Ski-running Part 6

Skis call for a good deal of attention if one takes the game seriously. People who only come out for a fortnight and who hire any pair of Skis, which they treat as they would the floor of an omnibus, have no appreciation of how much attention Skis need, if they are to be really dependable in all sorts of snow.

New Skis should be well-oiled with two or three coats of Linseed oil, which should dry between each coat. I think hickory needs the oil just as much as ash, but some people disagree with this. The oil hardly goes beyond the surface of the wood and soon rubs off on hard snow, but it preserves the wood as well as giving a slipping surface so long as it lasts. Newly oiled Skis when dry need very little further attention for a few days, as they will run well over all sorts of snow.

When there is no time to oil, because the Skis are in daily use, wax can be ironed in. Most good sports hotels now provide a bench with an electric iron in a special heated and lighted room where the Ski-runner can work happily after tea, or on a snowy day. If no such room be provided, it should be clamoured for, because the waxing of Skis is a much more difficult job without it. The patent iron "Para"

is helpful where no electric iron is provided. "Para" is an oblong perforated metal box with a handle which screws in. A lump of Meta (solid spirit fuel) is lighted and put inside and the iron becomes hot and is rubbed up and down the Ski, while wax is pressed against it and dribbled on to the wood.

Almost any wax can be ironed in, but I think the hard black "Skiolin"

is best for the purpose. Be careful to wax the groove as well as the flat surface of the Ski.

When Skis are put away for the summer, the upper as well as the running surfaces should be oiled or re-varnished in order to preserve the wood.

Leather bindings may be well oiled with special boot oil to keep them supple.

Skis should never be kept in a hot place, as they are apt to warp, but they should be kept dry when put away.

Boots should never be dried by a fire or on a heater, but should be stored in a cool place. They need occasional oiling of the uppers with some sort of boot oil. Dubbin may also be used and is good for filling places, such as between the sole and the upper. The soles should never be oiled, except perhaps with Linseed oil, which hardens the leather.

I think the wisest plan is to leave the soles dry, but if snow b.a.l.l.s on them they can be waxed with Ski wax. This is often specially necessary on the heel. If boots be put outside the bedroom every night, the porter will oil them automatically, in most good hotels.

Sealskins should be wrapped up in newspaper and stored in a cool place when put away. Moth will ruin them if left open and heat crumples them, making them useless. A friend told me that when her seal Skis (webbing ones) were ruined by being put near a fire, she recovered them by soaking them in salad oil. She was certainly using them quite happily afterwards.

THE ELEMENTS OF SKI-ING

This book does not profess to be in any way a textbook of the technique of Ski-ing. As stated in the preface, my only idea in writing it is to provide an answer to a good many questions which have been asked me every year. Anyone who deals with a great many people knows that there are always some fifty stock questions, which can quite easily be answered by fifty stock answers. What I say in this chapter about the first run will be the barest elements of Ski running.

Beginners should obtain either Arnold Lunn's books, or those of Vivien Caulfield, and concentrate on the theory of turns. I have known two or three novices who, though they had never even seen Skis before, by dint of studying the technique in theory before they came out, were able immediately to apply it in practice. Most beginners find, however, that the moment the Skis start sliding, all theory is thrown to the winds. Instinct of self-preservation prevails and they sit down. Kind friends looking on say, "That was because you were leaning backwards. You must lean forwards." Off they start again, carry out the advice, their Skis stick for some reason and down they go head foremost--the most difficult fall of all to get up from, and the most aggravating.

The great thing is not to do too much the first two days after coming out. The height affects people more than they realize at first, and great energy, due to the bracing air, is often followed by great la.s.situde. Most people are not in training, and Ski-ing tries the lungs, nerves, and muscles of the fittest as the whole system seems to be brought into play.

A few hours' practice on the Nursery slopes is usually enough for the first two or three days, and if, at the end of the week, the beginner seems to be falling more than when he first began, half or even a whole day off Skis will produce wonderful results in better balance and general fitness.

Having chosen Skis, and ensured that the toe irons and binding fit you, go out to some gentle slope of about 10 with soft snow, if possible.

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. Even if it only goes down some 100 or 200 feet, the friend who goes after it and brings it back often has a good deal to say, and you are lucky if the Ski has not struck a rock or tree and got broken in its independent run. It is no good getting angry on these occasions. I once watched a boy on a distant slope, who had been obliged to descend some hundreds of feet after one of his Skis. When he got hold of it in a temper he started beating it with his stick, and continued doing so till the stick nearly broke.

While on the subject of runaway Skis, I may as well warn you also against a runaway Rucksack. I put mine down at my feet on a steep hard-crusted slope while I took off my coat one day, and the Rucksack started sliding slowly down below us. The party was made up of beginners and we had ropes on our Skis instead of skins so that no one could catch it up till it stopped about 200 feet below us. To add insult to injury at the same time, somebody dropped a 50-ct. bit at the same moment and this danced off down into the valley, racing the Rucksack and beating it hollow.

But to return to the start. The Skis are safely lying across the slope, and you are going to put them on. Put on the lower one first.

Never forget this, because it will often prevent a runaway Ski. 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 safest place to put them is one on each stick, stuck upright on either side of you, or tuck them into your belt or pockets.

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. Try to imagine that the Skis are only a moving staircase and that all you have to do is to stand upright on them and let them do the rest. If your slope is only 10 and there is nothing steeper below you, the Skis won't do much. Indeed in deep snow they may refuse to move at all, in which case try pushing yourself along with your sticks. The great thing is always to want to run faster than you are going and, therefore, only to choose slopes where you feel that you can keep up as fast as the Skis go. It is a mistake to start immediately down such a steep slope that the Skis run away with you. At the same time it is also a mistake not to increase the angle of your slope as soon as you can compete with it.

Stand upright, press the knees together and try to feel that there is a spring in your knees. Let one or other foot lead so that, if the Skis stop, the front foot takes your weight and prevents you plunging forwards and if the Skis suddenly plunge forward, the back foot is equally ready to take the weight and prevents you from sitting down.

Whatever you do, avoid the hideous doubled-up position of a runner, who bends at waist and knees, with feet parallel and far apart, looking like a note of interrogation and leaving what we call tram-line tracks. By his tracks shall a Ski-er be judged!

Look back and see the line you have left. If your two feet have left two tracks with more than six inches apart in soft snow, you must not be contented. In a good track, the two feet should leave one track, but some bindings make this impossible, so that unless you are wearing a toe binding you need not worry about a gap of two or three inches between your feet. This only applies to soft snow running. On hard or crusty snow, it is almost impossible and also dangerous to keep the feet together.

When you have begun to feel at home on Skis, go off to a much steeper slope and try traversing. Choose a slope which has flattish ground below so that you have an easy out-run and nothing to make you nervous.

Remember for your comfort that if you go across a slope leading with the upper foot and with most of your weight on the lower foot--standing upright and, if anything, leaning a little outwards away from the slope, you can traverse across almost any slope without difficulty, so long as it is not too steep for the snow to bear your weight without slipping itself. Nothing is more comforting to a beginner than to realize this. It takes away the feeling of giddiness and gives confidence, but it needs learning and should be practised at once.

The first tendency of Skis on a steepish slope is to point more and more downhill till, finally having intimidated the beginner into allowing them to go their own way, they plunge straight down, and the beginner collapses. To counteract this put more weight on the heel and less on the toes while traversing.

This will push the back part of the Skis down and the front part uphill across the slope and, if done sufficiently, the Skis will stop and you have begun to get some feeling of control when traversing.

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 gra.s.s 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. For instance if the Skis get crossed, just lift the upper one and put it down beside the other again while running. It is perfectly easy and yet I have known people who, after weeks of practice, dared not lift a Ski off the ground while moving, only because they had never tried it as routine practice.

Whatever you do by way of practice do it first on one foot and then on the other, or you will become a right or left-footed Ski-er and it will take ages for you to feel equal confidence in either foot. This applies especially to turns. Beginners will often go on practising a turn on the right foot, till they can do it and then have to re-learn it completely on the left foot.

Straight running downhill is mainly a question of confidence and balance. As said before, it is better at first to avoid straight running down a steep slope, because the Skis may go so fast that the beginner is quite incapable of keeping up with them and a fall at very high speed is somewhat upsetting and may temporarily shake your nerve.

Choose a low gradient of about 12 or 15 where you can see the out-run which should be on to level ground or even a gentle rise so that the Skis gradually pull up of their own accord. Soft snow is the easiest and confidence may soon be won in this.

Stand upright or bend the knees, but do not bend at the waist. You should feel as though on springs and you want your weight should be well forward over your feet so that you can keep up with the Skis.

Standing in tube or bus, facing the way you are going and not holding on to anything is very good practice at home. You will notice that a bus conductor usually gives with the movement of the bus, so that he is prepared for whatever it does. So with Ski-ing. Look ahead and see what the ground is like, and then suit your balance to what is likely to occur as the ground rises or falls. This soon becomes automatic but it needs thinking out at first.

When the snow is hard, practise side slipping, because it will help you out of many difficulties and once you know the feeling of it, you will find that it replaces the downhill side-stepping, which is so slow.

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.

Have confidence, keep upright, lean away from the slopes and let your Skis slide and don't blame me if you suddenly slide into a soft patch of snow, which stops the Skis dead and you fall head downwards. This is all in the day's work. If the surface of the snow is uniformly hard you will slip down without difficulty.

Seriously, side slipping is a huge help and should be learned at once.

Mr. Caulfield gives first-cla.s.s instructions, which are easy to follow in detail.

When going uphill never try to climb steeper than is easy. If the Skis are slipping back, you are going too steep and should turn off and traverse instead. No time is saved by too steep a climb; the man who goes easily gets to the top first, while the other clambers up almost on all fours, gets hot and exhausted and has gained nothing. If I am leading an elementary run uphill, I can soon pick out the experienced runners by the line they take and the pace at which they climb. The puffing, panting, stumbling people, who forge ahead, herring-boning or turning their ankles over their Skis so as to get a grip with their boots, are not included in my "experienced runners."

Another hint for uphill work is that when traversing a slope, the Skis should be edged so that the inner edge of the Ski bites into the slope. A Ski with its whole surface flattened to the slope is bound to slip especially on hard snow. By standing upright as you go uphill and keeping the ankles straight, the Skis will be edged in the right way.

A quick way of getting up a steep slope is side-stepping. As you stand with your Skis horizontal across the slope, lift the upper foot and place it on the slope a few inches higher. Then lift the lower foot and place it beside the upper. You will soon be able to do this while advancing across your traverse at the same time, but it is hard work and should only be used for short climbs.

Side-stepping is a very good way of climbing, but should be avoided when descending, except when approaching a narrow gap in a fence or crossing a stream where the approach is steep.

I have known a party almost benighted by a beginner, who had discovered the joys of side-stepping and proposed to descend some 1,000 feet by this safe method, instead of sliding in the proper way.

Allowing eight inches to each side-step, how many hours would it take to descend 1,000 feet?

A further hint, which may be useful for uphill work. If the Skis are slightly lifted at every push forward, they tend to stick instead of sliding back.

Always stand upright when climbing and keep the weight well on the heels. People tend to bend forward and this adds greatly to the effort and the Skis are more likely to slip back.

On long climbs sealskins are usually used on the Skis. The hairs lying towards the rear stick into the snow and prevent the back slip, while when the Ski pushes forward, they lie flat and offer no resistance.

The best uphill track is the one which keeps going at the same angle.