Ski-running Part 1

Ski-running.

by Katharine Symonds Furse.

PREFACE

So many excellent books have been written about Ski-ing that it is, perhaps, presumptuous on my part to think that there is room for another.

Mr. Vivien Caulfeild in his "How to Ski" and "Ski-ing Turns," as well as Mr. Arnold Lunn in his "Ski-ing for Beginners," "Cross Country Ski-ing" and "Alpine Ski-ing," have covered all the ground of the technique discovered up to date. What future discoveries and inventions may be made, requiring new books, no one knows as yet.

Had it not been for the help and coaching these two exponents of Ski-ing have given to me personally, I should never have been able to enjoy the sport to the extent I do now, because I should probably have been content to continue running across country, falling whenever I wanted to stop, and using a kick turn at the end of my traverses.

Their enthusiasm and example gave me new ideas of the standard I wanted to attain, and their unfailing kindness and advice helped me to get nearer to it than I could otherwise have done.

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.

Much experience of coaching beginners convinces me that there is still room for a book such as I hope to make this--a book containing only the simple answers to questions put to me during the last three years, when I have been responsible for running the Ski-ing in various centres. The object of such coaching is to raise the standard of British Ski-ing, and it is satisfactory to realize that other nations, including the Swiss, already marvel at the fair average of our runners. This is specially remarkable when it is remembered that most British runners can only afford a bare fortnight or three weeks'

winter holiday in the Alps, and that they are not always in training when they arrive. Ski-ing is a sport which exercises every nerve and muscle as well as lungs, as is soon discovered during the first 100 feet climb or the first fall in deep snow on the Nursery slopes.

In addition to my conviction that there is room for another book for beginners, my love of the Alps, which have been my home for the greater part of my life, also induces me to try to show something of the real objects of Ski-ing; namely getting to the silent places which can only be reached on skis, realizing something of the strength and immensity of Nature at her grimmest, profiting by the wonderful atmosphere of the mountains, to say nothing of the beauty of an Alpine view on a fine day.

The greatest pity is that most British winter holiday-makers can only go out for Christmas. This is admittedly the worst time from the point of view of weather. At low alt.i.tudes rain often falls early in January, turning the snow into slush and reducing the Ski-er to despair. After the 15th January, the weather is usually better, and in February the days are longer and finer. The best time of all for an Alpine holiday is usually February and early March. My advice to novices, who are not tied by Christmas holidays, is to come out about the 20th January, when the hotels are less crowded, the days longer, the snow more certain and all the conditions more favourable. Some of my own best Ski-ing days have been late in March when the crocuses and gentians were already opening to the sun on the Southern slopes, and a soldanella might be found along some tiny stream. Few experiences can equal a Spring day among the Alps when the wealth of flowers begins to show in the valleys, while ma.s.ses of good snow still lie on the Northern slopes or on the ridges above 6,000 feet.

Early starts are necessary these days as the sun blazes after 11 a.m., but nothing can equal the bodily comfort and well-being enjoyed at midday, lunching at the top of some peak or pa.s.s, basking in the blaze and imagining the run down cool slopes. No Ski-runner, who has not been out in late February or March, realizes the joy and comfort of late Ski-ing. The hotels will remain open as long as clients stay to make it worth while, and all the mid-winter amenities will be kept up if they are wanted.

In recommending places and equipment, I intend boldly to confine myself to the places I have been to and to the equipment I have used, or of which I have had reports from people I trust. This is a somewhat risky determination as there is great compet.i.tion among the various centres and business firms which cater for Ski-runners. My reason is that the endless advertis.e.m.e.nts must be extremely confusing to the novice, who does not know what to believe, and who may sometimes be let down by a glowing description of some place or gear, which proves to be quite unsuitable.

The old hands will find nothing new in this book. Not even controversy about the nomenclature of turns or as to which foot should carry the weight in a Christiania. 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. Scrambling down a run, crashing and sitting on one's Skis, may be great fun the first day, but is tiring and humiliating as time goes on. It is infinitely preferable to learn the knack of Ski-ing tidily, and thereby keeping dry and, in a few days, running well enough thoroughly to enjoy a day out with its slow climb to the top of some peak or pa.s.s, and then the slide down under control.

This is where tests are so valuable. Most people undoubtedly enjoy compet.i.tion and, if the pa.s.sing of the turns is made a necessary qualification for the timed run of the 3rd cla.s.s test, most beginners will determine to learn them and then to try the Run and, having successfully pa.s.sed that, wear a Badge. Badge-hunting, like pot-hunting, may not be a very worthy object in itself, but if it encourages people to become proficient in a beautiful sport, let us give our weakness of character free play and achieve the results it leads to. The tests of the Federated Ski Clubs of Great Britain have done more to raise the standard of our running than anything else imaginable.

The beginner is wise, who chooses a centre where the Ski-ing is well organized, and where he can be certain of getting coaching as well as excursions suited to his standard, as nothing is lonelier than going to a place where he is dependent on his own initiative; neither is anything more irksome to the good runner than to be asked to admit a stranger to his party, who may keep him back and spoil his run. This will be further alluded to in the Chapter on Etiquette, and if a beginner wishes to be popular, I advise him strongly to adhere to the "Law." A strict code has been adopted, mainly as a result of the suffering from pertinacious runners, who put their standard higher than is admitted by others.

Where the Ski-ing is organized, tests sort different individuals into their different standards and Runs are planned accordingly, so that the novice is not over-strained and the experienced runner is not hindered by too big a party.

The beginner should also choose a centre where there is a railway to help him. A great deal of precious time and energy may be wasted in a short holiday when all climbing has to be done on skis. The first runs are tiring enough without the additional fatigue of climbing, and going up in a funicular or railway opens up numbers of runs which would be far too energetic for most people who are not in training.

HISTORY OF SKI-ING

Very little is known of the early history of Ski-ing. Doctor Henry Hoek in his book "Der Schi" gives a very interesting chapter tracing the use of Skis back to the earliest records. He thinks that Skis were used by Central Asian races thousands of years B.C. and long before they were used in Europe. According to his book the word "Schi" is derived from the Gothic "Skaidan," the German "Scheiden," Latin "Scindere," and so on. All these words mean split or divide, and might be used to describe the split wood of which Skis are made or their action in dividing or separating the snow through which they pa.s.s.

Doctor Hoek further says that early records show how Ski-ing was a sport practised by knights, and he quotes Rognwald of Orkney (1159 A.D.) who states that he could run on Skis.

The Swedish Bishop Magnus writes in 1533 of the way in which the Norwegians used Skis for traversing country when hunting.

During the Swedish and Norwegian war in 1808 the Norwegian Army included 2,000 Ski runners, but the use of Skis does not seem to have come into warfare again until the Great War of 1914-1918, when the Swiss, Austrians and Italians all used them on the Alpine frontiers.

The modern and fully recorded use of Skis began about 1843 when the sport became really popular in Norway and a Ski race was run at Tromso. In 1861 a Ski Club was founded, and in 1863 an exhibition was held there.

The Swedes also took up Ski-ing as a sport at about this time but Skis do not seem to have penetrated into Central Europe until after 1870 when a French doctor tried them at Chamounix in 1871.

The first introduction of Skis into Switzerland, which I have been able to trace, was by the monks of St. Bernard, who obtained some pairs from Norway in 1883, thinking that they might be useful in their work of mercy, rescuing pedestrians who were in difficulties on the Pa.s.s. About 1887 Colonel Napier came to Davos bringing with him a Norwegian man-servant and a pair of Skis. Mythical tales were told of the way this man slid down the slopes from chalet to hotel, carrying a tea tray on his shoulder. I have only a vague recollection of seeing him perform, but when Colonel Napier left Davos the same year, he gave the Skis to me to play with. They were very similar to modern Skis but had a rigid binding made of sealskin with no means of tightening or loosening it. Not knowing better, I used to try to run in gouties or rubber snow-boots which slipped about inside the binding so that I had absolutely no control. This did not make much difference, as I knew nothing of the art and only used the Skis as a freak on days off from tobogganing. I knew nothing of wax, and when the Skis stuck, they stuck, and I thought it a poor game. When they slid I sat down and I thought it a poorer game. It never entered my head that I could traverse across any slope and so I always went straight down and only by a fluke did I ever stand. Then Tobias Branger, who was a great sportsman and kept a sports shop at Davos, imported several pairs of Skis and practised the art himself.

About this time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Dobson took up the game and we spent many hours practising on the slopes behind Davos Dorf.

The Richardson brothers, who had been to Norway, came to Davos about 1893 bringing with them knowledge of the sport and soon gathered round them a keen lot of disciples. The Davos English Ski Club was formed and from now on Ski-ing spread rapidly throughout Switzerland.

In the meantime, Ski Clubs were also being formed in the Black Forest and other parts of Germany, as well as in Austria.

Doctor Nansen, in his book about Greenland, described the use of Skis for Arctic exploration and his accounts fired a great many more people to try the game.

I advise anyone who wishes to know more of the development of Ski running to read Doctor Hoek's book "Der Schi," published in 1922, as he gives a long account of the first forming of Clubs as well as the gradual adoption of Skis as a means to winter climbing, and, further, a useful list of the literature on the subject.

After the first beginnings in 1899, the Swiss became energetic and enthusiastic runners. The children could be seen on barrel staves with a pair of old boots nailed to the centre into which they slipped their feet with their own boots on. It was not a particularly graceful game in those days. Runners armed themselves with poles some 8 feet long on which they leant heavily when running downhill. This school soon gave way to the more modern school, which proved that the carrying of two sticks was better than one only. A great many books on the technique of Ski-ing followed each other fast and furiously--Zdarsky and Lilienfeld, Caulfeild and Lunn, Roget Hoeg and others all contributing to the controversy on technique.

Now there are innumerable Ski Clubs with their own year-books, and the sport is so well launched, not only in Europe, but also in Australia, New Zealand, East Africa and America and elsewhere, throughout the world, that there is but little chance of its ever again dying out.

The British Ski Clubs include the Ski Club of Great Britain, the British Ski a.s.sociation, the Alpine Ski Club and the Ladies' Ski Club.

These are federated in one Council and work harmoniously together for the furtherance of British Ski-ing.

This is a very incomplete history, but I feel that it is better to limit it to a few dates and to await the publishing of a more extensive history of Ski-ing in English than now exists.

COST OF A SKI-ING HOLIDAY IN WINTER

The expenses of a winter holiday differ according to the place chosen, the hotel and the organization to whose care you commit yourself, if any. Any figures I quote are approximate and are subject to change owing to fluctuations in exchanges, etc.

If you go to a large hotel, with all its luxuries, you will pay anything from 1 a day upwards, and this may not include sports tax, etc. The smaller hotels will probably make arrangements for pension at about 16 francs, or even 14 francs, or less, per day, but may not be very comfortable, and comfort is important in winter. It is particularly necessary that the hotel should be well heated, as the drying of Ski-ing clothes is a very important point.

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.

Having lived in the Alps off and on for forty-six years, and having seen all sorts of different ways of running things, I realized at Murren, where I first learnt to ski properly four years ago, how much the beginner profits by going to such a centre. Otherwise he may waste infinite time in Ski-ing without skill and with only half the enjoyment. It is not only at Murren that the coaching is given, though Mr. Arnold Lunn's system of helping everyone originated there.

Pontresina provides it also, and Klosters and other places as well, but it seems to me that Murren is the mother of up-to-date British Ski-ing.

The cost of a fortnight at a good hotel comes to about 15, including sports tax, afternoon tea and heating. The journey about 7 return 2nd-cla.s.s or 9 1st-cla.s.s, in addition. This can be reduced by travelling 3rd cla.s.s in England and Switzerland, where at any rate it is quite possible to travel 3rd cla.s.s on any mountain railway.

In addition to the expense of Pension at an hotel and of the journey, at least 5 will probably be required for local railway fares, subscription to entertainment fund, baths, gratuities, hire of Skis, lessons, guides, etc. 30 ought to cover a fortnight, and 35 three weeks, and a good deal less can be reckoned if a smaller hotel be chosen.

Most of the Sports Hotels will now quote an inclusive price per day, to which at least 10 per cent. should be added to the estimate for gratuities to servants. This is the recognized scale at which gratuities are given by most people, though they might often amount to more when any special service has been rendered.

Local railway fares on mountain railways are high, because of the great expense of keeping them open, but most of these railways offer special sports tickets, either for a definite period as a season ticket, or for a certain number of journeys. For instance, on the Muottas Muraigl Funicular Railway above Pontresina 24 tickets single journey can be obtained for the sum of Frs. 50, while the ordinary single fare is Frs. 4.75, or more than twice the reduced fare.

The cost of equipment must be added to the estimate, but this need not be very great as Ski-ing boots and gloves are the only items which cannot usually be used at home by men--trousers or breeches being an additional cost for women.