Ski Activities Research Articles

Possibility and Development of Ski and Winter Adventure Tourism in Nepal Himalaya: Insights from Mera Peak

Adventure tourism is one of the main attractions in Nepal, however, ski and winter tourism are not famous yet. Therefore, this study carried out research on the possibility and development of ski adventure tourism in the favor of winter tourism. The Mera peak area has been selected as the study area, which is located in the Hinku Valley, Solukhumbu, at 6470-meter above sea level. This study used Remote Sensing approaches, a walk survey and photography, and conducted 27 Key Informant Interview (KII) to screen the possibility and development of the ski and winter tourism. Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Satellite Images via Google Earth have been applied for route and ski sites mapping. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data (12.5 m resolution) has been used for DEM, slope, hillshade, and contour analysis. Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen’s slope was applied to determine the climatic trend of the region. The study explored detailed route and ski sites of the Mera peak area and identified it as one of the potential areas for skiing in Nepal. There were not noticiable risk factors for skiing except climate change and minor crevasses. There are several destinations for ski activities in Nepal, which would promote winter tourism in the country. The study uncovered that there have been increasing rates of temperature and decreasing rates of precipitation in the mountain region of Nepal. These climatic factors added some level of risk for a ski industry in the region because increasing trends of temperature result in high rates of snow ablation. The findings of this research will greatly help to promote ski and winter tourism in Nepal, and it will be one of the base documents for developing ski- related policy by the government of Nepal and will be useful for further academic and scientific research in Nepal.

Proposal of an Alpine Skiing Kinematic Analysis with the Aid of Miniaturized Monitoring Sensors, a Pilot Study.

The recent growth and spread of smart sensor technologies make these connected devices suitable for diagnostic and monitoring in different fields. In particular, these sensors are useful in diagnostics for control of diseases or during rehabilitation. They are also extensively used in the monitoring field, both by non-expert and expert users, to monitor health status and progress during a sports activity. For athletes, these devices could be used to control and enhance their performance. This development has led to the realization of miniaturized sensors that are wearable during different sporting activities without interfering with the movements of the athlete. The use of these sensors, during training or racing, opens new frontiers for the understanding of motions and causes of injuries. This pilot study introduced a motion analysis system to monitor Alpine ski activities during training sessions. Through five inertial measurement units (IMUs), placed on five points of the athletes, it is possible to compute the angle of each joint and evaluate the ski run. Comparing the IMU data, firstly, with a video and then proposing them to an expert coach, it is possible to observe from the data the same mistakes visible in the camera. The aim of this work is to find a tool to support ski coaches during training sessions. Since the evaluation of athletes is now mainly developed with the support of video, we evaluate the use of IMUs to support the evaluation of the coach with more precise data.

Historical Analysis on Fundamentalism Movement of High School Students in Kediri City East Java

This article aims to reveal the historical roots and patterns of the fundamentalism movement among students in the City of Kediri. This article is based on the field a qualitative case study. Fundamentalism is a movement that is very close to radicalism. However, the spread of fundamentalism was also found in educational institutions. This article concludes that after going through a series of in-depth studies, this article concludes that historically it cannot be found when this fundamentalism movement began to spread in State Senior High School 1 (SMAN) and State Senior High School 2 (SMAN) Kediri. What is found is that there are Islamic study activities that have allegedly been around since the school began operating. Both in SMAN 1 and SMAN 2 Kediri, no definitive clue was given as to when the spread of the religious fundamentalism movement began. The fundamentalist movement patterns in SMAN 1 and SMAN 2 Kediri City have similarities, namely through Islamic study activities. In SMAN 1, Kediri City, there are SKI activities. Meanwhile, at SMAN 2 Kediri, there were a number of activities, such as PETUAH (Saturday Sunday Pesantren) BAO, Mabīt (the night of devotion), and Aqidah. There is also the At-Tholab association (a collection of several schools). Some of these activities are a forum for the spread of Islamic religious fundamentalism, which is claimed to teach Islamic teaching in accordance with the Qur’an and Hadīth.

A Study on the Participation of Ski Activities as a Healthy Leisure Type of University Students

본 연구는 대학생의 스키활동 몰입경험, 자아존중감 및 여가태도의 영향력 관계를 실증적으로 분석하기 위하여 외·내생 변수간의 구조적 인과관계를 분석하였다. 조사대상은 2016년 12월~2017년 2월까지 강원도 지역의 스키장을 직접 방문하여 스키활동 참여자 388명을 표집하였으며 통계프로그램을 이용하여 구조방정식(SEM: structural equation modeling) 모형을 도출하였으며 다음과 같은 결론을 도출하였다. 첫째, 대학생의 스키활동을 참여를 통하여 획득된 몰입경험은 자아존중감에 유의한 정(+)적 영향을 미쳤다. 둘째, 대학생의 스키활동을 참여를 통하여 획득된 몰입경험은 여가태도에 유의한 정(+)적 영향을 미쳤다. 셋째, 대학생의 스키활동 참여를 통하여 획득된 자아존중감은 여가태도에 유의한 정(+)적 영향을 미쳤다. 이상의 결론을 종합해 볼 때 대학생의 스키활동 참여를 통한 몰입경험은 자아존중감과 여가태도에 긍정적 영향을 미칠 수 있는 주요변인이라 할 수 있겠다.

Space use analyses suggest avoidance of a ski area by mountain goats

The development of recreational activities imposes growing anthropogenic pressure on wilderness areas worldwide. Because anthropogenic disturbances may modify wildlife use of habitat, space use studies may be useful to identify wildlife response to recreational activities. Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) are highly sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances and are thus likely to modify their space use in response to recreational activities. From 2011 to 2013, we studied space use of mountain goats in Jasper National Park, Canada, one of the most popular wilderness areas in North America, and assessed how it was influenced by an alpine ski area. Comparison of predicted use from habitat selection models and observed use defined by global positioning system collar data revealed ski area avoidance. The immediate surroundings of the ski area were, however, not avoided by mountain goats, but the presence of a natural salt lick <1 km from the ski area may have contributed to the observed mountain goat use of these areas. Ski activities have the potential to exclude mountain goats from habitat with otherwise high probability of use. Thus, we recommend that future ski area developments generally consider the behavior of species sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances and that construction should not occur in habitat essential for sensitive species like mountain goats. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Behavioural adaptation to climate change among winter alpine tourists: an analysis of tourist motivations and leisure substitutability

Understanding market responses to climate change impacts has important implications for the sustainability of Australia's winter tourism destinations. Utilising a framework incorporating push–pull tourist motivations and the theory of leisure substitutability, this study sought to explore how winter tourists in Australia will adapt to changes in snow cover in Australia's alpine regions under future climate change scenarios. The results of a questionnaire completed by 231 respondents indicated that tourist motivations were related to behavioural adaptation, and that there is a general preference among the current winter market for spatial substitution in the event of poor snow. Those motivated by recreation specialisation or snow-related attributes were likely to opt for spatial substitution, while tourists motivated by self-expression and après ski activities displayed resilience to poor snow conditions. The results demonstrate a clear division between leisure-driven tourists who valued participation in sport, and experience-driven tourists, who displayed higher resilience to reduced snow under projected climate change scenarios. These results have practical implications for winter tourism destinations, both in terms of targeting experience-driven tourists in the case of reduced snow as well as the longer term sustainability and viability of winter tourism destinations.

Self-Expressiveness in Sport Tourism

This study develops and tests a model of self-expressiveness in sport tourism, defined as the extent to which a tourist perceives that a sport activity is reflective of his or her personal identity. Self-expressiveness in a sport activity experienced by a tourist should depend on the activity’s perceived difficulty, perceived effort, perceived importance, and potential for self-realization. In turn, a tourist’s self-expressiveness in a sport activity should exert a positive influence on the tourist’s experience of personal happiness (subjective well-being). The results of two surveys involving 1,251 travelers who participated in a dance festival (study 1) and ski activities (study 2) during their vacations confirm the hypotheses, revealing several interesting theoretical and managerial implications.

Monitoring of Solid Particulate Airborne Samples from Mountain Snow in Some Sites of the Alps, Italy

In the last decades, few days a week, several city centres in Italyare closed at vehicular traffic in order to limit the presence of particulate matter, often exceeding the limits set by law [1,2]. The particulate matter have an impact on human health [3,4], in the cultural heritage and natural environment deterioration [5,6]. Many studies have been the carried out in air monitoring in urban areas while the targeted surveys to assess the impact on air quality of snow dispersion for ski activities are rare. Thanks to the Autonomous Province of Trento it has been possible to sample the snowpack in some ski areas inItalyand thanks to stratigraphic profiles it has been possible to observe variations of the chemical composition over time. Natural contribution is strictly related to winds and currents movement, for this reason a deep knowledge of these factors can help in the determination of the prevalent trajectories during the year [7,8]. During a penetrometeric and stratigraphic profile on Presena glacier, the main nivo-meteorological features, air temperature and temperature inside the different layers of the snowpack have been measured. Some snow samples has been collected and analyzed by SEM-EDS, ICP-MS and IC. These qualitative and quantitative analyses allow to obtain chemical and mineralogical composition to define the emitting source.

The skiers knee without swelling or instability, a difficult diagnosis: a case report

Skiing as a recreational activity has increased exponentially in the last twenty-years. Similar to any sporting activity, participants can sustain various types of injury, which provides the emergency departments with a continuous supply of patients. The injury pattern from the slopes has also changed over this time period, due to alterations and improvements in ski equipment. An increased diversity in alpine skiing techniques, as well as snowboarding and cross-terrain disciplines has also influenced this change.We present a multi-media experience of a high-speed ski fall that caused a valgus-external rotation injury to the right knee that precluded the patient from further ski activity. There was no bruising, swelling or instability demonstrated and the patient returned to ski activities 24-hours post-injury. Although this injury appeared clinically benign initially, the patient complained of persistent pain around the right knee which was causing occupational difficulties. Following normal clinical assessment, the patient returned to work but continued to complain of persistent pain at the lateral aspect of the right knee. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) demonstrated extensive bone marrow oedema (BMO), a mild depression of the articular cortex compression with a small focus of articular cartilage disruption and microfractures of the lateral tibial plateau. The patient was treated conservatively and remains well with avoidance of impact exercises 14-months post-injury.In the presence of any high speed injury, we would stress that regardless of initial normal investigations, clinical suspicion should remain paramount and not deter the physician from further investigation in the presence of continuing symptomatology.

The recent evolution of an Alpine glacier used for summer skiing (Vedretta Piana, Stelvio Pass, Italy)

Abstract The use of glaciers for ski activities is a relatively recent phenomenon and it seems now spreading in spite of the matter roused much controversy. In Europe, the Stelvio Pass (2757 m a.s.l) glacier area is a popular zone for this activity; summer skiing has been practiced there since the beginning of the 20th century. The effects of human impact on this kind of glacier is poorly known up to now such as its answer to climate variations. In this paper, variations in a sample glacier volume and thickness were quantified (Vedretta Piana, Stelvio Pass) through a comparison of large-scale maps (1955–1981) and field surveys (by GPS, RTK technique summers 1999, 2000 and 2001). A thickness increase on the larger part of the glacier profile was evident from 1955 to 1981, maximum value of + 10 m. In the subsequent period (1981–1999), a strong reduction was evident, maximum of about − 30 m. The field surveys performed on two following summer seasons allowed also to calculate the glacier volume variations resulted equal, for summer 1999 to − 442,000 m3 (mean thickness variation of about − 0.8 m) and for the summer 2000, to − 606,000 m3 (mean thickness variation of about − 1 m). On this glacier, geophysical surveys by GPR techniques have also been performed allowing the calculation of the ice thickness and of the glacier ice volume (72.5 × 106 m3). Attention has been paid also to the glacier historical evolution by analyzing in the time the number of infrastructures located on the glacier (especially lifts and their capacity) and the number of customers (largely skiers) using the lifts during the 2000 and 2001 summers, trying to relate these data with glacier seasonal surface evolution (crevasses presence and snow cover persistence and distribution) and with the summer climate trends. These results underline that the climate conditions of summer of 2001 was more favorable for summer ski activities owing to the extension of the snow cover and its persistence and also to the reduced number of open crevasses. An increase in the number of skiers is in fact evident for the 2001 summer (+ 21%); this datum is an exception respect to the general Italian trend of the last decade which underline an uninterrupted decline of Alpine skiers (− 35% in the year 2004 respect the year 1997).

Influences of air temperature change on leisure industries: case study on ski activities.

To evaluate the influences of air temperature change on ski activities, thechanges in the numbers of skiers visiting seven ski areas in Japan were predicted in conjunction with climate change. First, having built a model forpredicting snow depth based on the budgets of water and heat using the air temperature and precipitation data collected nationwide, we demonstrated goodagreement between the predicted and observed snow depths (p < 0.01 and the ratios for more than 81% cases ranged from 0.5 to 2). Second, the relationshipbetween the number of skiers and the depth of snow at one of the seven ski areaswas analyzed statistically on a daily basis. In addition, we did the same on amonthly basis at six other ski areas and compared the observed and predictednumbers of skiers (p < 0.01 and the ratios for more than 94% cases ranged from 0.5 to 2). Using this model and the relationship between daily snow depth andnumber of skiers, the changes in skier numbers in the seven ski areas werepredicted for several scenarios with respect to air temperature changes; e.g. a more than 30% drop in visiting skiers was forecast in almost all ski areas in Japan except northern region (Hokkaido) and/or high altitude regions (center of the Main Island) under the condition of a 3 °C increase in air temperature. The vulnerability of the ski industry and its adaptationto climate change are discussed.