Winter sports

No matter which winter sport you choose, staying warm is important. The right clothing and equipment will help you do that. This is true, but some of the newer fabrics for cold weather give you the warmth of layers without all the bulk.

Staying warm isn't just about feeling comfortable. Your body needs to stay warm to work properly. And when your body is at the right temperature, it won't need to spend as much energy getting warm. That will give you maximum energy for winter fun.

Even though it might seem odd in winter, don't forget to put on sunscreen (with a minimum SPF of 15) when you're skiing, sledding, skating, or snowboarding. Sunlight reflects off all that bright white snow and ice and back onto your face — so cover up with sunscreen, and put some lip balm that contains sunscreen on your lips (even when it's cloudy outside).

Sledding
Zipping down a hill at what feels like a million miles an hour can be a great time — as long as you're sledding safely. When you grab your sled, make sure it's sturdy and that it's one you can really steer. The handholds should be easy to grab, and the seat of the sled should be padded.

Also, never use a sled that has any sharp, jagged edges or broken parts (this might happen if you're using an old sled).

It's especially important to wear gloves or mittens and boots while you're on the sled because in addition to keeping you warm, they can help prevent you from injuring your hands and feet.

The first ride down a hill on a sled is the most important, but most difficult, as it determines the path of the sled for further runs down the hill. It is essential to steer the sled along the most exciting course, perhaps adding twists and turns (maybe straight into a tree) to make the run down the hill more exciting, or faster. Other techniques to improve the ride include turning around, lying on the stomach, or closing both eyes. Running up to a sled and jumping onto it can create additional momentum and improve ride speed. This technique can be referred to as "Flopping."

There are 4 types of sleds commonly used today: disks, toboggans, tubes, and runner sleds. Each type has advantages and disadvantages if one is trying to get the most out of a given slope.

With each course down the hill, the sled's path through the snow can become icier. Sleds with a greater surface area (disks, toboggans and tubes) are able to make the first runs a great deal easier than the variety of sleds with metal runners. Runner sleds are typically faster once the snow has compacted or turned icy.

Some people who sled sometimes use ramps or jumps to increase the danger or fun factor of sledding. In some cases, the ramp or jump may send the participant over objects such as fences, boxes, plants, benches.

Skating
Whether you're tending goal or going for a triple-spin in the air, it's cool to glide across the ice. Whichever ice sport you like, one rule is always the same: only skate on approved ice. In places where it gets really cold, you might be able to skate outdoors on frozen ponds and lakes. But these spots must be approved for skating. You'll know because they'll be marked by one or more signs from the police or recreation department saying that skating is OK. If the safe area is blocked off, be sure to stay within that area.

Once you have a safe skating spot, you need safe skates. Ice skates need to fit you properly.

Ice skating works by the metal blade at the bottom of the ice skate shoe gliding with very little friction over the surface of the ice. However, slightly leaning the blade over and digging one of its edges into the ice ("rock over and bite") gives skaters the ability to increase friction and control their movement at will. In addition, by choosing to move along curved paths while leaning their bodies radically and flexing their knees, skaters can use gravity to control and increase their momentum. They can also create momentum by pushing the blade against the curved track which it cuts into the ice. Skillfully combining these two actions of leaning and pushing— a technique known as "drawing"— results in what looks like effortless and graceful curvilinear flow across the ice.

Experiments show that ice has a minimum kinetic friction at -7°C (19°F), and many indoor skating rinks set their system to a similar temperature. The low amount of friction actually observed has been difficult for physicists to explain, especially at lower temperatures. On the surface of any body of ice at a temperature above about -20°C (-4°F), there is always a thin film of liquid water, ranging in thickness from only a few molecules to thousands of molecules. This is because an abrupt end to the crystalline structure is not the most entropically favorable possibility. The thickness of this liquid layer depends almost entirely on the temperature of the surface of the ice, with higher temperatures giving a thicker layer. However, skating is possible at temperatures much lower than -20°C, at which temperature there is no naturally occurring film of liquid.

When the blade of an ice skate passes over the ice, the ice undergoes two kinds of changes in its physical state: an increase in pressure, and a change in temperature due to kinetic friction and the heat of melting. Direct measurements show that the heating due to friction is greater than the cooling due to the heat of melting. Although high pressure can cause ice to melt, by lowering its melting point, the pressure required is far greater than that actually produced by ice skates. Frictional heating does lead to an increase in the thickness of the naturally occurring film of liquid, but measurements with an atomic force microscope have found the boundary layer to be too thin to supply the observed reduction in friction.

Skiing
Before you hit the slopes to ski or snowboard, make sure you have the right equipment — and that it fits you right.

Skiing is a pastime which has brought together all cultures of today. Many different types of skiing are popular, especially in colder climates, and many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Ski Federation (FIS), and other sporting organizations. Skiing is most visible to the public during the Winter Olympic Games where it is a major sport.

In skiing's traditional core regions in the snowy parts of Scandinavia, as well as in places such as Alaska, both recreational and competitive skiing is as likely to refer to the cross-country variants as to the internationally downhill variants.

For most people in the United States excluding Alaska, the term "skiing" refers to alpine skiing where one visits a ski resort, purchases a lift ticket, dons cold-weather clothing, skis, ski boots and ski poles, and embarks on a chairlift, gondola lift, or other means of mechanical uphill transport. Upon reaching the summit, the skier disembarks from the ski lift and travels downhill, propelled by gravity, usually along a marked route known as a piste, "run," "trail," or "slope". Most ski resorts use mechanical equipment to "groom," or pack down and smooth, the snow surface on certain ski trails. Grooming is normally associated with trails of lesser difficulty.

Skiing techniques are difficult to master, and accordingly there are ski schools that teach everything from the basics of turning and stopping safely to more advanced carving, racing, mogul or "bump" skiing and newer freestyle techniques. There are two primary types of downhill skiing -- "telemark" and "alpine."

For beginning skiers learning under a trained instructor, skiing speeds are low, the terrain is not steep and is often well-manicured, and the risks are relatively low. For extreme skiers, testing their expert abilities against ever more challenging terrain, the risks may be much higher.

Skiing, as well as snowboarding can be a little like driving a car. You have to learn to share the road or, in this case, the trail! It also means watching out for others to avoid collisions, so keep your eye on the other snowboarders and skiers.

Anything else you need to know? Yep — go out and enjoy the snow!

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