STORY OF SKI=ING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1939, Page 11

STORY OF SKI=ING

e - S MEANS OF PROGRESS OVER 3000 1 YEARS AGO. s e DEVELOPMENT AS SPORT. „ So many people take up ski-ing | these days that it is hard to believe e that it was not looked upon as a sport f until just over 50 years ago. The now e famous Norwegian Ski Association . was founded as a purely sporting as- .. sociation in 1883. i Ski-ing as a means of getting about . when the snow lay on the ground, is very ancient, however, a speed of i from 40 to 80 miles an hour having . been reached on long, wooden run- ! ners. We are told that a ski, which 1 was dug out of a bog in Norway re--5 cently, is well over 3000 years old. One t may safely surmise that ancient lj dwellers in northern countries had no p other means of getting swiftly from r place to place in winter time. 31 Ski-ing today has become a highly i developed art as well as a recreation. f and courses of instruction by experts - are now being given in London where . ’ snow is sprayed from machines on to > specially constructed courses, thus - giving the student an opportunity to t become thoroughly skilled before the j holiday among the mountains begins. Jumping on skis requires an amount *' of skill, a perfect balance, and a 1 steady head Although skiers attain - dizzy heights when jumping., a ski ?■ jump is not measured by heights but ;, by the length travelled from the a, edge of the take-off to the spot where the jumper lands on the snow-covered f slope of the hill. s The best ski jump on record was t; achieved by a man named Josef Bradl :. at Planica, in Yugoslavia. With arms i outspread, and skis beautifully placed, - he swooped upwards and then down- , wards for a distance of 399 feet. ■ A i Canadian skier named Bob Lymburne ? covered a total distance of 280 feet - at Rdvelstoke, in British Columbia, 1 only a short time ago. As for speed, J the highest yet reached was 82 miles i an hour on a prepared track and with » specially made skis. Incidentally, all ) the best skis are made of hickory, but i ash and birch are also used, the lat- ? ter being found in Norway and Swe- - den, countries which have produced - many champions. 1 Racing on skis is very popular in J Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, J Canada, and other places, and com--5 petitors in races of roughly three • miles usually average 40 miles an hour for the whole distance. This means that they are frequently travelling at a mile a minute during the race. Long distance races over courses of from 12 to 30 miles are normally covered from one to Jour hours. These courses consist of one-third uphill, one-third downhill, and the remaining third along level ground. Only experts can hope to win events of this ; nature, and even they often find the . going extremely tiring. ! Another type of race on skis is i known as a slalom race, one in which ; competitors have to follow a line i marked by pairs of flags between which they must pass. To miss out a I single pair of flags puts a competitor ; out of the race. As a rule the slalom • race begins at about 600 feet up, with I about 20 to 30 pairs of flags marking > the course. This event calls for great i skill in turning, and very few flags are knocked over or missed. L Watching a big jumping competi- , tion is a thrilling experience, as there 1 may be as many as 300 skiers taking I part. They leap at the rate of three , a minute; each has three jumps and, ' although there are often nearly a I thousand separate jumps, comparaf lively few competitors fall. - The whole art of skiing consists in - mastering the many kinds of turns; being able to make swift recoveries, • and to execute all movements at any 1 speed and on any type of snow, which, ’ of course, varies a great deal accord- - ing to the temperature, the type of t ground upon which it falls, and other s circumstances.