As the skiers travel down the slope a portion of their total energy is lost. This means that when they perform their tricks, they will never go as high as they were when they first pushed off from the gate. Describe how this energy is lost.

In skying down a hill, usually the skiers start at an elevated position and this means that they possess a large quantity of potential energy since they are in vertical position.

Now, as the skiers start to descend down the hill, they will lose potential energy while they gain kinetic energy since they are in motion. This is because there is reduction in height which results in a loss of potential energy and there is an increase in their speed which results in an increase in kinetic energy.

Now, immediately the skiers reaches the bottom of the hill, it means they are now at zero level height which means potential energy is now zero and it implies they have completely depleted the potential they had at the beginning at the top of the hill.

In contrast, at this zero level height, their speed and kinetic energy would have reached a maximum and this kinetic energy state will be maintained until they encounter a section of unpacked snow where they have to skid to a stop under force of friction. This friction force will carry out work on the skiers which will make their total mechanical energy to decrease. This means that as the force of friction keeps acting over an increasing distance, the quantity of work will therefore increase while the mechanical energy of the skiers will gradually be dissipated.

Eventually, the skiers will run out of energy and comes to a rest position and therefore they wouldn't be able to go as high as they first were before pushing off from the gate.