Earlier this month, the New York Times Magazine published by Sam Anderson titled 鈥淲hat Cross-Country Skiing Reveals About the Human Condition.鈥 By the second paragraph, it became clear that Mr. Anderson isn鈥檛 a cross country skier himself. Unsurprisingly, the story didn鈥檛 go over well with actual participants of the sport.
Among the most reviled lines of the piece is when Anderson describes cross-country skiing as an unwatchable hassle 鈥渨here the elegant majesty of winter sport goes to die an excruciatingly drawn-out death.鈥 Cross-country skiers responded with an outpouring of reactions, mostly on social media. (Sam Evans-Brown, the host of NHPR鈥檚 and a high school nordic coach, also wrote on Slate on Thursday).听
A favorite gripe was about Anderson鈥檚 description of cross-country skiers as 鈥渆xistential heroes in goggles and tights鈥 who 鈥渟trap on a helmet and slog right in.鈥 I'm a skier myself, and while we do like to think of ourselves as heroes, we don鈥檛 wear helmets or goggles. When Anderson finished his treatise by stating that he hadn鈥檛 skied since he was a little kid, no one was all that surprised. 听
Though I did fire off a few of , I鈥檒l be the first to acknowledge that this might seem like we鈥檙e taking things a little too personally. And I鈥檒l admit that Anderson doesn鈥檛 get everything wrong. Cross-country skiing is really damn hard. Arguably the toughest outdoor sport in the world, it requires a unique combination of 听strength, speed, and endurance. The lateral movements of skate skiing are at once unnatural and exhausting, while the technique for proper classic skiing leaves most untrained participants feeling like they鈥檙e just shuffling around. To succeed at racing uphill, athletes have to have , and put in 800 to 1000-plus听hours a year of endurance and strength training. It鈥檚 understandable that someone might give up after an uncomfortable first try and never go back. But when you keep going and actually learn the sport, it鈥檚 really fun鈥攁nd Americans are just beginning to discover it. (Bragging that your sport is harder than everyone else鈥檚 is pretty fun, too.)
And while it may seem alluring to describe cross-country skiing as an exercise in solitary masochism, in both culture and practice, it鈥檚 truly a team sport. That鈥檚 not just fluff talking, it鈥檚 just too damn hard to do alone. According to Snow Industries of America, over participated in cross-country skiing in 2013, I don鈥檛 suspect those folks are hammering alone in the forest contemplating the meaning of their pain. Rather, there is a vibrant, spandex-clad community that bands together to celebrate 鈥渢he sanctity of the goddamn grind,鈥 as Anderson put it. Even the U.S. Women鈥檚 Team attributes their success to working together, wearing glitter, and having a good time.听
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Last week, I compared cross-country skiing to watching a Tour de France stage in 20 minutes. Both cycling and skiing share group race tactics, treacherous climbs, whipping descents, and sprint finishes. Add icy snow, the grit of Olympic athletes, and a couple , and let me know if it still looks like 鈥渁 brutally sustained non-thrill.鈥 This season, the U.S. cross-country contingent is crushing it. They鈥檝e landed 11 World Cup podiums, including two wins to add to their three World Championships medals from last season. Do you know what鈥檚 pretty thrilling to watch? Your country winning the Olympics.
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Yes, there is an existentialist element to cross-country skiing. I鈥檝e certainly done my fair share of philosophizing and meditating on steep climbs in dense woods. Participating in one of the hardest sports in the world in bitter cold will do that to you. But if your takeaway is that this sport is boring, you鈥檙e doing it wrong. If you鈥檙e still not convinced, let me know. I will gladly take you for a ski.听