The world has turned its attention to Milan and Cortina in Italy for the quadrennial Winter Olympics. The greatest skiers, curlers, ice skaters, lugers, hockey players, and other athletes compete for glory and gold medals. Not being contested: these very real, very odd, and very obscure winter sports.
Yukigassen. First played in Japan, and now in Canada and Scandinavia, it’s snowball fighting with codified rules. Two teams of up to seven players get three minutes to hurl 90 snowballs at the other side. The goal is to knock out the entire opposition or run over and grab their flag.
Snow polo. Originating in Switzerland in 1985, it’s polo played on a snowy field. Powder flies everywhere while the horses, protected with specialized shoes, run all over the course with human athletes on their backs.
Skijoring. A very old sport in Norway, skijoring is also a noncompetitive hobby. Think of chariot racing or waterskiing, but the person is on cross-country skis and they’re dragged through the white powder by a pack of dogs or a horse.
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Bandy. Commonly played in Russia and Scandinavia, teams of 11 players carry what resemble hockey sticks to knock a hard ball around a frozen surface. They try to get the ball into the opposing team’s goal, like in hockey. A goalie protects the net with their hands and body, like in soccer.
Ice stock sport. A version of curling played in the Germanic region of Europe, ice stock sport (also known as Bavarian curling or eisstock) involves players holding firm to an ice stock, a round, heavy kettlebell-like implement. Then they swing it and let it fly, trying to be the closest to hit the target, a rubber circle called a daube.
Ice sailing. A distinctly Canadian pastime, this activity allows sailors to get back out onto the water even if it’s all been frozen. Contested on large lakes, ice sailing requires the addition of metal, skate blades to the bottom of small boats, which whip around the icy surface thanks to powerful winds.
Ski ballet. Figure skating is one of the most popular Olympic sports — but imagine if those athletic dancers had on skis instead of skates. That’s ski ballet, which made a couple of brief and unpopular appearances at the Winter Olympics in 1988 and 1992.
