Ski-running Part 7

Every good walker knows how tiring it is to go up and down across country when gullies have to be crossed. It is disappointing, having got up a certain height, to lose all that is gained by going down again. So it is even more with Ski-ing, when uphill work is really more arduous than walking. Mr. Caulfield gives a very helpful description of a good uphill track, and Skis tend to teach the beginner how to keep the angle as they slip so easily downwards the moment the uphill direction is altered.

When going uphill make up your mind what point you want to reach in the distance and what line will take you to it most easily and then go for it steadily, keeping the same angle all the way so far as is possible and choosing your places for turns very carefully before you reach them.

Following an experienced leader teaches a great deal about the art of setting an uphill track, and the criticisms of the rest of the party following, when the leader loses height soon make one want to avoid comment.

ETIQUETTE

In organized Ski-ing centres a perfectly good code of etiquette is growing up as the result of experience.

So many novices pour out on to the slopes with no knowledge of the game that notices are even posted on the boards in the hotels giving a few of the main points of the Law.

One such notice runs as follows:

(1) Ensure that you take your own Skis, sticks, etc. when you start out. It is wise to mark sticks, and they are safest kept in bedrooms.

(2) Never join a private party unless invited.

(3) Only join the advertised tours, the test for which you have pa.s.sed.

(4) The slower mover has the right of way. The faster mover must avoid him. Never call "Fore," "Achtung," etc.

(5) Always offer help to anyone in difficulties.

(6) Keep with your party. They might waste a lot of time looking for you while you run home because you thought their pace too slow.

(7) Never desert a runner who, for any reason, is unable to keep up with a party.

(8) Carry your own gear including spare clothing, Ski-ing necessaries, etc.

(9) Avoid stepping on the Skis of another runner. This caution is especially necessary for uphill work.

(10) Remember that wherever you leave a track others may follow.

Therefore only choose safe slopes. The snow is liable to slip on slopes of 25 or more, so that these are dangerous.

Ski-ing is a sport which can be made dangerous for others if individuals do not carry out the usual etiquette. It may seem extraordinary that people should need warning not to join a private party unless invited, but it is sadly true.

One day as I was starting off on a long run a stranger came up to me and asked if she might join us. I consulted the Guide, and he said he already had as many in the party as he could take charge of. I told the lady this, and said I was sorry that we could not accept her companionship. She at once replied cheerily, "Oh, then I will follow you." Nothing could prevent her from doing this. Switzerland is a free country, and there is a right of way anywhere over the mountains in winter. We started off and she followed. From that moment, of course, we automatically became responsible for her because one of the Laws is that you never desert a runner who is alone. She was a very poor performer and fell a great deal, so that for the whole six or seven miles' run, we were kept waiting for her. Of course, we were under no real obligation to look after her, but had we left her and anything had happened to her, we could never again have held up our heads as Ski-ers.

On another occasion a runner made a formal complaint to me about a lady who joined his party. In this case it was an experienced runner, who had presumably learnt the Law, and who might have read the notice on the board. First of all she said, "May I go with you?" and the somewhat cold answer was that the party was complete. Then she followed asking questions about the route, etc. at every opportunity.

Of course, she had finally to be adopted and taken along much to the boredom of the party, which was a private one.

Where the Ski-ing is organized, tests are run and tours arranged for the different standards. This does not apply so much to 2nd or 1st-cla.s.s runners who, of course, prefer to make up their own parties, but, at any rate, these are protected from having the less experienced runner with them, except by invitation. By these means the organized tours only take runners up to the standard advertised, and no one need feel compunction at leaving members of their party behind in the village, because they know that the elementary runner will also get a chance of a run.

Yet even under these arrangements, I have found a beginner sitting huddled in a corner of the railway carriage when we have started before dawn for a big tour. "Where are you off to?" I said, thinking he was out with a Guide. "With your party," was the reply. What could I do? It is not easy to turn a person out of a train at 5.45 a.m. on a cold morning. I said weakly, "Did you not see the notice which said this was a run for 3rd-cla.s.s runners only?" He said, "Yes, but I thought I could keep up." So there he was, and we took him through and though he was very slow uphill and kept us all back in this case, he ran down without delaying us. People often put their own capacity higher than do the people they want to run with and it is very difficult to be tactful.

Again most people would not think it necessary to warn runners against deserting their party. Yet they often do and it is not usually the beginner who is the culprit here. Perhaps he cannot run quick enough to get away! I shall always remember a run in charge of a tour when I was with a lot of novices. Another experienced runner accompanied me officially to help. I chose what I thought the easiest way to start, and he wanted to try another route at the top and went off saying he would join us below a wood. When we reached the part where I thought we should rejoin, I waited and shouted, but he did not appear. So we went on to another post where we had lunch, and then I began to get anxious as this runner never turned up. Anything might have happened to him. He might have gone over a rock or into a tree or even only be tied up in one of those tangled falls when it is practically impossible to extricate oneself. It was no good our trying to look for him then, so after about two hours' delay, I took my party down to the valley and the first person who met us in the village was our lost companion. He chaffed us for being so late as he had run down very quickly and had had his tea ages ago.

No party going beyond the Nursery slopes should consist of fewer than three. One to go for help in case of need, the other to stay with the third runner, who may need help. Needless to say, people who know the mountains well, go off alone with impunity. When I asked one of these lonely runners what would happen if he hurt himself and was benighted, he told me he always carried sufficient morphia to put him out of his agony in case of need. This was, no doubt, all right from his point of view, but what of the people who might go out to look for him among the infinite possible runs with Ski tracks in every direction.

No sporting runner would ever refuse help to a lame duck, though pretty bad cases of selfishness have been recorded.

There is one point, which does not always strike people, and that is the danger of cutting a track over a difficult place. Beginners will usually follow a track instead of working by their map. For instance on the Muottas Muraigl run at Pontresina, if once a rash runner cuts a track straight across from the restaurant to the valley, crowds will probably follow it, though they may be warned against it. This is a very dangerous slope under certain conditions as was shown this Winter, when a runner going along its top was carried down to the bottom of the valley by the avalanche he started.

I have one track left on my conscience; when a few of us went down what might have been a dangerous place under different conditions to those we found. Luckily it was not a way most people would have wished to follow as it apparently led nowhere and hardly looked attractive.

The slower mover always has the right of way when Ski-ing, so that no runner ought to shout to those ahead of him to get out of his way.

Needless to say this does not apply to a runner out of control, who may be dashing unwillingly into someone in front of him when, for both their sakes, a friendly warning is advisable!

It is the business of every Ski-er to avoid obstacles and the slower mover may be looked on as such in just the same way as a rock or a tree. I was amused one day at Pontresina when a crowd of us were going up the village street and met a lady on Skis being held back as she went downhill by two friends on either side of her. It was the first time I had ever thought of someone going down hill being the slower mover in relation to those climbing.

Nursery slopes are for the practice of turns and the individual who uses them for straight running while a lot of people are practising is abhorred. The same applies to jumps on the Nursery slopes. These are so easily made where other people are not practising that it is selfish to come plunging down into a crowd of devotees to turns. When the Nursery slopes are empty, it is great fun to practise straight running down them and no one will object.

One jolly thing about Ski runners is that they seldom ridicule one another or laugh at falls in any but a friendly way. There is great rivalry and daring to greater effort, but ill-natured ridicule is seldom heard. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most people who live in gla.s.s houses do not throw stones. Everybody who tries to improve his Ski-ing is bound to fall and it is better not to set the fashion of laughing at others in difficulties.

There will always be some people who like to look on at tests as "Free entertainment without tax," but if they could hear the comments on their behaviour and probably on their own lack of prowess they would soon give up the habit.

Anyone who is really keen to get on and who will go on practising and accept advice may be sure of sympathy and help. Ski-ing with all its dangers and need for combined effort seems to bring out the best of people and to produce the very best spirit of goodwill and tolerance.

Going uphill in soft snow, every strong member should take a turn at cutting the track. It is often heavy work, and an energetic leader may not like to ask for help. The best plan is to work by time, the leader falling out at the end of his shift and letting the party pa.s.s him till he takes his position at the rear and the second man becomes the leader and so on.

People who are wise, will avoid stepping on the Skis of the man ahead.

This is often difficult as instinct makes one want to go faster than the person ahead, just as a wheeler in a tandem will usually try to catch up the leader. The easiest way to avoid overlapping is to keep step. Push forward the right foot, when the man ahead pushes forward his right foot and then the left. This gives a rhythm to the uphill work, which also seems to minimize effort. Anyone who has experienced the irritation caused by his Skis being constantly touched by the runner behind while plodding uphill will learn to spare another the same nuisance.

When running straight down a steep slope make sure that there is no one ahead whom you might run into and no one below on either side, who might traverse across the slope you propose to run down. This is especially necessary in a gap between trees. Another member of your party might be among the trees below and suddenly come out into the open, traversing to the other side. When straight running at any speed, only the best Ski runners can turn suddenly to avoid a difficulty, and a nasty collision may occur if care be not exercised.

When a crowd of people are taking their Skis by train, a great deal of trouble may be avoided in getting the ma.s.s of Skis out of the train if these are tied neatly together.

A pair of Skis tied near the tips and behind the bindings is easy to handle, while a pair of Skis put together by slipping one through the toe-strap of the other is a great nuisance.

Skis piled together soon become very like a heap of spillikins if not carefully handled and a good deal of damage may be done to them as well as delay to the train if Ski-ers are careless in this small matter.

Another good plan is for the Ski-ers to form themselves into a queue and to hand out all the Skis along the line, till they can be easily distributed where there is s.p.a.ce. The beginner is apt to hunt anxiously for his own pair, which may be at the bottom of the pile, and while he pulls and tugs with but little success, other people are waiting in vain for a chance to get their Skis out. This is especially the case on funicular railways, where s.p.a.ce is very limited in the stations. Different nationalities travelling together add considerably to the confusion and the railway officials are usually thankful to anyone who will take charge and get a line formed and the Skis handed out tidily.

These hints may seem unnecessary to a great many people, but no matter. I have had so much of my own time wasted by this sort of tiresome lack of sense that I venture to suggest a means of saving time and temper for others.

Ski runners should remember that sledges and pedestrians have the right of way on a road. All the fields are open to the Ski runner and he should not monopolize a road. In most parts of Switzerland there is a law by which everyone has right of way everywhere where the snow lies--so long as it is not enclosed ground. This was brought home to my family rather vividly, when we lived at Davos, by a shooting gallery being set up on our land in front of our house. We had no power to prevent it and there it remained for the winter. At the same time, Ski runners should respect the property of other people, and here I would like to make two appeals to British runners.

Firstly, that we will do our best to avoid damaging young trees. (Old trees can probably look after themselves where the Ski-er is concerned as they are usually stronger than he is.)

Secondly, that we should treat the inhabitants of the country with as much courtesy as possible. The peasant, over whose land we run, makes very little out of the tourist business and has other things to think about rather than sport. He is usually courteous and friendly and always ready to help us when in difficulties. Let us return his hospitality be treating him with courtesy. School teachers have told me that they have great difficulty in persuading the children to greet foreigners because these so seldom respond. Yet few things are more pleasant than the friendly "Grusse," or "Gruss Gott," or "Leb wohl,"

with which one is greeted by the people of the country. We can answer in English if we do not know how to answer in German, but do let us answer and, thereby, prove ourselves as friendly as our hosts.

Another matter, which is not always understood by beginners on the snow fields is that when an Alpine Club or local Ski Club hut is used, a fee should be paid to the funds which support the Hut. These Huts are expensive to build and their upkeep is a great tax on the Clubs.

British runners can either join the local Club, when they can use the Huts by day for nothing, or they can pay the advertised fee for whatever use they make of them.