FOR 5000 YEARS SKI-ING-ONLY THE LAST 70 CAN SHOW MUCH PROGRESS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31098, 29 June 1966, Page 13

FOR 5000 YEARS SKI-ING-ONLY THE LAST 70 CAN SHOW MUCH PROGRESS

Ski-ing has not always been a sport of speed and finesse, where vast numbers have carved up the slopes to their own satisfaction. Boots, bindings, poles and skis have not always been the efficient instruments of perfection they have become today.

Findings in ice-age peat bogs reveal that skis have been used by the peoples of northern Europe and Asia for at least 5000 years; yet ski-ing as it is now known is barely 70 years old.

The growth of the sport was obviously painfully slow.

Techniques and equipment do have a history and, viewing their history collectively, a generalisation becomes apparant. Equipment has

always had a direct bearing on techniques and techniques have always dictated the needs of equipment

The two have gained momentum together, which explains why the initial growth of both was so slow and, now that they are moving, why their growth is so rapid.

It was an Austrian, an eccentric genius named Matthais Zdarsky, who began today’s mania for speed downhill when in 1896 he published the first manual on how to turn on skis. He also designed the first skis and bindings to be used specifically for turning. For almost 5000 years previous to Zdarsky the use of skis had been dictated by considerations of utility. Skis served as a mode of movement from place to place in the winter, to stalk wild game or herd reindeer, and skis were used to walk over the gentle rolling country which characterises much of Scandinavia.

Techniques consisted of cross-country running, schussing, and an elementary ability to turn while stopped or moving only Slowly. Equipment was also elementary, consisting of soft leather boots lashed to the ski while ordinary winter garb was worn. A long pole with a disc on the end was used instead of two poles. Three types of primitive skis were used:—

Nordic.—This was just shorter than its user and was about six inches wide. They were covered with animal hide to facilitate walking uphill, and had strips of bark fastened through vertical holes to harness the foot to each ski. Southern.—These skis often had raised pieces of wood along the edges where the foot was placed to permit toe-straps. They were hollowed out like canoes with a raised central platform for the foot and must have been used in wet snow conditions. Andor.—One pair of central Nordic skis have been found and are of unequal length—an Bft left ski and a sft right ski. The long ski was grooved like a modern ski to help maintain direction. In 1778 a Danish professor wrote a book on Lapp ski customs which were essentially the same found in archaeological diggings of skiers several thousand years earlier. In 1840, a Norwegian, Sondre Nordheim, discovered the art of safe ski jumping. In 1843 a Lapp runner achieved an average speed of seven miles an hour by the simple measure of giving up his long poles and using two short ones. So ski-ing left its

purely utilitarian cradle and became a sport, of which Norway was the headquarters for the next 50 years. Turning developed from the Norwegian jumpers who wished to finish their runs after landing on steep Slopes. The fierce competition between the competitors from Telemark and Christiana resulted in the development of two types of tum. The Telemark was nearly always done to the right and involved placing the left ski forward while the right knee was bent to almost touch its ski. This must also have been possible for those using the Andor skis. The Christiana came second and bears little resemblance to the modem Christie which was invented by Hannes Schneider 30 years later. It was a turn to the left and was really a Telemark with the leading leg brought round in a scything motion. With the invention of two turns it was time for equipment to catch up again. The Norwegians steam-bent cane skis which prevented lateral movement by the foot. By 1890 skis had assumed the shape they were to have for the next 40 years. This “Telemark ski” was flat-topped, wide at the shovel, narrow at the waist, and wider again at the heel.

A German translation of a book by the Norwegian explorer, Fritjof Nansen, began Alpine ski-ing and started off Zdarsky. He linked the turns by snow-ploughing and stemming, but these were not major developments on what the Norwegians had already done.

Where Zdarsky made his mark was in his development of new equipment He built skis only four feet long and four inches wide, without any central groove, which were dangerous at anything, like 10 miles an hour but which did facilitate turning.! He made a metal binding,! the first, which could be ad-, justed to different sized boots and permitted no lateral movement whatsoever. This gave the skier far more control but, of course, ski boots were not as rigid as their; modem counterparts. A i spring arrangement provided tension so the heel could be lifted, as was essential as ski-ing was still mainly a walking sport This postponed the development of the forward lean as it replaced the toe with a pivot But in spite of Zdarsky, the telemark tum retained its popularity until 1930 as It

was a more satisfactory ! method of ski-ing in soft snow. The Huitfieid binding [of 1905 stabilised the heel 'and made for graceful and [easy ski-ing on the floppy [telemark ski. | It was another Austrian, i Schneider, who set ski-ing up I in its present form by inventing the stem Christie. He ■ discarded Zdarsky's overI cautious one-pole system for two poles and for the first time ski-ing became a speed [sport rather than an adjunct of mountaineering. The less flexible boots which appeared on the market in 1920 and this, allied with Schneider’s discovery of the deep crouch, brought speed. By lowering his centre of gravity, he could go fast in spite of the soggy equipment of the time. The stem Christie involved a backward lean at the same time weight was transferred to the inside heel of the inside ski. Naturally, it went the same way as the Telemark turn which also involved leaning backwards. Neither was suitable for speed ski-ing. Even by 1928, advanced skiers were beginning to realise the need to lean forward. In that year Thorleif Haug developed hooks on the side of the ski so that the fulcrum for diagonal tension could be moved forward from

the ball of the foot to about the first joint of the big toe. Other devices invented during the 30s helped keep the ski in closer contact with the heel

of the foot even when the skier was leaning forward. In 1933, Ruege and Attenhofer developed the first allmetal binding cable which provided not only good lateral tension for the foot but good vertical tension as well. Now skiers did not need to stoop so much and could bring their feet closer together. Just as turning had received this benefit—the steel edge made its first appearance too.

In the early 1930 s Toni See* los won every race in sight because he stayed upright and kept his skis parallel. Lateral ankle support was still a problem but a Frenchman, Emille Allais, introduced longthong bindings. Boots were the next item to receive attention and again it was Allais who made the break-through. Realising sideslipping and lateral balance were important in racing, be invented boots with heel counters of brass to give the skier greater edge control. He discarded the stiff make of ski for a softer model with builtin torsional rigidity. Modern ski-ing had now arrived and the only major development of technique has been the Austrian Wedeln, a natural progression from the logic of parallel turns. Now all those who ski think it is a modem marvel. Marvel it is but the racers of today and their equipment owe much to the models of the stone age skiers whose techniques have provided the basis for the modem sport.