A Study of the Physics of Cross-Country Skiing

      While the idea of skiing (slapping slabs of wood on your feet and tromping through the snow) is ages old, the sport of cross-country skiing has only gained prominence in the last 50 years or so. Modern cross-country skiing is newer still, only coming into existence about 20 to 30 years ago.

      The original cross-country skiing was little more than snowshoeing. From there it evolved to longer and narrower wooden skis and poles on harder packed trails, which allowed for significantly faster speeds. Now it is a highly technological sport with alloy and composite equipment, multiple different styles and even faster speeds.

      Skiing in the backcountry with less advanced equipment is still a popular sport, but for the purpose of this experiment I will be examining the techniques of modern cross-country ski racing. This takes place on a groomed, hard packed trail. I will be focusing on three styles or techniques of this sport: Classic, double poling and skating.

Classic skiing was the original cross-country skiing. It is preformed by sliding the skis parallel to the direction of travel. The motion is similar to running or walking. One foot pushes while the other foot swings forward.
Friction to push off of is obtained from a small section of the ski base. On this a sticky wax is applied depending on condition. When the skiers weight is shifted entirely to one ski that ski collapses and the sticky wax makes contact with the snow. Wax that is designed to minimize friction is applied to the rest of the ski base. Poles are used like one would walk with hiking poles.

Double poling is actually a technique used while on classic skis. If the terrain is flat or gradual it can become difficult to keep up a fast enough classic stride. Instead the skier can double pole. In double poling the legs remain stationary while the upper body plants both the poles simultaneously and push him or her self down the trail.