Ski mountaineering

From Free net encyclopedia

Ski mountaineering is a sport that combines the techniques of skiing (often ski touring) with those of mountaineering.

Image:Ski boot crampons.jpg While using skiing techniques for much of the time, ski mountaineers climb otherwise inaccessible or dangerous slopes on foot using a range of mountaineering equipment - typically crampons, ice axes and ropes - while skis are carried strapped to their backpack. This either permits access to extreme slopes, or more often allows transit through otherwise impassable terrain in order to continue beyond on skis, where normal ski touring equipment such as skins and harscheisen (ski crampons - also called couteau or cortelli) can then be employed.

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History

One of the earliest inspirations for the sport was the Englishman Cecil Slingsby, who crossed the 1,550m high (5,800 feet) Keiser Pass, Norway, on skis in 1880.

However, the "father" of the sport is generally regarded as the German Wilhelm von Arlt, who made the first ski ascent of over 3,000m, when he climbed the Rauris Sonnblick (3,103m / 10,180 feet high) in 1894.

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