Skiing.

Both a competitive Olympic sport and recreational leisure activity, skiing consists of gliding over snow on long, narrow skates known as skis. Skiing can take place on either flat terrain or downhill at an angle. Downhill skiing, also known as alpine skiing, is perhaps more familiar to most Americans, given the popularity of alpine ski resorts throughout the United States. Popular skiing destinations in the United States include Aspen and Vail (Colorado), Snowbird and Alta (Utah), Squaw Valley (California), and Stowe (Vermont). More than 65 million Americans visit ski resorts annually—more than any other country in the world; worldwide, approximately 200 million people participate in skiing. Skiing events have been a central feature of the Winter Olympics since 1936. Olympic skiing competition consists of two distinct types of events: alpine skiing, which is a straight downhill race, and slalom, which consists of weaving and maneuvering through a series of markers and checkpoints as a skier makes their way downhill. Skiing is particularly popular in nations with colder climates, such as Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. Among the most decorated professional American skiers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are Tommy Moe, Picabo Street, Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller, and Mikaela Shiffrin.