If you鈥檝e ventured into the sport of cross-country skiing,听you鈥檝e likely made the mistake of being hopelessly overdressed and underprepared. As if this听weren鈥檛听already the world鈥檚 hardest sport, you鈥檝e weighed yourself down with parkas and snow pants, which inevitably wind up sweaty and unzipped, superfluous layers flapping in the wind. Symptoms听also include drenched neck gaiters and oversize听fleece hats haphazardly stuffed into HotHands-filled pockets in a moment of desperation.

Yes,听cross-country skiing is hard. But the real issue is听that you鈥檝e dressed听yourself like you鈥檙e going downhill, not up. To the uninitiated, this is an easy mistake to make. Even seasoned nordies are prone to overdressing sometimes.

After four years听as a professional nordic racer, I鈥檝e amassed an armload of tricks that make a day on skinny skis much more enjoyable.

To start, drop any preconceived notions of what you think is cool in snow sports. Baggy jackets? Nope. Helmets and goggles? Nix. Nordic ski style is part cyclist, part speed racer, and undeniably Scandanavian, with pieces that are slim, simple, sleek, and highly functional. Since it鈥檚 an aerobic sport like running, cross-country skiing layeringusually doesn鈥檛 require too many clothes to keep you warm. The key is to wear just enough to avoid getting cold without winding up overheating on the first hill. Unless you鈥檙e doing a lot of standing around (think: long, slow skis with lots of wildlife-viewing breaks and snack pit stops), you likely don鈥檛 need more than two layers each on your top and bottom. You certainly do not need a heavy parka on top of fleecy layers. Here鈥檚 what I recommend.

Choose Your Underthings Wisely

Generally speaking, start your layering from the inside and work outward. First, wear a pair of moisture-wicking undies that fully covers your butt. Most women and a few men will understand the distinction I鈥檓 making here. Second, start your upper-body layering system with a light, tight tank top; this piece will warm your core while also keeping your arms free for movement. I borrow from the cyclists鈥� playbook and have a couple muscle-cut merino base layers on hand for extra chilly days. Add a long-sleeved base layer on top. For warm days, skip the tank and head straight for the base layer.

As for socks, you鈥檒l want a pair that鈥檚 lightweight and not wooly. Heavy socks can retain moisture and cause blisters, even in the winter. You鈥檒l also want socks that rise above your ankles to keep out snow. As long as your feet are moving, your toes will be warm. If you鈥檒l be doing significant standing around in your ski boots (cheering on the sidelines of a race or hanging out by a scenic view) or if it鈥檚 particularly windy, boot covers听add extra protection for your feet.

Layer Up Your Torso

Once you have your next-to-skin layers dialed, you鈥檒l want to add a soft, breathable jacket, like one you鈥檇 wear for running or fast-paced hiking. Great cross-country ski jackets are lightweight, stretchy, slightly wind blocking and moisture resistant, and have several pockets for snacks. If it鈥檚 cold, don听a light vest as well. In fact, bring the vest along no matter what. In warm temperatures, you can wear it over your base layer without a jacket.

Wear Soft-Shell Pants鈥攐r No Pants!

For the legs, two layers will be enough. Start with a pair of light long undies (merino wool听is the best听because it resists stink) with either a pair of cross-country pants听(more on those below) or a set of spandex tights.

Like jackets, good cross-country ski pants will be light and breathable. They鈥檙e typically made of a stretchy soft-shell material听so that they鈥檒l wick moisture and move with you, and they鈥檒l have a fitted cut. Some might feature听slight wind resistance in front with a more breathable fabric听in back. I use听mine听for camping during the summer and running in the fall.

But the fun thing about nordic skiing is that you actually don鈥檛 have to wear pants. Nordorks love spandex. If you have a pair of running tights, those will work really well, especially in temperatures of around 30 degrees or more. (Just make sure that you wear them under your boots, not stretched over them, ya noob!)

Accessorize

Finish off your kit with a neck gaiter, hat, and gloves. Light Lycra neckies with no fleece are best, except on extra cold days when you might want additional听insulation. Either way, they warm up the cold air around your face and in your throat, reducing your risk for lung burn, .

For your hat or headband, say it with me now:听鈥淟ighter is better.鈥� Careful, though. Your neighborhood ski shop might try to sell you something called a racing hat,听because you鈥檙e buying all this other cool gear and clearly fit in with the nordies. These things are spandexy and tight, likely have your local听ski-club logo screen-printed onto them, and have gained the nickname 鈥渃ondom caps鈥� in the ski world for a reason. Best to avoid them听unless you want to look like a dork. .

Finally, opt for gloves over mittens. Unlike听downhill skiing,听proper cross-country form requires you to grip your pole each time you plant it and then听release听the grip as your follow through your stride, which means you need good dexterity鈥攁nd mittens are like hot prisons for your fingers. I听always have three pairs of gloves ready to deploy: a听lightweight pair, an insulated听pair, and one set of lobster gloves that offer the warmth of mitts without compromising too much fine motor control.

Pro tip: when shopping for gloves, look for a thoughtfully placed patch of fleece on the outside part of the thumb. That鈥檚 a very important feature designed specially for nose wiping. You鈥檙e gonna need it.

Wear Sunglasses鈥擜ny Sunglasses

This doesn鈥檛 have to do with layering, but I cannot stress it enough: goggles are not sunglasses. are for shredding pow and protecting your face from the pounding downhill airflow. They鈥檙e heavy, tight, and tend to fog up when you get hot. When worn without a helmet (which you also should not wear for nordic skiing), goggles听also make you look like a Minion. Leave them at home.

When choosing what eyewear to bring, don鈥檛 get too caught up in fashion. Any sunglasses will do, so long as they cover your eyes. The ideal option is a pair that has听interchangeable lenses for different sun levels. Large-framed sunnies are very hot right now with the nordies. But wearing nothing is still better than wearing goggles.

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Early this morning, in the women鈥檚 skate team sprint, Team USA鈥檚 Jessie Diggins under the lights of Pyeongchang鈥檚 Alpensia Cross-Country stadium. Collapsed in the snow, she reached out to her sprint partner, Kikkan Randall, and audibly cried, 鈥淒id we just win the Olympics?鈥澨�

As we know by now, they had. After six rounds through the 1.25 kilometer sprint course, the duo crossed the line just under two tenths of a second before the Swedish team, and nearly three seconds before the Norwegians. The finish marked the U.S.鈥檚听first gold medal in cross-country skiing, and the first-ever Olympic medal for the U.S. women鈥檚 team. To many fans and participants of the sport, it was a long time coming. After years of fighting through low funding and setting big goals without precedence, the U.S. women proved today that they鈥檙e pure grit covered in spandex.

But today鈥檚 result is much bigger than a medal.听

To put it simply, these two women are a dream team. The 35-year-old Randall is a pioneer. She was the first U.S. woman to win a World Cup, and to take home a World Cup globe, and to gain top 10 international results. She bootstrapped her way through the sport in a way that paved the road for athletes like 26-year-old Diggins to follow. In her 16 years on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team (her first Olympics were as a 19-year-old in 2002), Randall has redefined what it means to be a U.S. cross country skier. She was the first to prove that the U.S. could compete against Scandinavian countries without government funding, and without a precedent for success. She took one season away from the World Cup to have her son, and returned stronger than ever. And she did it all with pink hair and glitter, as she could along the way.听

Then there鈥檚 Diggins. She represents everything the U.S. ski culture needs: optimism, energy, and an undying ability to outwork everyone around her. Like Randall, Diggins boasts her own collection of accolades and firsts, including historic finishes in both these and the 2014 Games. She was the first U.S. woman to win distance World Championship and World Cup events, and perhaps more importantly, the first person to successfully choreograph a featuring Nordic skiers. She and Randall also share the first U.S. World Championship gold medal, from the five years ago. In that race, Diggins lost her pole, but continued hammering at a higher tempo to make up for it, putting Randall into medal contention. That same determination showed this morning. After she came from behind and stretched to the line, Eurosport commentators exclaimed: 鈥淭his is the race to show your kids and grandkids to inspire them to push and try and give 100 percent.鈥�

People often call cross-country skiing an individual sport. But more than anything, Randall鈥檚 and Diggins鈥� success is a counterpoint to that idea; their victory is a testament to the people rallying behind them. For the past five years, the cross-country ski community鈥攊ncluding these women鈥檚 teammates, coaches, and hundreds of thousands of fans鈥攎aintained the belief that they could accomplish something that had never been done before. Several of the women standing beside Diggins and Randall had equal shots at medals this year, including multi-time World Cup medalists and . This community pushed through dips in funding, apathy in American ski culture, and the general challenges that come with pursuing the hardest sport on the planet. Today, Randall and Diggins听proved that this is truly a team sport.听

鈥淭o have it happen in a team event means so much more to me than an individual medal ever would,鈥� Diggins in her post-race interview. Will we see medals for these women in the individual events? I have no doubt about it. But this win feels very fitting as the first. 听

Now, the paradigm has shifted. Olympic gold is no longer just a dream that the U.S. ski community dared to pursue. These women did the daring for us. This win is significant because it belongs to so many different people. And it鈥檚 just the beginning.听

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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
听
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.
听
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

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Perhaps it鈥檚 the metric system, or maybe it鈥檚 the spandex onesies, but Americans have some trouble grasping the different types of Nordic skiing. It gets confusing, because 鈥淣ordic鈥� skiing is an umbrella term for four different disciplines: cross-country, biathlon, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. This month, the U.S. team has good chances to medal across the board, so you鈥檒l want to pay attention. Consider what follows a comprehensive cheat sheet, so you can fake your way through any Olympic viewing party.

Cross-Country Skiing

Practiced as a form of transportation since as early as 600 B.C., is the one where athletes race up and downhill on a pair of no-edged carbon toothpicks at distances from 1.5 to 50 kilometers. Cross-country skiing includes two techniques: and . All competitors race in both disciplines. Skate skiing, in which athletes move across a wide groomed trail in a lateral skating motion, was and popularized by American skier and Olympic silver medalist Bill Koch. Classic skiing is where athletes stay in groomed tracks and use sticky wax on the base of their skis to gain traction on the snow and propel themselves forward.

Cross-country competitions feature sprints, individual distance, mass-start distance, and team relays. Sprints begin with an individual qualifying round and continue through the day with three more heats. Distance races employ jockeying and group race tactics that make the event feel like you鈥檙e watching a Tour de France stage in 20 minutes. Cross-country skiers are known for their dramatics, often collapsing at the finish line. Racing for minutes (or hours) at nearly all-out aerobic capacity will do that to you.

Important Vocabulary

• A-climb: A hill on the course with a 9 to 18 percent grade and up to 200 meters long. Sprint courses are required to have at least one of these hills; distance courses may have up to four.

• Individual start: A race where competitors start 15 to 30 seconds apart from one another and race the whole course virtually alone. (The race where all competitors start together is called a mass start.)

Key Athletes: The , (NOR), (USA), (NOR), (SUI).

Biathlon

combines cross-country skiing and target shooting. Perhaps better known as 鈥渢he one with the gun,鈥� biathlon originated as a tribute to Ullr, the Norse god of skiing and hunting, and eventually grew into a military training technique. Biathletes skate ski with a .22-gauge rifle on their back around a race loop, stopping in the stadium to shoot five targets before going out to do another loop.

Biathlon competitions feature sprint, distance, and relay events. During the shooting section of the race, for every missed target, athletes must ski a 150-meter penalty loop or have penalty time added to their final results. The name of the game in biathlon is relaxing enough to accurately shoot a gun in the middle of one of the hardest endurance activities in the world. That means these athletes have not only insane aerobic capacity but also a sharp eye and mad breathing techniques.

Important Vocabulary

• Biathlon: Pronounced bi-a-thlon, not bi-ath-a-lon. It鈥檚 OK鈥攖he athletes with spelling and pronunciation, too.

• Clean: To hit all five targets without any misses in one shooting stage.

• Prone: The .

Key Athletes: (USA), (CAN), (FIN), (USA), (FRA), (NOR).

Ski Jumping

Mounted on heelless bindings on a pair of ten-foot boards, ski jumpers tuck down a steep, icy track, reaching up to 60 miles per hour before launching into flight (or not, for anyone who recalls the 鈥� 鈥渁gony of defeat鈥�). In air, athletes assume a V position before landing in a telemark technique to the cheers of judges and fans.

Competitions are structured in rounds, which generally include two jumps. A jumper鈥檚 score is determined by a mix of distance jumped, technique, and wind factor. Ski jumping is all about timing. Athletes are cued on when to tuck by their coaches, who are watching the wind. They have to time their explosive jump at just the right moment on the in-run to efficiently launch into the air, and then read their landing at exactly the right point to land as safely as possible. The entire jump takes about ten thrilling seconds.

Important Vocabulary

• K-point: The par of the hill, or how far an average athlete jumps. For example, a K120 hill has a K-point of 120 meters, which means the athletes should be able to jump that far.

• Jumping suit: The that athletes wear in-flight. Jumping suits must all be made of the same fabric, be formfitting to an exact measurement, and conform to four pages鈥� worth of standards so as not to give any athlete an aerodynamic advantage.

• In-run: That steep, icy track that jumpers speed down before flinging themselves forward into the air. The in-run is angled at roughly 38 degrees, which is how athletes can reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour before takeoff.

• 2014: The first year women were allowed to compete in this event in the Olympics.

Key Athletes: Sarah Hendrickson (USA), (USA) (NOR), (POL), (GER).

Nordic Combined

At some point in history, the Norwegians asked what were the two hardest sports in the world and decided to put them together. Nordic combined marries ski jumping (which favors light-bodied, explosive athletes) with skate skiing (which favors muscle-bodied endurance athletes) to create the most exhausting oxymoron on earth. Both the jumping and ski-racing portions of the competition are held on the same day, with athletes jumping in the morning, and then suiting (or, rather, spandexing) up to race in the afternoon. Scores from the morning jumps are worked into an algorithm that spits out a start list with determined time disadvantages. The winner of the jumping portion gets to start the ski race first, and then each other competitor starts behind him* after an allotted number of seconds based on the time algorithm. First person to the line wins.

*Note: It is always a 鈥渉im.鈥� Women鈥檚 Nordic combined has yet to be recognized at the World Cup level.

Important Vocabulary

See: cross-country skiing, ski jumping.

Key Athletes: (USA), (USA), (NOR), (GER).

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