Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing involves skiing across flat or rolling country, and is one of the major winter sports in northern climes. There are two main styles: classical or diagonal style, which involves keeping the skis parallel and in a track, and skate skiing or skating, which involves using the skis to take long, skating strides in a herringbone pattern. Skate skiing came into fashion among racers in the 1980s.

The skis for cross-country skiing in the classical style are longer and narrower than those used for downhill skiing, while skate skis tend to be shorter than for classical style. Cross-country skis also have camber, so that the middle of the ski bends away from the snow. This is because, in classical style, the skiier presses in ski wax in the middle to the snow in order to get grip needed to kick forward.

Cross-country skiing often takes place on specially-groomed trails. How the trails are groomed, or prepared, depends on the style of skiing. In classic or diagonal style skiing, there are two grooves for the skis. In skate skiing, trails tend to be hard-packed and to lack grooves.

Cross-country skiing in off-trail, or through back country in deep snow, often requires wider skis with sturdier bindings. Telemarking is a special, graceful style of skiing involving descending long slopes (essentially, downhill skiing) using cross-country skis, making long turns.