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XC skiing as a sport is part of the Nordic skiing family, which also includes ski jumping. As an adventure or leisure activity, XC skiing may be viewed as a kind of " bushwalking on skis", where skiers tackle trails of various lengths and difficulties. Some skiers stay out for extended periods using tents and equipment similar to bushwalkers, others take relatively short trips from ski resorts. There is also the possibility of using huts provided along some tourist trails, or to go by skis from private wood cabins in the mountains to visit other recreational cabin dwellers in the area.
The skis are long and thin to distribute the weight of the skier and allow her/him to move quickly. Typical ski dimensions are length 2 m (6–7 ft), width 5–6 cm (2 in) and thickness 1 cm (½ in). Like downhill skiers, XC skiers carry two poles, usually made of aluminium, fibreglass or some other light material, with a spike at the end to provide a fixed pivot when the pole penetrates through to a hard surface, and a plastic ring (or "basket") both to provide maximum impetus from thick snow and to ensure the pole only goes to its designed embedding depth, so as to optimise the angle of arm force. The skier's footwear is attached to the ski with a binding. There are many different types of bindings and boots, more or less standard (some even proprietary) and so it is important to choose corresponding pieces of equipment.
Cross-country skiing has been practised in Scandinavian countries since prehistoric times, and also possibly by native Americans for similar lengths of time. It has been used by polar explorers as a means of transport, and all Scandinavian armies train their infantry on skis for winter operations. Traditionally, almost all equipment were made of natural material: wooden skis, preferably of hickoryFor other meanings of Hickory please see Hickory (disambiguation). Hickory Shagbark Hickory Photo ©2003 courtesy S. Sweeney : Plantae : Magnoliophyta : Magnoliopsida : Juglandales : Juglandaceae Carya See text Hickory is a tree of the genus Carya (which a, and bambooMany, see text Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the grass family Poaceae subfamily Bambusoideae . Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. Bamboos are found in diverse climates, from poles with leather hand straps and bamboo plus leather end rings/baskets. The footwear was usually sturdy leatherLeather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals. Leather was a very important clothing material, and its other uses were legion. Together with wood, leather formed the basis of much ancient technology. Leather with t boots with thick, rigid soles. Bindings were initially only simple straps made of twisted wood-based thread, but later evolved via the so-called Kandahar binding with fastening of the boots' front and back (still used in some armies), through the "Rats trap" front-only binding, to today's various modern front-only bindings.
Today, there are several types of cross-country competitive events, involving raceA race is a competition of speed. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance most quickly, but it can be just about any other task. A race to cover a certain dists of various types and lengths, as well as the biathlonThe name biathlon is used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines, but usually the winter sport which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting is meant. As a TV and spectator sport, biathlon is very popular in Germany and parts o, involving a combination of cross-country skiing and rifleA rifle is any long gun which has a rifled barrel. A rifled barrel incorporates two or more helical grooves in its bore which impart a spin upon the projectile (usually a bullet) as it travels down the barrel. The angular momentum thereby imparted to the shooting. The Winter Olympics, FISThe International Ski Federation / Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS 1 is the main international organisation of ski sports. Founded by 14 member nations in 1924 in Chamonix, France, today it has a membership of 101 national ski associations. The fede World Championships and FIS World Cup events have long been a showcase for the world's fastest cross country skiers. There are also special extreme distance ski races, sometimes called ski marathons, like Vasaloppet, in Sweden, the oldest, longest, and biggest ski race in the world, as well as the Italian Marcia Longa , the Norwegian Birkebeineren and others. In competitive XC skiing, only classical and skating techniques are used: only one of them in a given race, or, in case of the so-called "double pursuit" event, the two styles are used each in their own separate half of the race (with a change of equipment in "pit stops" half way through).