On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 16:11:12 -0900, "Camilo"
wrote:

To me there's no doubt that classical skiing requires more skill and
technique as well is a far more versitile sport (from racing to trail
breaking, to on and off track touring, and everything in between). There's
so much beyond fitness and racing involved, and that may be why real
athletic skiers, new to the sport, tend to focus on skating and ignore
striding.

I'm starting my 6th season x-c skiing coming from an alpine background
(being a PSIA alpine instructor for close to 20 years). I took up
x-c because many of my cycling cohorts did it as a fun as well as
effective winter cross-training, and alpine only keeps the quads in
shape.

Interestingly, the majority of my group skis classical only, followed
by a fair number who both stride and skate, followed by a tiny few who
skate only.

It never occurred to me taking up the sport that I wouldn't do both.
We are lucky to have two private resorts within an hour drive which
groom for both, and a huge variety of trail systems all over the place
for touring. I rarely if ever go to a resort with grooming without
all my equipment, and it is a flip of the coin whether I skate or
stride first. But I will do both unless the snow is too warm or too
icy for classical.

My experience over the past seasons echoes what Nordic PSIA
instructors advise: Classical is easier to learn but harder to
master; skating is harder to learn, but easier to master.

Classical starts out as the more intuitive because the movements are
natural, while the skating poling techniques are counter-intuitive and
take a while to become coordinated. But once the basics of both are
learned and the fine tuning and real mastery of the sports begin, it
is fairly clear that classical is the harder and more subtle
technique. Not to mention the art and science of grip waxing.

So it is no wonder that many skiers new to the sport will opt for
glide waxing only, and the speed and relative simplicity of skating
technique, even if skating up hills is the hardest physical activity
known to mankind :-)

But any skater who gets passed on the trail by a classic skier who
truly knows how to ski understands what the real deal is.