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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up going to ski school and was a pretty good skier and could get up to Black Diamond. HOWEVER, I have since torn an ACL and now I am terrified to get back on skis, even though I love it. I am wondering if I can try cross country skiing as that seems less hard on the knees. Does anyone know?[/quote]

I’m a lifelong downhill skier and took up nordic skiing 4 years ago at age 40 because long story but we moved next door to a nordic ski center. Unless you are going very slowly on absolutely flat, groomed trails, I think nordic is much scarier as an adult. The skis are narrow and don’t have edges and the boots are much less stable than alpine boots. Although it is gentler on your knees if you are good at it, I’ve found the falls to be much, much worse because your bindings don’t pop off and the boots are soft enough that your legs and skis can go any and all directions. All of my nasty falls in the last 3 years have been nordic related and on stupidly mild slopes and even standing still.

The motion of classic nordic skiing can also be very hard on your achilles and calf muscles for a new skier, and if you’re not careful you might flare old knee injuries when your body tries to compensate.

My neighbor is a downhill and Nordic skier with lots of ACL drama. After surgery last year, he dropped nordic and is happily downhill-only in a brace. [/quote]
Fascinating! I had planned to switch to Nordic at some point (I'm in my late 40s now).maybe instead I'll switch to snowshoeing?[/quote]

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