Top: Sports: Winter Sports

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[ history ]

Description

Winter sports are those sports that people participate in during the winter months, and at other times when an environment is created, (sometimes artificial) in which those sports can take place. These sports are dependent on winter climatic conditions, having evolved in this winter environment. Many winter sports developed from a human need to adapt to winter climates, only later becoming popular with the rise in leisure time and income.

Winter sports are Dependant on winter weather conditions and as such are to be found concentrated in certain geographic areas. However, in recent times, indoor and artificial environments have been developed in order to recreate the conditions necessary for winters sports to take place.

Winter sports include skiing, snowboarding, ski touring, langlauf skiing, tobogganing, ice skating, ice hockey, ice climbing, snow shoe walking, dog sledding and snowmobiling.


[ history ]

The geographic spread of winter sports

Winter sports have developed predominantly in parts of the world that experience low temperatures during the winter months; these areas tend to be the temperate regions. Before the advent of mass tourism, winter sports developed out of very practical needs. In Scandinavia langlauf skiing was the main form of non-automated transport, in the Netherlands, the canal system was used during the winter by skaters for transport and in North America snow-shoes were used to cross snow fields.

With the increase in leisure time and expenditure, winter sports became a leisure commodity and the market has driven winter sports to locations outside of traditional winter sports locations. Today ski slopes are located in an indoor complex in Dubai, where average annual temperatures are around 24 degrees Celsius.


[ history ]

Skiing

Skiing is one of the most widely practiced winter sports. Behind it there is a significant economic segment, driven by sports equipment, mountain infrastructure and tourist accommodation. It is estimated that skiing contributes over 5% of GDP to the Austrian economy, whilst France has the largest number of incoming winter sports visitors of any country.



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