse, and they are brave and good at fighting". This passage also clearly depicts the image of ancient people galloping in the snow.

3. Mr. Bai Jiuzhi, a Japanese historian and doctor of literature, said that Herodotus, a Greek historian, pointed out in the fourth volume of World History: "People living in Altai region have goat horns and run in the snow in winter, which describes the custom of local people scurrying in the valley like goats with skis in winter. This article may be the earliest literature on skiing. "

4. The natural conditions in Altay are mountainous, snowy, cold and forested. As early as 6000 years ago, the Dingling tribe was a nomadic people, so it had all the conditions for the origin of skiing.

5. The origin of skiing in Russian ski resorts is described as follows: after skiing originated in Altay, it spread widely to Siberia, crossed the Bering Strait eastward to Eskimos in Alaska, North America, and gradually spread westward to Scandinavia. Refer to figs. 4 and 5.

Third, modern skiing is in the ascendant.

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the progress of human society and the development of economy and technology, skiing broke away from its original limitations. After modern breastfeeding, I jumped into modern courses. Modern skiing has been fully developed in the fields of venue construction, equipment development, technical theory discussion and crowd participation. In recent decades, competitive skiing and skiing tourism have developed rapidly. The center of gravity of contemporary skiing is in Europe, with the peak of public participation, followed by the United States, Canada and Japan in Asia. At present, skiing has been carried out on five continents.

Fourthly, modern skiing in China started very late.

Due to some natural conditions and social reasons, modern skiing in China developed slowly. Modern skiing was introduced from Russia and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s, and the first national skiing competition was organized in 1957, which opened the curtain of modern skiing in new China. Skiing is carried out in Shaanxi and narrow areas, mainly in the northeast of China. However, due to the constraints of natural conditions and underdeveloped economy, the development speed is slow and the number is large. It took part in the 1980 Winter Olympics and started modern skiing. Mass tourism and leisure skiing began to develop gradually at the end of last century. At present, skiing in China has won the silver medal in the Winter Olympics, and it has won many World Cup championships in addition to aerial skills. In addition to women's outstanding performance in biathlon, many other skiing events and ski resorts are far behind the advanced level of skiing abroad.

5. Mass skiing in China has developed rapidly.

Since the reform and opening up, the skiing industry in China has gradually become a sunrise industry. In less than ten years after 1996, the number of ski resorts and the number of skiers have increased rapidly. Up to now, more than 20 provinces and cities (regions) have carried out mass skiing; There are nearly 200 ski resorts of various types; There are 2.8 million skiers in China, including hundreds of thousands around Beijing alone, and they are making rapid progress.

Sixth, the future development trend of skiing.

1. The management, guarantee and service of the government and associations tend to be strengthened and practical.

Where conditions permit, government departments at all levels will give full play to the role of government functions, support the development of mass skiing and related industries, and timely introduce some policies to support the development of skiing industry, solve problems for enterprises, speed up the training of skiing professionals, and promote the healthy, orderly and lasting development of skiing industry.

2. Develop towards industrialization and localization.

Modern skiing is related to many industries in the development process, which is bound to promote the development of tourism, transportation, machinery processing, clothing and other related industries, thus promoting the revitalization of local regional economy and social development. The development of skiing itself is inseparable from the promotion of these industries, thus forming a skiing industry that spans many industries. The rapid development of skiing has created a huge market space for related industries. In the next few years, not only some equipment such as snow gear, snow suit and helmet can be localized, but also some snow field machinery and equipment will be gradually localized. With the improvement of the mechanical level of ski equipment and ski resorts in China, the price will drop, which will create favorable conditions for the construction of ski resorts in China and allow more people to enter the ski resorts.

3. Develop into a broader consumer class.

In the future, the activities of mass leisure skiing will be more diversified, and new skiing methods will appear constantly, which will be flexible and diverse, enhance interest and promote personality development. Even the traditional competitive events will develop to the ornamental trend, and will break through the concept and limitations of the previous "aristocratic" movement with a rapid process, and the number of people participating in skiing will expand rapidly. The mainstream groups of skiing tend to be more mature and rational.

4. Develop into modern environmental protection.

Although with the progress of modern science and technology and the development of economy, the skiing season and area will be extended and expanded, Fu Na, snow replacement and indoor ski resorts will appear constantly. But skiing in the future is actually a project in nature, which should have a natural environment and atmosphere. There should be mountains, snow-capped mountains, blue sky and Wan Li in winter. Summer is an idyllic scene, with trees, green grass and flowers. During the construction and operation of ski resorts, the level of environmental protection will be improved qualitatively.

5. Ski facilities and equipment are developing towards high technology.

With the development of modern high-tech, the facilities in ski resorts are more professional and economical, and ski equipment is safer and more convenient.

6. The management of ski resorts tends to be standardized, and it develops in the direction of multi-functional natural ski resorts.

In the future, the ski resort will get rid of the existing single function, and after the competition of survival of the fittest, it will develop into a holiday resort with grand skiing atmosphere, more perfect supporting services and complete functions, and will be integrated with people's outdoor activities, outdoor survival and return to nature, and become a large-scale "Xanadu" full of natural characteristics that is suitable for people's health, mental health, vacation and leisure in all seasons.