Night skiing
{{Short description|Snow sport}}
File:Night skiing.jpg in Colorado under floodlights for night skiing]]
Night skiing is the sport of skiing or snowboarding after sundown, offered at many ski areas. There are floodlights – with metal halide, LED or magnetic induction lamps – along the piste which allow for better visibility.[https://www.saminfo.com/archives/2010-2017/2018/march-2018/seeing-the-light Seeing the Light] Ski Area Management 2018 The night skiing session typically begins around sunset, and ends between 8:00 PM and 10:30 PM.Nelson, Janet (1984) [https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/13/sports/outdoors-night-skiing-an-invigorating-experience.html Outdoors: Night Skiing an Invigorating Experience] NY Times
Night skiing offers reduced price access versus daylight hours. Trails at night are normally not as busy as during the day,Fast, Annie (2022) [https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/outdoor-recreation/snow-sports/downhill-skiing-snowboarding/night-skiing-lights-oregon-ski-resorts/ Night Skiing] traveloregon.com but there are usually fewer runs available.Lovitt, Rob (1986) [https://books.google.com/books?id=3C5KPUnNdU4C&pg=RA2-PT25 Skiing After Dark] Skiing Vol 39 #4:229-234 The trails also tend to be icier than during the day, due to melting and refreezing.
Starting in 1997 Planai in Austria has held a World Cup slalom competition at night.[https://www.thenightrace.at/en/ Nightrace Schladming]
A few ski resorts offer opportunities for night skiing wearing personal headlamps,[https://bigskyresort.com/headlamp-night-skiing Headlamp night skiing] at bigskyresort.com or by the light of the full moon.[https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/experiences/skiing-in-the-light-of-the-full-moon/ Skiing in the light of the full moon] Switzerland Tourism
History
Processions of skiers holding torches, lanterns or flares while skiing down a slope at night has been a scheduled event of winter festivals such as the Nordic Games since at least 1903.[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1904-11-14/ed-1/seq-4/ In the World of Sports] NY Daily Tribune 1904-11-14 The dramatic spectacle of torchlight ski descents is a program element at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival,[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88076741/1903-03-13/ed-1/seq-7/ End of sports] N.D. Pioneer Express 1903-03-13 and ski resort holiday celebrations.[https://www.mabeyski.com/news/torchlight-skiing-where-to-find-the-best-flare-runs-around-the-world/ Torchlight Skiing] at mabeyski.com
A torchlit ski race was held in Switzerland in 1920.
[https://www.gaumontpathearchives.com/index.php?urlaction=doc&tab=showStory&id_doc=161529 ENGADINE: course de ski nocturne] (1920) Gaumont film In the 1925 Winter Carnival at Rumford, Maine, night ski jumping was included.[https://books.google.com/books?id=9mggAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1 Spectacular Ski-Jumping] Lewiston Evening Journal Feb 10, 1925 front page
Chicopee Ski Club in Ontario Canada had lighted night skiing in 1935, with lights powered by car batteries.[https://www.discoverchicopee.com/our-story Chicopee Ski Club timeline]
Lighted slope skiing at Bousquet Ski Area in Pittsfield, Massachusetts began in 1936 thanks to a local partnership with General Electric.{{cite web|title=Clarence J. "Clare" Bousquet: The founding of Bousquet Ski Area, Pittsfield, MA |first=Laurie|last=Puliafico |publisher=teachski.com |url=http://www.teachski.com/Areas/bousquet/cbousquet.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110200929/http://www.teachski.com/Areas/bousquet/cbousquet.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-11-10 |access-date=2018-03-10}}[http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/massachusetts/bousquet "Bousquet"], Destination 360 Other early lighted slopes include Fryeburg, Maine (1936), [https://www.nelsap.org/me/jockeycap.html Jockey Cap] New England Lost Ski Areas North Creek, New York (1937),Schniebs, Otto (1938) [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1938-01-02/ed-1/seq-86/ Stars of the Ski] D.C. Evening Star p10 Rossland, British Columbia (1937),"Ski Spills" Rossland Miner January 7, 1938 Jackson, New Hampshire (1937),[https://www.nelsap.org/nh/sprucemt.html Spruce Mt. Ski Tow] New England Lost Ski Areas Hyak, Washington (1938),Lundin, John W. (2021) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2dAHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 Ski Jumping in Washington: a Nordic Tradition] Arcadia Publishing p 109 Juneau, Alaska (1938),[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045499/1938-01-14/ed-1/seq-2/ Evening Skiing] Daily Alaska Empire January 14, 1938, Page 2 Lake Placid, New York (1938)[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1938-12-18/ed-1/seq-36/ Snow Sports] D.C. Evening Star 1938-12-18
and Brattleboro, Vermont (1938).
References
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