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Skiing is a very economic way of travelling over long distances of snow and people have been using it as such for thousands of years. In fact, the first recorded instance of skiing was found in Norland, Norway and it has been dated back to 5000 BC. Skiing has been used for rapid travel, hunting and warfare ever since then and probably before.

However, there are basically three types of skiing, namely, Nordic, Telemark and Alpine skiing. Skiing was made popular for the international market by Sondre Norheim in the late Nineteenth Century, which coincided with Europeans becoming more adventurous in their choice of foreign holidays – well, for the rich at any rate.

Telemark skiing was developed in the Nineteen-Seventies from his ideas on skiing. However, the development of skiing techniques did not stop there. The Austrians, Mathias Zdarsky and Hannes Schneider were instrumental in expanding techniques further, although one cannot help thinking that the skiers of seven thousand years ago knew most of those techniques way back then as well.

As skiing has become more and more popular over the last sixty or seventy years, so more and more skiing resorts have sprung up. There are skiing locations all over the world, but the most famous and well-liked are in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and mainland Europe.

There are skiing resorts in the Pyrenees on the border of Spain and France, in Croatia and in Italy, but the most famous resorts are in the Swiss and French Alps, which are actually adjoining. There are even skiing resorts in Scotland.

However, there are also equally decent skiing resorts in the United States, Canada and Asia. Wherever, you go skiing, there are items that a skier needs to get in order to be able to ski. a skier needs warm clothing and skiing apparatus. If you are a frequent skier, then you can buy your own clothing and your own apparatus, but for most skiers, renting is good enough. At least, if you rent equipment you do not have to carry lumpy gear around with you.

Resorts have ski runs of different skill levels, but you can also ‘go off piste’, which means ski the wild, untended slopes. This is a lot more dangerous as these slopes are not tended, cleared or manned, so there is more risk of an accident and less chance that you will be discovered if you be into trouble. Avalanches are also less well investigated for off piste ski slopes.

Skiing is a sport that anyone can learn, but it is not easy to master. The earlier that someone begins the better. Skiers take falls and older bones break more easily than younger ones. Novices fall more frequently than experts, so it makes sense to learn how to ski whilst you are young.

However, do not let that put you off, it is only a warning to be sensible. If you have always wanted to learn to ski, then go for it, but please do yourself a favour and learn the safety rules of skiing too.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, but is now concerned with short ski breaks. If you would like to know more, please go over to our website at Ski Package Holidays.

Europe is the home of skiing. The first drawings of a skier were found in a cave in Nordland, Norway. The drawing has been dated at 5000 BC. Norway was almost definitely the home of skiing or what is known as Nordic Skiing anyway.

Alpine or downhill skiing probably comes from central Europe in the neighbourhood of Switzerland. There are so many skiing resorts in Europe that there is a fantastic number of slopes for every degree of experience.

You can ski in almost every country in Europe. The least famous skiing resorts are probably in Scotland, but they do have them and the most famous resorts are in the French and Swiss Alps, which are essentially the same place, but they extend over two different countries.

The French and The Swiss alps are the most commercialized for luxury and are also the most expensive. Not far east from there is Austria which, although less famous is also an attraction for skiers from Eastern Europe.

If you want skiing at a more affordable rate try Italy up on the Swiss border. There you will see practically the same skiing conditions as in the French and Swiss Alps but with Italian food and language, which means less English is spoken though, if you see that as a downside.

Roughly the same price is Andorra which is Catalan (Spanish to you and me, but not to them). Andorra sits in the Pyrenees Mountains with borders on France and Spain. The Spanish influence is the greater of the two. Skiing in Andorra is famous for its teaching. It is a fantastic place to learn skiing or to take the family.

If you would like to visit a rising star in the skiing firmament, go to Croatia. Skiing in Croatia is also among the most reasonably priced in Europe. The facilities are excellent, but local wages are low which keeps the costs down. The food is good and so is the wine, though not perhaps a match for French, Italian or Spanish cuisine.

Bulgaria is another growing location on the skier’s map. Skiing is not well commercialized in Bulgaria but the locals have been skiing for centuries, it is just that they are only just beginning to learn how to commercialize it. The locals are friendly, but do not expect much English to be spoken.

We must not forget the home of skiing, Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. Expect top class amenities in Scandinavia with top class prices to match. The locals are very friendly, but may not speak English. The food is more probable to be local as well. You are more likely to find decent skiing conditions all year round in Scandinavia as well.

There are so many skiing resorts in so many European countries, that if you wanted to, you could organize a skiing tour of Europe. If you wanted to ski in Scandinavia and Andorra, you would have to fly, but you could do the Swiss, French and Italian Alps. Or Austria and Bulgaria or Bulgaria and Croatia.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with short ski breaks. If you would like to know more, please go over to our website at Ski Package Holidays.