Ski pole

“ Then a cleat was nailed onto the ski to fit against the heel of the shoe. In use we found it best to cut a groove 43 in the bottom of the ski, so as to give us a better grip on the snow in climbing up hills. With the skis we had to use short poles or “ski sticks” to assist in starting, stopping and steering when coasting. The ski stick was a bean pole provided with a wooden block near the lower end, to prevent it from being forced too far through the snow. ”

“ Set your Skis at right angles to, or across, the fall of the slope before putting them on, because Skis are quite apt to go off alone if pointing down, hill. It is as well to realize this from the first and to adopt the habit of preventing it in the way I suggest, because many a run has been ruined by a Ski descending alone to the valley below, leaving its owner to get home as best he can on one leg. ”

“ If the slope is very steep and hard, you should stick the other Ski upright in the snow above you, in order that it may remain well in hand while you put on the first. You will probably find it impossible to put on your Skis with gloves on. If you lay these on the snow, they will undoubtedly get snow inside them. ”

“ The ski distributes the weight of the climber over a long, even surface; and in the softest snow he will not sink in more than a few inches. Better still, they revolutionise the descent, converting a weary plug through snow-drifts into a succession of swift and glorious runs. The ski-runner takes his ski to the foot of the last rock ridges, and then proceeds on foot, rejoining his ski, and covering on the descent five thousand feet in far less time than the foot-climber would take over five hundred. ”

“ What would be the use of a sport practised simply as an opportunity for being scatter-brained with impunity, so long as luck lasts?
On the hill-side, slopes—concave, convex, and straight—are joined to one another by linking [277] surfaces varying in shape and inclination, but of too limited a development and too irregular a build to offer to avalanches any opportunity of spreading over them; or else slopes are separated from one another by breaks in the ski-ing surface, such as ravines. In these, masses of snow gather most conveniently. ”

“ Lay it horizontally on the snow, and it will then give you enough purchase to push up from.
On level ground it is harder to get up again than on a hill side, owing to the difficulty of getting the skis underneath one in order to get to one’s feet. After freeing them and placing them parallel, lie on your side, draw your knees as close to your chest, and your feet as close to your thighs as you can, lay your stick flat under your side, and, with a vigorous push on it, you ought to be able to get your weight over the skis and stand up. ”

“ First learn to move about on the flat, without any support of any kind. If you have followed our advice as to oiling and waxing ski, the under surface of yours will be perfectly smooth and very slippery. So, next, choose the most gentle slope you can find to glide upon. Let it be an easy slant leading on to a flat piece of snow.
Practise going down steadily and slowly, holding in each hand, if you like, a light bamboo or hazel-wood stick. These are to be used only to pick yourself up. Never practise with a single stick, or a stout, heavy stick, or a long stick. ”

“ As you feel the ground, but not before, drop smartly into Telemark position, with the weight well forward. This helps to diminish the shock, and also, of course, the chance of a fall backwards or forwards. It is such a help to the balance that when you have got into the habit of it, you will be inclined to begin the forward stride in the air. Be careful to avoid doing so, for, if you do, you may strike the snow with one ski sooner than with the other, which will very likely upset you. There is the same danger if you land with your skis apart instead of close together. ”

“ For although on steep slopes a Telemark or Christiania swing is the best way of making an uphill turn, there is no means so reliable as the stemming turn for turning downhill, no matter how steep the slope, provided the snow is hard, or that, if soft, it is shallow. It is almost useless, though, to attempt it in deep soft snow. At the best you will probably only get half-way round with an uncomfortable effort, and then the inner ski will be forced back, and come round after the other in Telemark position, in which, as you will find later, it might just as well have started. ”

“ Standing upright the inner edge of your Skis will bite into the snow. Try leaning inwards, as you will do by instinct, and you will find your feet slipping away down the slope and you will gracefully recline full length against it. It is exactly the same when walking across a steep grass slope in Summer. Most of the slips are due to leaning towards instead of away from the slopes.
As you get more confidence in your running, try lifting one Ski off the ground as you slide along. Or even take off one Ski and try running on the other; lifting a Ski will often save a fall. ”

“ If you fall head downwards down a slope, you still have to get your Skis parallel across the slope below you before you can stand up, and the only thing to be done is to turn a somersault uncrossing your Skis in the air if they are crossed and getting them below you and then standing up. All of which is extremely easy, but it is very necessary to ensure that clothes are so made that the powder snow cannot slip into crevices while you are gambolling in this fashion. The first thing I do before getting up from a fall is to put up my hands and let the snow shake out of my glove gauntlets. ”

“ Their cause has to be sought in the weather, that is in the rise [20] and fall of the temperature, and in the wind. There is quite a number of slopes at varying angles, where it is impossible that the snow surface should be well balanced under all weather conditions, and these are the slopes where mishaps do occur. The easiest method to avoid accidents is to keep on obviously safe ground, and it is also on such ground that the best and most steady running can be got.
The glaciers of Switzerland are a magnificent and absolutely unrivalled ski-ing ground. ”

“ On hard snow, it is possible to go down broadside on by merely standing on one's Skis and turning one's outer or lower ankle outwards and one's inner or upper ankle towards the other, so that the Skis are lying flat on the snow, instead of the edges biting into it. Push off with your stick from the slope above you and weight your heels or your toes according to whether the Skis are sinking in front or behind. ”

“ The ascent of hills on ski involves new problems. If the snow be soft enough for the ski to sink into it about half-an-inch, and if the slope be gentle, there is no difficulty in walking straight up. If the slope gradually and steadily steepens, [203] there will come a point at which the ski no longer hold, but slide backward when the weight of the body is thrown upon them. The beginner must then zigzag, pressing the edge of the ski into the slope but, otherwise advancing as on the flat. ”

“ The word snowcraft acquires a new meaning. The runner eyes the country in its broad, general aspect, determines, map in hand, the bee-line leading to his destination, fixes upon the stretches of unbroken snow that will bring him round any unskiable places, and in the end gets home more after the style of birds borne through the air than after the fashion of the clod-hopping kind. Here is, to wind up with, a note of the total vertical displacement which we have shown may be attained, with ski, in the course of eight days. From Orsières to Cabane d’Orny, 1,802 metres ”

“ Stand with skis together pointing as much uphill as they can without slipping. Lift the upper ski, and, keeping the feet close together, turn it until it points across the hill in the opposite direction, but at the same angle as before, with its heel across that of the other. Then slide it forwards until it just clears the lower one; stand up on it and draw up the lower foot so that the skis are again crossed at the back at the same angle as before, but with the hitherto lower ski uppermost. ”

“ In making this stamping movement, take care, as you bring the foot to the ground, to stamp it in a direction exactly at right angles to the surface of the slope. The least suspicion of pawing backwards, or lunging forwards, as the ski touches the snow is sure to make it slip.
By moving steadily and carefully in this way it is possible to walk up an appreciably steeper gradient than the one at which the skis first [55] show a tendency to slip back. But it is no use attempting to struggle or hurry; no amount of effort will help you, and if you cannot do it easily you cannot do it at all. ”

“ The beginner who raises his ski off the snow surface falls into a serious mistake. He should glide his ski along the surface of the snow when moving uphill as well as on the flat. Ski were not made to be lifted, like feet, but to be pushed along, like a drawn-out wheel. A sensible learner never forces his way up a slope, but, as soon as he feels himself sliding back, he eases off to the right or left. He should always keep his ski close to each other, whether his course be upwards or downwards. ”

“ Either by stepping round, or by any sort of stemming, you can of course make a change of direction when traversing if the gradient of the slope varies; as you pass on to steeper ground, for instance, you can weight the heel of the stemming ski for a moment until it is again horizontal, at the same time flattening the running ski a little and letting it slip down to the angle at which it was pointing before. ”

“ This sport has recently received wide popularity in sections of the country where the winters make it possible. Skis—or, as they are sometimes spelled, skee,—are a pair of flat runners from five to ten feet long which are attached to the feet in such a way as to be easily cast off in case of accident. By means of skis a ski-runner may either make rapid progress over level snow or may coast down sharp declivities and make jumps of great extent. ”

“ To earn it, select a steep hillside, coast down at an angle, with the feet a trifle part, and endeavor to retard the speed with the stick and turn the heel of the lower ski outward. This makes the turn and the skier faces uphill and comes to a stop. By turning the heel of the lower ski outward and the heel of the upper ski inward, the skis will travel downhill with a sort of snowplow movement. When practicing these movements, the beginner should endeavor to use the stick as little as possible and learn to depend upon the skis for controlling the speed. ”

“ When you have your Skis and gloves on and everything else is hermetically sealed, you are ready to start sliding or traversing slowly across the slope, before going straight down it. This will give you time to get the feeling of Skis, which are clumsy at first. Slide one foot forward, then the other, but do not lift them. Now try a kick turn and come back across the slopes to the top and face straight downhill. Keep your Skis closely side by side, one foot leading by about twelve inches and push yourself off with your sticks. ”

“ You will then not go fast, but will keep your weight over your skis and be able by edging them again to check your pace or stop when you want to. If you want to stop suddenly, give a little jump and stamp the ski edges hard into the snow. Do not be too anxious to go slowly, or in the effort to edge the skis extra hard you will probably lean towards the slope, push them from under you, and fall down. The skis must remain horizontal as they slip; if they begin to turn upwards or downwards, put weight on the toes or heels respectively. ”

“ The snow-fields and icefalls are magnificent, while the altitude of this group (Grand Combin 4,317 metres, or 14,164 feet) enables it to rank beside Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, and the Mischabel range, eclipsing the Finsteraarhorn and Piz Bernina.
If the Englishman is not so often seen in summer in that region as he might be, I am sure that in winter none have yet visited on ski the valleys of Bagnes, Entremont and Ferret, with the exception of a party about which I may have something to say in another chapter. ”

“ Across country a man on foot will take about an hour—on flat ground—to cover a distance which an average runner on 2 feet of snow will overtake in one-quarter of the time. Uphill, the advantage of the ski-man is still more marked, and he may continue much longer. Moreover, he disposes of the whole hill-side, and may take cover exactly as he pleases, by crossing snows over which the pedestrian can make no progress at all, and becomes a most convenient mark. The ski-runner may force his pursuer into any ground he chooses. ”

“ The reason is not quite obvious, for at first glance it would appear that the ski would meet more resistance from the snow in the edged position than in the flat, but this is not the case, for, when the ski is edged, most of the resistance is exerted obliquely against its sole, and so tends to make the ski rise to the surface of the snow and relieves the pressure. ”

“ Racing skisters use two sticks, one in each hand, but for glissading the two have to be held together like a single staff. To facilitate this, there are specially constructed staves made to fit together. The ordinary ski-staff is provided with a kind of plate near the spike, to prevent the point penetrating too far into soft snow, and to give resistance for a push off. Travellers using ski in mountain regions will probably find it best to carry an ordinary ice-axe and make shift with it. ”