How many calories can you burn skiing
The number of calories you can potentially burn skiing, depends on the intensity you train, your body weight, your type, and even the terrain.
Depending on these factors, you can burn between 500 to 850 calories an hour.
Use this simple calculator to get an estimate of your calories burned skiing for downhill or cross country.
Downhill skiing or Alpine skiing means just that — skiing or sliding down a hill covered in snow on skis that have fixed-heel bindings. It’s the type of skiing that’s usually offered at ski resorts and holiday destinations. Most times, skiers will catch a ski lift to the top of the slope and ski down.
Downhill skiing and snowboarding burn 300 to 600 calories per hour on average — these estimates don’t consider the amount of time spent riding up on the chairlift or waiting in lift lines.
On average, an adult weighs 150 pounds, and they can potentially burn the following calories while skiing:
- Light intensity: 250 – 300 calories per hour
- Moderate intensity: 340 – 400 calories per hour
- Intense effort or racing: 475 – 600 calories per hour
The lighter you are, the fewer calories you’ll burn, and vice versa.
How many calories does cross-country skiing burn?
Cross-country skiing is when skiers use their own power to ski across various terrains instead of relying on transport.
Typically, cross-country skiing burns more calories than downhill skiing. This has to do with the fact that cross-country relies entirely on self-propulsion, unlike downhill skiing, where chair lifts help you scale mountains against the force of gravity.
Here are the variables which impact how many calories you burn while cross-country skiing:
- Skiing speed and terrain
- Your body weight
- Type of skiing
Cross-country burns between 400 and 875 per hour without chair rides or lift lines to provide breaks.
With a weight of 150 pounds, you can burn:
- About 400 to 500 calories an hour if you ski at 2 ½ mph.
- Between 550 to 600 calories an hour if you ski at 4 – 5 mph.
- From 600 to 650 calories an hour if you ski at 5 – 8 mph.
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