It was invented in the Scandinavian countries because of the need of move through the ice and snow. It is believe that they started using animal skin and some short of skates to slide.
We can find shoes with skies on 4000 or 5000 years old, these were big large shoes with a curvy ending covered with animal skin.
It became popular because it was an individual way of moving around ice surfaces. Around the 5th century, Vikings entered Europe and expanded their use.

It was during the 19th Century that it became more popular due to Sondrë Nordheim making special boots that adjust perfectly to the sky, making it more comfortable.
In 1924 it is incorporated to the winter Olympic games of Chamonix from 1931 they have the ski world championships.
Although Vikings introduce the sport, many years later, around 1930 the Nordic army is also responsible because they form special mountain forces that included skiers, these introduced new and improved ways of fixing the skies to the boot.
In 1950 the skies were improved introducing a metal tip to avoid fractures. From now on they kept improving the equipment. Around this time the also started to opening the first ski resorts, making it even more popular and easy to access.
Nowadays it has become one of the most popular winter sports.
In the video you can see how it goes from going down a hill (as it was in its beginnings) to jump from a rock to do a loop which leads to new techniques as extreme skiing or snowboarding.

For more information about ski styles please visit:

http://skiing.about.com/od/beginningskiers/a/skiingstyles.htm
http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/

For resort information:

http://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/
http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/
http://skiing.about.com/od/skiresorts/u/wheretoski.htm




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