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We provide information on skiing holidays from Ireland and all you need to know about Ski Resorts in Europe. You can also find deals, discounts and late booking offers below!

We give you Skiing and Snowboarding Resort reviews for European locations like France, Italy, Austria and worldwide locations worldwide such as New Zealand and the USA. It includes personal reports from people who have visited these resorts, as well as third party information.

Skiing - A Few Facts

Skiing is thought to have emerged at least 5,000 years ago in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the northern Russia and China.

Modern skiing includes cross-country, back-country, downhill, slalom, speed skiing and ski jumping, among other hybrid activities.

Around 1820, Norwegians started racing each other and staged the first ski-jumping competitions.

Norwegians brought skiing with them to the United States in the mid-1800s and many worked at lumber and mining camps, where their ability to move quickly through the mountains was an invaluable asset.

Skiing has two general categories. Nordic skiing, the older of the two disciplines originated in Scandinavia and uses free-heel bindings that attach at the toes of the skier's boots but not at the heels. Types of Nordic skiing include cross-country, ski jumping and Telemark. Alpine skiing or "downhill skiing", originated in the European Alps, and is characterized by fixed-heel bindings that attach at both the toe and the heel of the skier's boot.

Skiing is also used as a means of transport by the military, and many armies train troops for ski warfare. Ski troops played a key role in retaining Finnish independence from Russia during the Winter War, and from Germany during the Lapland War. The sport of Biathlon was developed from military skiing patrols.

"Dope"—early ski wax was concocted from cedar oil, tar, beeswax, sperm, and other ingredients—to coax more speed out of their skis.

The "Nordic" events of ski jumping and cross-country skiing dominated U.S. slopes until the 1920s. In that decade, "Alpine" or downhill skiing began became popular as skiing and technological change fed each other. The invention of the steel edge in 1928 made it easier to ski on hard snow, leading to better control and faster speeds.