When I tell people that I ski, their eyes light up. They want to know which mountains I’ve been to. Then I have to let them down gently and tell them I do the other kind of skiing.
Nordic.
They scoff and give me looks of disgust, as though it’s a cardinal sin.
Sometimes I feel as though there are only two types of people who go to CC: those who have been downhill skiing since they could walk, and those whose eyes glaze over when people start talking about it (me).
However, there is an alternative, a secret third option: Nordic skiing.
Nordic skiing, also known as cross-country skiing, has been around since at least 8000 BCE and originated as a method of transportation. A skier glides over the snow with skis made of wood, plastic, carbon fiber and other materials, which are strapped to their feet with bindings that fasten at the toe. Unlike downhill skiing, Nordic skiers can travel over flat ground and up hills.
In fact, downhill ski racing was developed by Nordic skiers in Scandinavian militaries in the 16th century as a training exercise. Now though, you would never know it.
I often find myself in the middle of confusing conversations where people throw around words like tuning, backcountry, avy and core shot, and I don’t know what the hell any of those things are.
Many of my friends disappear every weekend on the FUCC bus — there’s a joke to be had there — and come back exhausted. They won’t even go out on Friday nights with me anymore. The love of downhill skiing here is slightly baffling to me.
“I really just like being outdoors in general,” said Pierson Parker ‘29 regarding partaking in the downhill skiing and snowboarding community. “And I think this is my way of being outdoors here.”
For Nordic and downhill skiers alike, the biggest draw isn’t the sport itself, but the place and people they are surrounded by.
“I loved the community,” said Juniper Anderson, a first-year who grew up Nordic skiing.
However, there are limitations to both kinds of skiing that often stop people from trying them. Financial barriers are a big reason.
“The gear is expensive,” said Anderson in reference to Nordic.
In both kinds of skiing, steeze is everything.
While I don’t understand the importance of having a ski outfit with full Gore-Tex (my friends so kindly explained that Gore-Tex is a technology, not a brand), or having Arc’teryx, The North Face or Montec clothes, there is much the same problem in Nordic skiing. Brands are important, and not the affordable ones.
That being said, if you throw on some warm, comfortable clothes to go Nordic skiing, you will undoubtedly be fine. I’m sure that is true for downhill skiing as well.
Downhill skiing also faces cost problems in other areas.
“There is a big commercialization aspect,” said Parker.
Nordic skiing is a much less commercialized and crowded alternative to downhill skiing.
Anderson mentioned that often, while Nordic skiing, you don’t have to pay for lift tickets. “In some ways it was so much more accessible.”
While I don’t fully understand this school’s obsession with downhill skiing, I can respect the love people have for it.
Nordic and downhill skiers share many of the reasons they love to ski: being outdoors, hanging out with friends and exercising. Some downhill skiers Nordic ski, and even enjoy it. Same with Nordic skiers enjoying downhill time.
Parker, who snowboards, said that Nordic is a cool way to “spend time hiking when there’s no ground to hike on.”
But if you haven’t tried Nordic skiing, I urge you to get out there and try it.
“It feels like you’re flying almost,” said Anderson. “Alpine skiing gets you that, but it’s…not as rewarding almost because you’re not pushing and you’re not moving in the same way.”
I completely agree. In Nordic skiing, you ski to the top, push your body to its limits and then you feel like you’re flying.
It’s the best feeling in the world.