The Engineering Approach to Winter Sports presents the state-of-the-art research in the field
of winter sports in a harmonized and comprehensive way for a diverse audience of engineers
equipment and facilities designers and materials scientists. The book examines the physics and
chemistry of snow and ice with particular focus on the interaction (friction) between sports
equipment and snow ice how it is influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and
pressure as well as by contaminants and how it can be modified through the use of ski waxes or
the microtextures of blades or ski soles. The authors also cover in turn the different
disciplines in winter sports: skiing (both alpine and cross country) skating and jumping bob
sledding and skeleton hockey and curling with attention given to both equipment design and on
the simulation of gesture and track optimization.
