Philatelic document - Winter sports - Season 1

Winter sports What a joy it is to glide across the snow, in the midst of nature, tracing your curves freely! Snow sports embody a taste for freedom and movement. Every winter, the snow-covered massifs offer a playground for thrill-seekers. Downhill skiing, snowboarding and mogul skiing offer three different ways to hurtle down the slopes. Alpine skiing, born in the late 19th century, developed with the first ski lifts and international competitions around 1930. In the 1960s, its meteoric expansion reshaped the mountains. Villages became ski resorts, able to accommodate the flood of skiers in search of the thrill of the slopes. Alpine skiing is not just about performance, it's also about elegance: carving your own path on slopes built for speed. At the crossroads of mountain and urban cultures, snowboarding emerged in the United States in the 1960s. It takes its inspiration from surfing and skateboarding, reproducing the position of both feet on a board. Initially regarded as marginal, snowboarding has made a name for itself thanks to its spirit of freedom, fluid aesthetics and creativity. Each turn seems to draw a signature on the snow, that of pure pleasure and a taste for the unique trace left in the powder. As for mogul skiing, it combines acrobatics, speed and fluidity on a track dotted with bumps. Forty seconds of effort, two acrobatic figures and a rhythmic, technical descent. Popularized in France by Edgar Grospiron, the first Olympic moguls champion in 1992, mogul skiing is a demanding and technical sport reserved for elite skiers. Three disciplines, three styles, but the same desire: to glide and play with the slope.

Bloc et Timbre-poste (Héliogravure) : conception Michel Canetti. Document philatélique : Conception Michel Canetti, mise en page : Bruno Ghiringhelli. Cachet d’oblitération : Conception Michel Canetti, mise en page Bruno Ghiringhelli. Texte : Myriam Alizon.