Pick up a new hobby & discover why so many people enjoy flying down the slopes by reading our list of five reasons to attempt cross-country skiing.
Being adventurous is one of the ways to have a great time in life. Even if you are not normally a person who tries new things, you may want to change your habits to come out of your shell.
Whether you check out some extreme places to visit around the world or you take up a thrilling new hobby, you can add a lot of excitement to your life. Trying new activities enhances your view of the world, as it takes you out of your bubble and into an entirely new circumstance.
You can also have a lot of fun, especially if the activity you try is cross-country skiing. There are millions of people who enjoy skiing around the world every year, with most of them booking special vacations at ski resorts when they have time off work to do so.
Below are five reasons why you should try cross-country skiing at least one time.
1. Great Workouts
Skiing is an outstanding workout, even for a beginner. When you spend 30 or 45 minutes going down the slopes, you are burning plenty of calories. The motions involved in cross-country skiing work muscles in your back, chest, shoulders, glutes, and others.
If you make skiing a regular part of your exercise routine, or you go a few times a year when you can get time off work, you will become a lot fitter and more athletic.
2. Have an Exciting Adventure
Skiing is an entirely unique experience for those who have never attempted such a sport or activity. Even if you have been around snow your whole life, experiencing the snowy slopes as you go down them is a feeling that you will find hard to replicate in your life.
Such adventures are a must if you want to keep your life exciting and appealing. If you have been working hard over the past year, you are due a long vacation, and there is nothing better than booking a trip to ski slopes in the winter with your friends or family.
3. Easier to Learn Than You Think
Skiing at the highest level takes a great deal of skill and persistence. You must work through your technique to iron out any flaws, continue to take chances on the slopes to boost your speed and deal with the risk of a big fall that could result in an injury.
The good news is that all of those worries are for professional skiers. When you are engaging in cross-country skiing, you are not thinking about setting a record time or doing a gigantic jump over a particular slope. You want to go down a beginner slope and have fun in the snow.
Skiing, provided you can rent quality equipment on-site and speak with an instructor, is very easy to learn. If you are traveling with a friend or family member who knows how to ski, they can teach you just as well.
4. Minimal Injury Risk
Cross-country skiing is very much a low-impact, low-speed, and low-risk activity. Provided you are not jumping ahead of your skill level and trying to go through an advanced slope, you should not have any issues during your ski runs. The incidents of people getting hurt on the ski slopes are extremely rare, which is why so many people who ski for fun are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s.
Even if you believe that you are too old to try new activities, you are wrong. Skiing is something you can learn at any stage of your life, especially if you are still relatively agile and mobile.
5. Skiing is Moving Meditation
A lot of people may watch footage of skiing and believe that it is an extremely aggressive and tough sport. While skiing at a high level can be a feat of endurance, it is not the case when you are going on beginner slopes and focusing on having fun.
Think of skiing as moving meditation. When you are skiing, you are not focusing on anything else but what is in front of you. Skiers, even beginners, will ensure their equipment is right, and then all of their attention is on their body movements and the slope in front of them.
You can truly let go of any anxiety, stress, or issues you are working through at any moment. All you will think about is skiing, which is a great form of meditation.