Nordic Skiing Books/Videos/Magazines:

If you know of quality nordic skiing books, videos, or magazines that should be listed - please contact me at knicol@swgc.mun.ca
 

This is a great new entry into the health and fitness market in Atlantic Canada. As well as all kinds of good articles about health and wellness issues it also has information about destinations to visit with an outdoor activity in mind. For instance, the Feb 2009 issue had an article on nordic skiing in Atlantic Canada. So if you into running marathons, sea kayaking, x-country skiing or general fitness have a look at this magazine.You can reach them on the web at www.optimyz.ca

This book is now in its 3rd edition and you can see why. it offers great tips for both telemark technique and parallel skiing on free heel gear. There are loads of tips like "Point your back knee like a headlight shining it into each new turn". There are many concepts that skiers of any level will appreciate. The book includes many sketches as well as photos to illustrate the text. In addition, there are many sidebars which discuss past free heel adventures that author Paul Parker has been on. For more information check out                      The Mountaineers Books.

This 220 page book covers a wide variety of backcountry ski topics. It will be of interest to anyone who wants one book on this topic. It does a great job of teaching the basics. Having said that it is not very complete in some sections. I always look for info on ski technique and the chapter on skiing downhill wasn't as complete as I would like it but it does introduce skiers to the variety of techniques available. The author does nicely cover avalanches, navigation and many other key areas of interest to the backcountry skier. The book has a small bibliography so that interested skiers can investigate further if they wish. For more info contact: http://www.humankinetics.com

This 166 page book has a whole series of training plans for different levels of skier. Its strength is the nice photos and colour coded training information. The information is presented so that you can use it on snow during the ski season or the equivalent workout in the summer. I would have liked to see much more material on technique--it gets only 6 pages of space!! But author Steven Gaskill does cover stretching nicely and has a good section on charting your progress so that you can see if the training plan you are following is making any difference. The book is from Human Kinetics Press. For more information contact http://www.humankinetics.com

SKI TRAX Magazine 

Ski Trax Magazine is Canada's largest circulation nordic skiing magazine. It covers the gamut of material including articles on nordic ski areas across North America (and beyond) to a variety of columns of everything from waxing, nutrition, training, ski technique, and of course Marty Halls' controversial back page. It has a comprehensive buyers guide early in the season and information about the national and international racing circuit. Four issues a year are published and they typically run from 40 to 90 pages in length. For subscription information contact: Ski Trax at 416-977-2100 or fax 416-977-9200. Ski Trax can also be contacted at skitrax@passport ca.

       This is a new DVD from Nato - the North American Telemark Organization. It focuses mainly on getting the intermediate skier over a few hurdles but also includes some nice shots of the NATO tele festival and Alaska. There are lots of little snippets of information which is both good and bad. You can quickly go to the place you want to look at and in just 5 minutes get some ideas to work on for your morning telemarking on the hill. At the same time it might be nice to see longer sections rather than always having to back to the main menu. One of my favorite sections was called the Future of Telemarking and it showed lots of kids tele skiing in bumps, trees and steeps. Check out NATO.