Product Description
92 p. Trade Paperback. Key to Nordic touring and cross country skiing which covers technique, equipment, waxing and clothing. ... Read more

Book Description

Cross-country expertise . . . easily

Glide into an invigorating sport with this guide from true experts who show you how to have fun from your first day out and coach you all the way through the advanced skills you'd like to learn. No ordinary manual, The Essential Cross-Country Skier brings together the combined expertise of one of the country's top cross-country skiing instructors; a two-time Olympic biathlete and former Dartmouth skiing coach; and one of the sport's foremost professional writers.

This all-star team has created one of the most engaging, clear, and potent learning tools ever published for beginning and intermediate skiers. This unique, carefully illustrated guide gives you the information you need to get started: choosing the right skis, boots, and poles; where to find the best trails; what to wear for comfort and warmth; plus tips on safety.

And, if you're already familiar with nordic skiing, the book shows you how to improve your style and your conditioning; master the subtleties of waxing and ski maintenance; and enjoy new skills including ski skating, telemarking, ski racing, and backcountry touring. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good Beginning
I am finding this book an excellent one for someone who has been away from the sport for years, having been a novice in the past.Have just recently decided to renew this interest and the book is providing good guidelines for me.

Good for Beginners
"Essential Cross-Country Skier" is a good handbook for beginnerskiers.It is an easy read and probably what you want to get you started.

Intermediate level to elite skiers could take issue with many of thetechnical explainations, for then I would suggest "Ski "Skatingwith Champions" or "Tao of Skiing" but the then, the book"Essential Cross-Country Skier" was written by someone whoobviously loves the sport and will be enjoyed by those who want to take itup.

The Essential Cross-Country Skier:A Step-By-Step Guide
I'm a beginning cross-country skier and former Valley Girlwith no downhillexperienceand found this book to be helpful.The book covers choosing equipment, getting started and gives good tips on technique.Ihaven't purchased any other books on cross-country skiing but this oneseems to be a valuable resource. ... Read more

Book Description
Experience the best in outdoor adventure on skis! Whether you're new to backcountry skiing or a veteran on the slopes, Backcountry Skier is packed with expert instruction and valuable tips to help you make the most of your next trip to the mountains.

Author Jean Vives shares the wisdom gained from his 30-plus years of backcountry skiing experience as he presents the essential tools of the trade: the best clothing and equipment to use, the exercises to get you in peak shape, and the proper ski techniques for the conditions you're likely to encounter.You'll also stay safe and on-course with Vives' detailed descriptions of winter camping, navigation, mountain weather, avalanche detection, and survival techniques. Put this book in your pack and find out how much fun backcountry skiing can be. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive and practical
The book did not offer me a lot of new knowledge, but it is a very nice - readible and very practical - summary of most of the most relevant aspects of backcountry skiing. Very useful for reviving the essentials before going into the backcountry again this winter.
And of course there are some useful 'little' things that are new in comparison to other publications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great ideas for teaching kids
Lots of ideas for teaching your own kids or for ski instructors. ... Read more

Amazon.com
At the age of 37, bestselling author and journalist Bill McKibben stepped out of the ordinary routine of his life to spend a year in "real training" as a cross-country skier. With the help of a trainer-slash-guru, McKibben took on a regimen equivalent to that of an Olympic endurance athlete's, running and skiing for hours every day in preparation for a series of grueling long-distance ski races. What prompted this successful writer with an admitted aversion to competitive sports to push himself so hard, for so long?

Partly it was pure selfishness; after a decade as an environmental writer and activist, I needed a break from failing to save the world. But mostly it was curiosity that drove me. By year's end I hoped I'd have more sense of what life lived through the body felt like.

If Long Distance begins as a story about the transformation of the body and what it means to challenge one's physical limits, it evolves into a thoughtful lesson about a wholly different kind of endurance.Halfway through McKibben's training, his father was diagnosed with the most virulent form of brain cancer. As McKibben was reaching peak condition, his father's life lurched toward an end, forcing McKibben to snap out of his self-inflicted self-absorption. He had tried to think of endurance as "the ability to fight through the drama of pain. But now I understood it, too, as a kind of elegance, a lightness that could only come from such deep comfort with yourself that you began to forget about yourself." And the elegance of Long Distance is in its ultimate lesson that each of us has a mind, a body, and a spirit, and we must find our strength in all three realms. --Svenja SoldovieriBook Description
From the author of the groundbreaking book The End of Nature, a "wry, wise, thought-provoking book about what it takes-and what it means-to endure for the long haul." (Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air)

Bill McKibben was thirty-seven when he decided to put himself to the ultimate test: training to become a competitive cross-country skier. Taking a year out of his life, the celebrated environmental writer and journalist began a rigorous fitness program followed by world-class athletes and Olympic hopefuls. McKibben's year of living strenuously would culminate in a series of long-distance races-including a major ski event in Norway.

Along the way, he learns to cope with his physical limitations and discovers something about the real meaning of endurance when his father is diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor.

Both an action-packed memoir and a moving and inspiring meditation on what it means to endure, Long Distance tells the story of a man at midlife who pushes his body and soul to the breaking point. Written with the author's trademark humor and honesty, it offers insight into conquering fear, overcoming obstacles, and achieving balance in our lives. It is "a wonderful book-funny, humane, inspiring." (Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods)Download Description
The bestselling author of The End of Nature and Hundred-Dollar Holiday presents a provocative, unconventional book: approaching middle age and never much of an athlete, he trains to be a world-class skier and learns some unexpected lessons about his body -- and life.A celebrated essayist, journalist, and author, Bill McKibben is renowned as an original thinker. Here, writing with his trademark honesty and insight, he documents his year as an impostor of sorts in the demanding world of competitive skiing. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man in mid-life pushing his body and soul to the breaking point.McKibben decided, in his late thirties, that the time had come to really test his body. Cross-country skiing his challenge of choice, he lived the fantasy of many amateur athletes and trained -- with the help of a coach/guru -- nearly full time, putting in hours and miles typical of an Olympic athlete. McKibben's year would culminate in a series of long-distance, grueling cross-country races as he experienced his body's rhythms and possibilities like never before.But the year also brought tragedy to McKibben and his family as his father developed an illness that would eventually cause his death. Forcing a further exploration of both body and spirit, this illness transforms McKibben's action-packed memoir into a moving account of two men coming to terms with the limits of the flesh. Long Distance will appeal to athletes of all types -- from the casual health-club member to the world-class competitor -- and to anyone seeking physical or spiritual renewal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

For the armchair athlete; Competitors need not apply
This book is disappointing. It purports to chronicle a year of high performance endurance training for a not quite elite athlete. It also, surprisingly, chronicles his father's death from cancer. Neither topic has anything much to do with the science and psychology of world class level compeition in endurance sports. There is no training data, only anecdote; there is no bibliography, but many references to other books which sound like they are better; there are almost no racing experiences in this book - believe itor not, the author only races 8 times in a year. (Why doesn't he enter a few running races in the skiing off season or during the snow drought he whines about ad nauseam?) If nothing else, this book demonstrates that training without competitive drive equates to zero racing results. (If his point is that serious training can only augment genetic capabilities in small ways, serious athletes already know that.) This is really a personal account of the loneliness of the long distance runner - why does the author train for 2-4 hours a day if he isn't really a racer? I don't know what he is looking for, but he is never going to find it on a race course of any kind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent guide to trails near (but not including) Banff
If you are planning a cross - country ski trip to the Banff area, this book is an excellent guide to the ski trails in the area to east of Banff (but not including the park itself). Two trail recomendations - "GoatCreek" and "Peter Lougheed Provincial Park". The author hasalso written a guide to hiking trails in the area. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good, but environmentally disturbing...
This book helped me out a lot in terms of finding areas to ski in when I first moved to Washington from Montana.However, some of the dialogue disturbed me, as I am a cross-country skier who also works for an organization that fights for the elimination of catastrophically damaging logging techniques.One quote is as follows:"In the rosy glow of the 1980s, it seemed that the overcutting of timber on forest lands was, if anything, a boon to the cross-country skier: more forest roads to explore in the winter, more clearcuts for downhill runs, and easier access to high meadows."At one point, it even described clearcuts to be "picturesque."I see clearcuts as the rape of the land, and because I learned how to cross country ski on narrow trails used for hiking in the summer rather than forest service roads, many of the descriptions turn me off to areas rather than draw me in.Where can I ski in a truly wild area, enclosed by frosted trees? ... Read more

Book Description
Deer Valley is a moderate-sized resort operating on less than 2,000 acres — yet it is ranked by many as North America's top resort for its impeccable service, award-winning food, luxurious rooms, and velvety slopes. This book traces Deer Valley's rise to the top from its founding in 1981, when skeptics scoffed at the idea that skiers would pay to be pampered, to its well-publicized role as venue for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games slalom and freestyle events. One chapter details the life of Deer Valley Director of Skiing Stein Eriksen, the Norwegian Olympic gold medalist who became an icon for the sport. This beautifully produced coffee-table book is illustrated throughout with spectacular photos, illuminating the success behind this luxurious ski resort. ... Read more

Amazon.com
With diagrams, photos, and extensive instruction from the experts, The Athletic Skier isdesigned to improve the skills of skiers concerned with equipment, technique, and training details. Theauthors conclude that the majority of recreational skiers are skiing far below their potential. Their solution?Start with equipment--make sure boots, skis, and poles fit correctly for maximum balance--and then learnto use that equipment as intended to carve turns. Once skiers feel balanced and can use their edges mosteffectively, they are ready to become "athletic skiers." The final chapters are devoted toadvanced technique, conditioning and practice exercises, and instruction for racers and coaches.Book Description
Warren Witherell is a legend in American skiing. Written for skiers from beginners to World Cup racers, "The Athletic Skier" covers the basics of ski and boot design; progresses through teaching and learning skills; reviews new technologies and choices in equipment; and concludes with racing techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Essential reading for anyone that aspires to become the best skier they can be.
As a full certified ski instructor with over 14 years teaching experience, and as a former club racer and High School coach, this is the only book I recommend to anyone (and everyone) that seeks to improve their skiing.In this book (and previously in his first book, How the Racer Skis) Witherell does more to define and clarify the skills necessary for achieving and mastering the highest level of skiing than the piles of PSIA books and manuals I accumulated during my five year progression from uncertified to full certified instructor.BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL; Witerell also addresses the most critical, yet most overlooked, aspect of alpine skiing: THE EQUIPMENT.Most specifically BOOT FIT: fore/aft balance, and canting.In so doing Witherell attacks the "disease" that most skiers suffer from, poor fitting equipment (boots) that puts them out of balance and out of alignment and leads them to constantly struggle with compensating movements in a desperate and futile attempt to regain balance and compensate for poor alignment.So much ski instruction and (sadly) coaching only attempts to treat the symptoms (poor "technique": most often caused by compensating movements in attempt to try and correct equipment caused imbalance or alignment problems) and thus miserably fails the student or racer.When a student comes to a lesson for help with their skiing or a racer puts her trust in a coach they deserve to be taught and coached with, and given, the knowledge that is contained in this book.
Simply put for those that have knowledge of NASTAR handicapping, the information contained in this book (and two days skiing with Witherell) took me from an 18 or 19 handicap to a 7 or 8.
This book is even more critical and more cogent today than when it was first published 13 years ago considering today's shaped skis.
Buy this book.Read it.Address boot fit and canting.Read it again.Ski.Constantly play with your equipment, dialing it in.Ski.Play on your skis.Read this book again and again and again.
Skiing isn't as complicated as most instructors make it.Trust me.Trust this book.Warren Witherell and David Evard know what they're talking about.

Careful
As a PSIA Ski Instructor I would recommend folks be very careful about some of the canting information in this book. The book assumes that all bowlegged skiers are overcanted and while this is mostly true it is not absolutely true.Many bowlegged skiers (including myself) are naturally undercanted and the advice presented in this book is incorrect for us.This book seems to be the source for the 'if you are bowlegged, cant on the outside of the ski' common wisdom, and again that is simply not true in all cases.Canting solutions are individual and must not be over generalized.Instead, read the descriptions of what effects over or under canting can have and see which fits you.Then cant as necessary.

Also, I would say that this 'used to be' the definitive guide.After reading both this and All Mountain Skier by Mark Elling, I would definately recommend the latter.Ellings book is much more useful for actual practice.There is not much in here that is not better covered in Ellings book.Also, the technical information in Ellings book (on canting for example) is much more accurate.

Learning to ski
What can I say that the book doesn't already say. A great book for beginning to intermediate skiers. Including several sections covering your equipment and proper fitting techniques.

Improve Your Skiing - Read This Book
This book was written in 1993 (it is now almost 2000) and you may be tempted to think that this book is outdated. You couldn't be more wrong! Everything in this book is as relevant, if not more so, that when it waswritten.

The section on canting and alignment is amazing. On firstreading I was sceptical. However, I have recently been correctly canted andaligned and am amazed at the difference. As an instructor and racer, I worka lot on my skiing technique. Being correctly aligned has shown the biggestsingle improvement in my skiing for years.

The techniques discussed inthis book are also very very good. Most of them are now more relevantthanwhen the book was written as they allow you to get the most out of the newgeneration of carving skis.

Buy this book, read it, read it again, bealigned and then ski better than ever.

THE definitive guide
If you buy only one book on skiing, this should be it.It is a joy to read, and re-read.Keep it on the coffee table at your ski condo and read any random chapter.You'll learn something.

Warren is the father ofcarving long before it became a fad.It is "how the racers ski"(which is also the name of his first book from the early 70's that is aclassic).

The content if outstanding and the writing and presentation isequally as nice.Glossy pages, excellent photography.

I've given thisbook to more hard core skiers than I'd like to say.

The section onbalance and alignment alone are worth the money.Buy it! ... Read more

Book Description
This winter Park City Mountain Resort celebrates its 40th anniversary. This book traces the evolution of its success as a world-class resort, a regular stop on the World Cup skiing circuit, and host of the famed Sundance Film Festival. The author opens with the story of Park City's colorful mining-camp days, profiling the entertaining local personalities of that era. It includes a fascinating pictorial record of Park City's last 130 years. ... Read more