Snow: The Playing Field

Abstract

Like other outdoor sports, skiing requires a playing field. That playing field may be provided by nature in the form of a covering of snow. Out of the desire for an adequate playing field, we have contrived to make artificial snow to replace or augment the natural stuff when it refuses to appear in sufficient quantity or, tragically, refuses to appear at all. Most of the alpine skiers of the world practice their sport on carefully prepared slopes on which natural as well as manufactured snow is first packed and then later scored or groomed. Daily maintenance of the slopes’ surfaces ensures the uniformly good skiing conditions alpine skiers expect for the price of their lift tickets. Organized nordic ski facilities likewise provide skiers with groomed tracks and courses. When adventure skiers take to the hills or mountains, they likely will seek out particular snow conditions—usually powder, the deeper the better—but they must ski through whatever snow conditions they may find along the way.