Cross-country skiing has been considered the toughest outdoor sport, but why is it so? ProXCskiing talked to three experts to understand what makes this sport so hard.

Cross-country skiing is not the most popular sport for the masses. Unless you are in a Scandinavian nation, the public sometimes perceives it as monotonous, and it may sometimes lack the intense emotions of, for instance, alpine skiing. However, everyone who tries it ends up believing that it is the most special of all sports – a mix of elegance and toughness, surrounded by beautiful landscapes and a climate that can be enjoyable or unforgiving.

Every athlete that steps into this world, especially in the long-distance world, instantly falls in love with the sport, feeling attracted by its challenges and toughness. Think about double-poling for 90 kilometers or even more in races like Vasaloppet or Årefjälsloppet. Or, even more challenging, doing more arduous climbs as you find at Birkebeinerrennet or Reistadløpet. With all the characteristics needed to face these events, could cross-country skiing be considered the most demanding sport on earth?

In 2016, the American outdoor website OutsideOnline tried to quantify the toughest sport on earth. To achieve that goal, the experts chose the five outdoor sports they considered the toughest: Rock Climbing, Ultrarunning, Downhill Mountain Biking, Open-Water Swimming, and Nordic Skiing. They all had in common that they are challenging to master, can sometimes be dangerous, and require a high level of skills and fitness. 

Then, the experts compared the average calories burned per hour, the average number of injuries per 1000 hours of activity, and fatality rates. Finally, they asked some athletes to consider why their vocation is so demanding.

The final verdict: Nordic Skiing is the toughest sport of all. While it might not be the most difficult sport to learn, it is unparalleled when it comes to fitness. Moving fast, going strong uphill, and constantly using full-body movements make it the most brutal sport. According to OutsideOnline, it requires “the endurance of ultrarunning, the sprint power of mountain biking, and the mental toughness of open-water swimming.

Why is cross-country skiing so tough?

ProXCskiing.com talked to the real experts – a Pro Team Director, a coach who helps skiers to become stronger, and a professional long-distance skier – to know what they think about their sport and to explain why it is so demanding.

“Cross-Country skiing is definitely the toughest sport,” starts saying Bruno Debertolis, Team Robinson Trentino’s Pro Team Director, who has also been an elite skier. According to Bruno, many factors are involved when training for these kinds of events. 

“To be able to perform at your best, you need hard training, the right materials, the course that better suits your athletic characteristics, the right snow conditions that suit your technique, and the skiing technique itself.”

Bruno believes that many other sports share some of these characteristics, but only cross-country skiing requires all of them. And these are just the external factors that a skier might face. Then, there are internal factors, such as an athlete’s physical and mental preparation. 

“You must be a kind of superman to win in this sport. You must be strong, explosive, and resistant. You must be all this while being agile and fast,” concludes Bruno.

Cross-Country skiing has, over the decades, proved to be one of the most physically demanding sports, and this can be confirmed by the number of Nordic skiers who have Vo2Max values amongst the highest ever recorded. The Norwegian skiers Bjørn Dæhlie and Espen Harald Bjerke have recorded 96 ml/kg/min on the men’s side, and the Norwegian Bente Skari has recorded 76.6 ml/kg/min. In contrast, Charlotte Kalla and Marit Bjørgen recorded 74 and 72, respectively. But despite these numbers not being slashed in the last years, the sport is becoming even tougher. 

Martin Sundqvist, the SkiGrip’s creator, a training device that enables athletes to train strength in a much-more ski-specific way, agrees with Bruno Debertolis about the toughness of the sport. 

“Cross-country skiing is the toughest sport,” says the Swedish coach when asked why it is so demanding, especially regarding the need to be strong. 

“It has always been a very tough sport. And yet, in the last decades, it has become even tougher! A new element has been added for those who aspire to win international races: strength.”

According to Martin Sundqvist, the importance of strength makes the sport more demanding, thus making cross-country skiers even more physically tough. Back in the day, the winners of the hillier races used kick-wax to go up those big climbs. But nowadays, it is common to watch the skier using the strength of their upper bodies during long climbs. Petter Eliassen smashed this barrier, being the first male skier to win Birkebeinerrennet just by using the double-poling technique in 2015. Astrid Øyre Slind did the same last season on the ladies’ side.

“Brutal and explosive upper-body strength that can break poles is now required for double-poling steep hills and, most importantly, for those super-fast finishes. Skiers used to be lean like marathon runners but are now more like decathletes or swimmers, with arms and backs that are massive. All this while still having the highest Vo2Max values. That is tough!” concludes Martin.

As cross-country skiing evolves and becomes more demanding, the characteristics of skiers also change. As Martin states, athletes are becoming stronger, especially in their upper bodies. And one of the best examples is Kasper Stadaas, who used to be a strong sprinter and is now one of the strongest long-distance skiers on the Ski Classics circuit. Kasper already has successes under his belt, where he had to use his endurance and strength to face the challenges.

“I think what makes skiing so tough is that it combines endurance with raw power and high intensity. In skiing, you feel the fatigue while you are at your max heart rate. Breathing, pushing, hurting makes skiing hard,” this is how Kasper starts describing the toughness of the sport.

Kasper believes that other sports are also challenging. Still, cross-country skiing involves many variables, such as the variable distances, the terrains, the climate, and the fact that you never know how the race will be from the start.

“Compared to rowing or similar full-body sports, a ski race can range from 25 minutes to 3 or more hours. And you never know if it’s going to be all out from the beginning or if it’s going to be a more controlled race before a fast and deciding finish. All this considered, you also have the element of weather. It can be freezing cold, snow, rain, or sunshine, and every condition requires different capabilities. So, to be able to be up there fighting for the win for a whole season, you need to be extremely versatile,” concludes Kasper. 

In sum, to be able to fight for the win during a whole season, you need to have a lot of athletic characteristics. But we could sum up all the ideas shared by our experts. In that case, you have to be tough to enjoy a sometimes painful and demanding physical activity and the challenges posed by external factors, such as a hard climate.