Here’s the long and short of a fun winter sport – skiing.

So hit the slopes and let’s get carving! (All will be explained below!).

From very early times people have used materials, like animal skin, or made objects, like snowshoes, to travel over snow.

The earliest skis were discovered in Sweden and Finland. They are between 4,000 and 5,000 years old.

In Europe, modern sports skiing began in the 1800s, in Norway. In 1924, Nordic skiing became part of the Winter Olympic Games. Sports skiing was popular in Canada at this time. The sport soon spread to the United States.

These days there are many different types of sports skiing – as you will see.

In alpine skiing, skiers race down the mountain on set courses and through gates.

At the Olympic Winter Games, there are four main types of alpine skiing – the downhill, the super giant slalom (super-G), the giant slalom and the slalom.

In the slalom race, skiers must pass through red and blue gates along the course, travelling in zig-zags as they go. The giant slalom is a similar course, but with a smoother, longer slope and less turns. In both these events, technique is more important.

For the downhill and the Super-G events, speed is more important and the winner is the skier who reaches the end of the course in the fastest time.

Freestyle skiing involves making jumps and performing tricks in the air. It is made up of three disciplines: ballet, moguls, and aerials.

In ballet, skiers perform jumps, spins and steps to music.

Moguls is an event made up of high-speed turns on a bumpy slope. The skier is judged, among other things, on the quality and technique of his or her turns.

In aerials, a skier jumps from a ski jump and performs tricks in mid-air.

There are two styles of cross-country skiing – classical and freestyle.

In classical races, skiers stride around a narrow track.

Freestyle is new and much faster. Skiers move as if skating on ice. It was only introduced to the Olympics in 1988.

Cross country skiers apply wax to their skis to help them travel faster on the snow by reducing friction between the ski and the snow.

Ski jumpers ski down a steep slope (known as the ‘inrun’) with their skis parallel. As they reach the end of the ramp, they jump in the air with their skis in a V-position so that the backs of the skis move together, while the fronts of the skis move apart. When the skier lands, they put one ski in front of the other and come to a stop. The skiers are marked for the distance jumped and the style.

Where the ski curves in slightly in the middle is called the sidecut. When a skier applies pressure to the inside edges of the skis, the sidecut helps the skis to gently bend and the skier can turn in the snow. This is called carving.

So why not get carving on the slopes at your local dry ski slope centre? Ask your parents for more information.