Skins win

They may be skinny, but they’re strong. In October, Outside magazine online set out to decide, once and for all, what was the toughest outdoor sport. In declaring the kings and queens of the proverbial hill, Outside looked at ultrarunning, downhill mountain biking, open-water swimming, rock climbing and Nordic skiing.

Criteria included caloric requirements per hour of participation, skills required and danger level. If you think downhill mountain biking ranks as toughest, you’d be wrong, at least in the way Outside evaluated it. It only came in fourth on the list of five. “True, it requires a serious degree of technical competence, daring and fitness,” the magazine’s Dan Roe wrote. “And the consequences should one wipe out are massive.” But alas, it’s all downhill.
Rock climbing is more dangerous yet and requires “a nearly incomparable level of mental discipline and self-reliance.”

But the toughest? Nordic skiing, says Roe. “It requires the endurance of ultrarunning, the sprint speed of mountain biking, the mental toughness of open-water swimming and, at times, can put skiers in situations of real expo- sure. And, at 952 calories per hour, competitive Nordic skiers burnt the equivalent of a Chipotle burrito every hour.”

So wax up those skinny skies and hit the track – and we’re pretty sure a Zia or Nini’s burrito will work just fine for caloric compensation. And with less intestinal distress.