Extreme skiing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Extreme skiing is skiing performed on long, steep (typically from 45 to 60+ degrees) slopes in dangerous terrain. The sport is performed off-piste.
The French coined the term 'Le Ski Extreme' in the 1970's. The first practitioner was the Swiss skier Sylvain Saudan, who invented the "windshield wiper" turn in the mid-1960's and made the first filmed descents of slopes that were previously considered impossible. The Frenchmen Patrick Valencant and Anselme Baud were among those who further developed the art and brought notoriety to the sport in the 1970's and 1980's. Extreme skiing as an English term has changed since the 80's when the term "extreme skiing" was coined to now be classified under Big Mountain skiing and/or Freeskiing which encompasses all aspects and methods of descending off-piste terrain.
Because of the extremely long, steep slopes, and dangerous terrain, a single mistake at the wrong moment by some extreme skiers have led to their deaths. This distinguishes true extreme skiing (in the French sense) from the spectacular and dangerous (but not usually deadly) derivatives encapsulated in the American English term.
