A History of Skiing - A Concise Essay on this Popular Winter Sport Including its History, Equipment, Different Styles and Techniques. E. Wroughton

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СКАЧАТЬ and highly useful arm of their service. When through the rupture of diplomatic negotiations in 1905, war between Norway and Sweden seemed certain, not only were the regular ski corps ready to take the field, but the infantry of the line were trained to the use of the ski, and had hostilities actually resulted there can be no doubt that much valuable information as to the usefulness of the ski corps on active service would have been gained from the observations made on the spot.

      Most European countries now include ski troops in their military establishments: France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, and even observant Japan possess regular organisations of ski soldiers, or have set on foot inquiries into the value and utility of ski. With the knowledge of what is being achieved by other nations before us, the question naturally arises, Of what importance is ski-running to the British Army? Our Empire, including as it does, all varieties of climate, is by no means deficient in country where ski would be of real service to our troops. The difficulties encountered by our men in the Tibet Expedition are almost too well known to be referred to, and on their return to India it was nothing uncommon for the men to march knee-deep in snow. One account states that “the unfortunate men in that expedition were often up to their waists in snow.” If ski had been available the evil results attending such hardships might have been obviated, and in all probability the true value of these easily-carried implements will in due time be recognised by the military authorities.

      The modern history of the sport of ski-running may be said to date from the year 1879, with the ski meeting held on the slopes of the hill at Huseby, near Christiania, under the auspices of the Christiania Ski Club. A number of peasants from the Telemarken district were induced to attend the meeting, and the exhibition so stimulated local interest in the sport, notwithstanding the somewhat ludicrous attempts of the urban sportsmen, that a real impetus was undoubtedly given to what has since become the national pastime. In subsequent years this annual fixture, as it had become, attracted thousands of people to Christiania, and the jumping of the Telemarkings was regarded in the light of a prodigious feat. The jeunesse dorée of the capital longed to imitate, if they could not hope to surpass, the marvellous feats of the provincials, and ski-running and jumping became universal. For some years the peasants easily outdistanced and outleapt their city opponents. They possessed all the advantages of a knowledge of the sport from infancy. But the townsmen, quick to recognise the benefits arising from a judicious course of training, at length succeeded in defeating their rivals both in leaping and long-distance racing.

      In many cases, notably at Glarus in Switzerland in 1903, the introduction of ski-running into European countries has been due to Norwegians, who very naturally were its best possible pioneers. The sport spread, if not rapidly, at least surely, upon the Continent, and may be said to have found its first centre, outside of Norway, in the Black Forest. The Feldberg proved an ideal centre from which to disseminate a knowledge of ski-running; the proximity of the University town of Freiburg ensured the speedy enrolment of a large number of devotees, and such an impulse was thus given to the movement that the district has ever since remained a most popular one with sportsmen.

      In Austria the untiring efforts of Herr Zdarsky aroused interest in ski-running among his countrymen so quickly that now the sport may almost be said to have become completely nationalised. This gentleman taught himself the art, and by dint of observation and enthusiasm succeeded in elaborating a system of teaching the various evolutions necessary to its mastery. Not content with this, he also extended his theory to ski-running upon steep and difficult Alpine ground. He further invented a special ski which he named “Lillienfeld,” which differs in binding from the Norwegian variety. From this indefatigable apostle of the art hundreds of ski-runners annually receive their first instruction; and special trains from Vienna filled with his ardent disciples, amply testify to the popularity he has obtained for ski-running in Austria.

      Much controversy was occasioned betwixt the rival schools of the Black Forest and Lillienfeld, and the difference of opinion regarding technicalities of binding and theories of running threatened to become as acute as that between the Blue and the Green chariot-racers which figures so largely in Byzantine history, making us wonder if we moderns are really such sportsmen after all. These bloodless battles were occasioned principally by the leaning of the Black Forest sportsmen to the Norwegian point of view, while the desire of the Austrian school, led by Herr Zdarsky, was to initiate the beginner into the mysteries of running on mountainous ground as speedily as possible. The dispute has, however, become now merely historical, and may be classed with those differences of opinion which occur in the growth towards maturity of all movements that are worthy of controversy.

      Switzerland quickly presented itself to the ski-runner as a country peculiarly suited to his favourite sport, and some Norwegians grudgingly admit that in the not far distant future it may possibly take rank as the ski-running country par excellence.

      Little was known in Switzerland of the sport to within six years ago; before that time there were a few English visitors and natives who had heard of it, probably through reading Nansen’s “First Crossing of Greenland,” and fewer still who tried the sport. Their progress, both in skill and propaganda, was slow for some years, when suddenly, in the winter of 1902–3, two clubs were formed, the Glarus Ski Club and the Davos English Ski Club, the latter, to the credit of Englishmen be it said, being the second oldest ski club on the Continent outside Scandinavia. After this the formation of native ski clubs in the cantons became so rapid as to cause an inconvenient multiplicity of meetings and championships and a consequent overlapping. In 1904, therefore, it was deemed expedient to form a large central association for the entire country, and the initial meeting of this organisation was held at Glarus on January 21, 1905. At the central meetings the skill shown is of a very high order, although nothing really approaching the Norwegian standard has been reached. Nevertheless there are many Swiss who can jump eighty feet in very good style, and although the long-distance runners are not as rapid as the Trysil men they show considerable endurance, and would undoubtedly do better if those who choose the courses for the long races had more practical experience in running against time, and selected sites where skilful running would have an advantage over mere physical strength.

      At these meetings there are usually a few Norwegians who do not compete, but help to advance the knowledge of the realities of the sport by giving exhibition jumps and swings. Among the most prominent of these Norwegian exponents one must mention in particular Messrs. Heyderdahl, Harald Smith, Trygve Smith and Leif Berg as being perhaps the most famous.

      From Switzerland to the Italian Alps is not a long way, and a knowledge of the sport was soon carried through into Italy, with the ultimate result that clubs were formed at Genoa, Milan, and Turin, the latter, the most active of the three, being ardently supported by the members of the local branch of the Alpine Club.

      Ski-ing is by no means confined to Europe. It is practised with zest under the Southern Cross, and at Kiandra, in the mountains of New South Wales a club exists whose doings are not unheard of even in Christiania, the very Mecca and metropolis of the sport. Not that our Antipodean brethren have designs upon the laurels of those who are feet to feet, or rather ski to ski, with them, like Gibbon’s Emperor of China, who, having heard of Rome, set out next morning to batter at her gates with a lofty indifference to geographical limits. But in the midsummer sport at Kiandra we may see a remarkable proof of the coming ubiquity and significance of ski-ing as a world-game. “Where three or more Englishmen are gathered together,” says Max O’Rell, “one is certain to find a cricket club,” and, given the necessary hyperborean conditions, the future may find this true also of ski-running. The Sydney enthusiast can reach Cooma, the key of the New South Wales country, in thirteen hours by rail. This is comparatively near when colonial distances are taken into account, and such proximity suggests the possibility of a conquering raid by Antipodean ski-runners upon the mother country as a sequel to the exploits of the “All Blacks.”

      Although but little known as a sport in the United States and Canada, ski-running is not without its supporters in those countries, and several of the longest jumps have been made by a Norwegian at Redwing in Wisconsin. At Schenectady, near Albany, in the State of New СКАЧАТЬ