Skier

“ When making the start preparatory for coasting downhill, the novice may, if the slope is moderately steep, face in the desired direction and assume the proper position by supporting himself with the stick. On most very steep slopes, where the best coasting is to be had, this is quite out of the question, and the skier must step around quickly by moving the lower ski first. ”

“ More and more of us are becoming skiers. The increase of ski trails and slopes on private and public lands is making skiing much more widely available, as is the advent of artificial snow surfaces in areas with mild winter weather. ”

“ The drop in the temperature was tremendous, but the skiers were jubilant. Next day the 'running' would be fast and perfect. Already the mass was settling, and the surface freezing into those moss-like, powdery crystals that make the ski run almost of their own accord with the faint 'sishing' as of a bird's wings through the air.
IV
That night there was excitement in the little hotel-world, first because there was a bal costumé, but chiefly because the new snow had come. ”

“ Now, when a ski-runner is seen upon a steep winding path, or ploughing his way up the sides of it, it often means that he has not reconnoitred the skiers’ route on his map. Those young men cut into a snow bulge, the snow ran out through the slit and overwhelmed one of them.
Those bulges are a most treacherous invention of the snow-fiend. They are best likened to an egg-shell full of sand, with some compressed air imprisoned between the shell and the sand. Break the crust, the air runs out with a puffing sound, and the snow, freed from pressure, begins to trickle through the hole, enlarging it. ”

“ The shoes should be nicely adjusted to fit snugly between the metal toe plates of the binding, and new holes should be punched in the straps wherever needed to adjust the harness snugly and comfortably to the feet. Many of the positions required in executing the various turns and swings may be practiced at home, that the novice may get some idea of the correct position of the feet and body assumed by expert skiers. For the initial practice outside, it is a good plan to select a frosty day when the snow is old and settled by the wind. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Those who do not cultivate it as a spectacular sport may welcome ski-ing as a means of locomotion, enabling them to go to places otherwise inaccessible, to pass swiftly and lightly over snow in which unskied bipeds would flounder up to the knees, if not over the head. What matters it to the humble novice that his course seem but shambling and shuffling to the winner of cups and breaker of records. What is that to him as he brushes over the sparkling slopes and threads the cloistral hills? ”

“ And the ski, stuck upright in deep snow (in shade, too, and after cleaning, lest you find ice upon the fastenings later) , form slender, graceful lines that cast long shadows on the dazzling white carpet. No blemish anywhere. The world lies spotless pure in all directions. And the descent is so inviting that at the slightest word the camp is struck and the brief preparations finished. It is here that the novice generally makes his big mistake. He thinks his toil is over. ”

“ They get up competitions; they go for whole days' expeditions into the country, and, on their "wooden shoon," enjoy themselves thoroughly in the winter months.
In a Winter Jaunt to Norway, I described a jump of eighty-eight feet made on these strange snow-shoes, and the ski themselves, as follows:—
It is perhaps a bold statement to call ski-racing one of the finest sports of the world, but to our mind it undoubtedly is, and one which requires wondrous pluck and skill, and for a man to jump eighty-eight feet from a height, with a pair of ski securely fixed on his feet, requires some courage! ”

“ It is no time just now to write of the exhilarating delights of skiing. The air is still too soft, the sun too warm, the trees too sweetly covered; but, on the other hand, it is the moment to burrow into cupboards and sheds and into the dry lofts above the stables where winter things are put away for safety: to hunt up one’s cumbersome ski-boots and see if they will stand “just one more season” ”

“ A ski-runner who, on deep snow, has to give up the use of his ski, is very much like a sailor upon a small craft in mid-ocean. Suppose the boat capsizes, the sailor may swim. But for how long? Similarly, a ski-runner bereft of his ski amid boundless, pathless snow-fields, may walk. But for how long? Snow is a good servant, but a bad master.
Most people who have not found it out for themselves do not know that snow gets deeper and deeper as you descend from the glaciers into the valleys. After we had reached the pass we would still have to climb by night down the Sanetsch gorge. ”

“ But perhaps the most serious objection of all is the nasty feeling of a skin-clad ski. There is a certain cleanness and crispness about the movement of the plain wood through the snow which one learns to love, and which one sorely misses. Besides which there is much art in getting up-hill to the best advantage on uncovered ski, and this keeps one’s mind busy, and greatly alleviates the labours of the climb; whereas with the skin any duffer can get along, and climbing becomes pure drudgery. ”

“ Of all spectacular feats compassable upon frozen snow surfaces, ski-jumping is, to the minds of most people, the most amazing, and compared with it all performances on ice-rinks and toboggan-runs seem to the spectator almost tame. ”

“ It may be well now to touch upon ski-ing proper, or the employment of ski for the purpose for which they were originally intended, viz., travelling over snow-clad land or ice. By means of these appliances people are enable to roam at will, enjoying the fresh, crispy air, the pretty landscape, and changing scenery, combined with the pleasant sensation of gliding, instead of tramping, over the surface of the country. The speed attained is certainly not very great, and is about the same in hilly as on level country, for in the former the time lost in ascending slopes is made up on the descent. ”

“ A ski-runner will in a few minutes descend, thrilled with the joy of a movement that really resembles flying, places which at the least take the pedestrian hours of plunging labour. He is indifferent as to the depths of snow, since he is only concerned with an inch or two of it, and rapturously descends{147} a thousand feet, while a walker is cursing at the first hundred of them. ”

“ Most people when they go to the Alps for their first winter visit wish to try all the different sports in order to see which they like best, and there seems to me to be no question but that the all-round sportsman gets the most out of his holiday.
There may be days when Ski-ing is not possible or when a few hours on the rink or toboggan run offer a relief to a stale Ski runner. It is usually only the really keen enthusiast of some years' standing who can spend the whole day waxing or oiling his Skis, or poring over a map planning future runs. ”

“ As I said in my Preface, the beginner will be wise who chooses a centre where the sports are highly organized, and where he will be certain to find coaching and arrangements made for tests and runs, as well as a railway or funicular to help with uphill work. Only in such a place can he learn enough Ski-ing in a short time to enable him to begin to enjoy touring before he returns home, panting to come out again and continue the experience. One joy of Ski-ing is that you usually begin again where you left off, and have not to relearn what you learnt the winter before. ”

“ If not so fortunate, he is somewhere in the middle of that sudden-spouting billow of snow that mars the smooth whiteness of the hill. But in any case, the beginner has seen a specimen of ordinary straight-running, the figure upright and inclined forward, the skis close together, with sinecure for the sticks. And if our beginner’s courage is high, he will instantly attempt, from the more gradual slope on which he stands, to do the same. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ My own view of Ski-ing turns is that they are a means to an end, and not an end in themselves, and that the Ski-runner, who is content to spend weeks on the Nursery slopes, perfecting one turn, has wasted almost weeks, when he might be enjoying what Skis enable one to reach among the mountains above. At the same time every beginner should be content to devote two or three of his first days to the Nursery slopes, learning the elements of good Ski-ing before dashing off on an excursion. As I know from painful experience, there is much to unlearn in what one has picked up by the light of Nature. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The standard still lies away up out of reach, as age undoubtedly tells against the Ski-runner, and the perfect Christiania in deep, soft snow round trees growing close together on a steep slope must be done in heaven rather than on earth by people who are nearer fifty than forty. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It’s one grand ride, whether you take it by sled or by skis ... only, of course, it’s lots more exciting on skis. We figured this year that we’d grade the bank, too, and use it for a jumping off place. Whether you know it or not, ski jumping is the real sport. You may land on your head or back or some other part of your anatomy but that’s half the sport! And here Mr. Turner is so stingy that he closes his estate to the whole neighborhood! ”

“ A further delightful pastime to be indulged in on skis is that known as ski-joring. For this it is necessary to secure the co-operation of a horse, and fit him with long reins or ropes, which you hold one in each hand, and stand behind the horse out of the way of his heels. He is lightly harnessed, and from his collar passes a long leather loop of rein, which passes round the ski-jorer’s body. You then encourage your horse to proceed, and if he is good enough to do so, he will naturally pull you along on your skis by this loop of rein from his collar. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sometimes, in the public parks, there are specially prepared ice-courses, which require great skill to ride on, or the consequences may be serious.
The most popular and a very useful form of sport [Pg 45] is skiing. The skis are two long pieces of thin wood, which are fastened to the boots. By means of these the peasant can travel very quickly from one farm to another, when there is sufficient depth of snow. As a sport it is most exhilarating, but it must be acquired when one is young. Hear those shouts from the woods! Some young men and women have come from the town. ”

“ Down a steep slope a pace of forty miles an hour can be reached by the expert ski-runner, and he can leap great heights and great distances with the aid of the momentum of that speed. But to become an expert ski-runner calls for some trouble and pain.
With ski the exploration of the Alps in all kinds of weather has become possible. A recent Journal de Genève gave the account of an extraordinary adventure of two Swiss ski-runners.172 On Easter Sunday, 1913, these two set out with a companion from Saas Fee for the Britannia Hut. ”