Skiing Gear, Industry Sector RECREATION

SKIING GEAR

HISTORY OF SKIING

The first evidence of skiing comes from Scandinavia, where it was used as a method of transport during the long, snowbound months of winter over 4000 years ago. Its spread was primarily due to its military value until the last two centuries, when it has blossomed into a popular sport and a multi-billion pound industry.

Skis were first used in prehistoric times to enable man to continue his hunter-gatherer existence throughout winter.

c.2500BC Oldest known ski lost in a Scandinavian peat-bog. The Hoting ski resurfaced millennia later.

c.2000BC Earliest known picture of skiers. A cave wall in Tjoetta, Norway, provided the backdrop for an artist's drawing of colleagues using skis to hunt elk.

c.1222 First marriage break-up caused by skiing described by Icelandic bard Snorre Sturlason. The goddess Skadi abandoned her husband, the god Njord, to go skiing. During this period, legends grew up around those who were skilled on skis.

c.1200 Saga of Kalevala: the hero of this Finnish epic skied so fast that his ski pole apparently smoked in the snow.

c.880 King Harald Harfagr praises Vighard for the first recorded schuss.

AD550 'Gliding Finns' won fame after using unorthodox methods of transport in battle. Described by Procopius in De Bello Gothico.

1520 First ski marathon. The Swedes refused to follow Gustav Vasa and rebel against the ruling Danes. When he abandoned them in disgust, they sent their best skiers after him to beg him to return. Their effort is commemorated each year in the 85km (53mile) Vasaloppet race.

1549 The existence of skiing outside Scandinavia was acknowledged by Sigmund Freiherr von Herberstein in Rerum Moscoviticarum commentarii.

1602 Norwegian ski troops used in fighting against the Russians.

1840s-50s Skiing introduced into Australia and the United States by Norwegian and Swedish gold miners.

1860 Invention of the tuck position in La Porte, United States. Tommy Todd set the first speed skiing record of 130kph (80 mph) on 4m skis.

Early 1860's Founding of the Alturas Snow Shoe Club. Whether or not it qualifies as the first ski club (skis were occasionally referred to as Snow Shoes at the time), the Alturas Snow Shoe Club was to play a pioneering role in the development of skiing and ski racing.

1866 Christiania turn and parallel stop perfected by Sondre Norheim, from Telemark in Norway. He improved his skis' manoeuvrability by cutting them down to 2m40 and carving a waist into them. He invented the first stiff Bindings. He made them by tying pieces of twisted wet birch roots on his boots. These roots dried up and turned stiff. These Bindings provided more control than leather straps. With these improved Bindings, Sondre Norheim had come up with new turning motions such as the Telemark turn.

Skis made by Sondre in 1870	Close-up of Sodre's ski bindings

1867 First downhill race with prize money. In 1867 the Alturas Snowshoe Club held the first of what were to become annual downhill races. By 1869 the races had a total of $600 in purses (a lot of money then), and the races continued until 1911.

1880's First use of mechanical power in uphill ski transport. American Gold Rush miners used steam-powered ore buckets as ski lifts on Sundays. The first powered resort is still in operation in Johnsville, CA (Plumas-Eureka Ski Bowl).

1883 Skis used by monks at the St Bernard pass. Their most famous dog, Barry, later gave his name to the Barryvox, a make of avalanche safety transceiver.

1888 Greenland traversed on skis by Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen. His account fired the imagination of skiers across Europe.

1896 Snowplough turn invented by Austrian Matthias Zdarsky, who has been called 'the father of alpine skiing'. He shortened his 3m Norwegian skis to 1m80, got rid of the groove and the nipples at the tips, and fixed his heel to the ski. As a result he could negotiate the steep terrain of the Alps, and his Lilienfelder Schilauf-Technik formed the basis of Austrian theory for many years.

Start in a gliding snowplough across the slope.	Steer your skis towards the fall line with your feet.	Sink slightly and allow the pressure to shift to your outside ski.
Push your outside knee forwards and into the turn.	Keep pushing against the outside ski until you come right out of the fall line.	As you finish your turn, rise back up into the gliding plough, before beginning the next turn.

1903 First competition in the Alps (Public Schools Alpine Sports Club Challenge) organized by Arnold Lunn, pillar of the British skiing establishment. Use of sticks for braking was not allowed. Ski Club of Great Britain founded.

1909 Stem Christiania turn developed by Hannes Schneider from Arlberg, Austria, allowing him to achieve previously impossible speeds.

1910 Use of the snowplough and two poles promoted by Colonel Bilgeri of the Imperial Austrian army.

1921 First British Championships organized by Arnold Lunn. Competition consisted of both downhill and style disciplines, although the latter was soon discarded due to judging difficulty.

1924 First Winter Olympics held in Chamonix. Athletes competed in 'nordic' disciplines - cross-country and jumping. The Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) was founded to regulate the sport.

1927 First association of professional ski teachers established in Austria.

1930 First use of steel ski edges by Rudolph Lettner of Salzburg. His grip on the snow was immeasurably enhanced.

1932 First purpose-built ski lifts. The first drag lift built by Gerhard Mueller of Switzerland, using a rope and a motorbike engine. In the States, Jim Curran invented the chair lift.

1936 Slalom and downhill racing included in the Olympics at Garmisch Partenkirchen.

1937 Emile Allais won the FIS downhill and slalom using parallel technique. A great debate followed, which was to last for over 40 years: the Austrian school vs the French school, the stem turn vs the parallel turn, the knees vs the hips.

1938 British attention turned to French resorts, leaving Austria to Hitler. Colonel Peter Lindsay encouraged investment in the Trois Vallées.

1939 Hannes Schneider took refuge from Nazism in the US, taking with him the Austrian technique. The expression 'Bend ze knees' became a cliché of ski instruction.

1946 First teleski in the Trois Valleacutees, France and opening of Lift One in Aspen, Colorado.

1948 First experiments with artificial snow-making carried out in Connecticut.

1950 First commercial production of metal skis. After years of experimentation, Howard Head, an aerospace engineer, finally succeeded in producing a wood/plastic/aluminium laminated ski that did not fall apart instantly. The black Head Standards were soon dubbed 'cheaters' because they turned so easily.

1950s Stretch pants invented by the German Bogner family. Skiing was confirmed as a glamour sport. First safety bindings produced by Hannes Marker.

Maria Bogner modelling her new stretch pants,         c. 1955.

1952 Giant slalom added to the Oslo Olympic programme.

1955 Clips began to replace laces as fastenings on ski boots.

The Henke Speed Fit was the world's first buckle boot

1967 First plastic boot produced by Bob Lange. The days of damp leather were over.

Lange boots

1968 Jean-Claude Killy won gold in all three alpine disciplines at the Grenoble Olympics.

1970s Explosion of popularity of the sport due to easier-turning skis, moulded boots and package holidays. First use of fibreglass in ski construction by Austrian Franz Kneissl. Ingemar Stenmark became the most successful alpine skier ever with 86 World Cup victories.

During the 1980s, skiing matured into a major sport and leisure industry throughout Europe, the United States and Japan. New materials, such as carbon fibre, Goretex, titanium and Kevlar continued to improve equipment, while new fabrics and insulating materials improved ski clothing, offering skiers increased comfort and freedom.

Novel ways of sliding appeared, offering a challenge for those jaded by normal skiing. Monoskis, mini skis, ski-scooters and hang-gliders all enjoyed a boom; parapenting and snowboarding became established as major sports, and telemarking enjoyed a rebirth.

In competition, freestyle skiing grew in popularity, with ballet, moguls and aerials demonstrated at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Moguls achieved full medal status at the 1992 Albertville Olympics, France; aerials in 1994 at Lillehammer, Norway.

moguls

Meanwhile, the environmental cost of the sport began to make itself felt. With some 40000 runs, 14000 lifts in the European Alps, and with tourists spending around 250 million holiday days there, the region began to show increasing signs of pressure. In Europe and the United States, environmental considerations all but put a stop to the expansion of ski areas.

Skiers are now increasingly reminding themselves that skiing is not only about speed and physical exertion, but also about appreciating nature and the surrounding mountainscape. Touring, heli-skiing, skiing in exotic locations and other ways of getting away from the herd are all growing in popularity.

Crazy Facts Corner

• No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Olympic Games.
• A Japanese town has found divine help in ridding its car parks and roadsides of litter discarded by tourists passing through on their way to nearby ski resorts. Authorities in the town of Nagato in the mountains of central Japan's Nagano prefecture placed statues of Jizo, whose role in Buddhism is to help others find enlightenment, at parking spots on a main road through the town. In the four months since the appearance of the statues, carved by local residents, litter has almost disappeared.
• Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards is Britain's first (and only) Olympic Ski jumper. He represented Britain at the 1987 World Championships and  at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. He is the British National Ski-jumping Record holder, 55th in World Ski jumping, World No 9 in Amateur Speed-skiing (106.8mph) and the Stunt Jumping World Record Holder (10 cars/6 buses)

• Snowbird, Utah is constructing a 575-foot tunnel that will deliver skiers via conveyor belt to Mineral Basin.

Links:

http://www.ifyouski.com/Information/History/

http://www.sover.net/~eaglehof/frame.htm

http://www.sondrenorheim.com/skisbindingsstyle.htm

http://www.aspenhistory.org/tipchp4.html

http://www.ginca.com/crazynews.html

http://www.nyt.co.uk/eddiethe.htm

Researched by Angua-