Читать книгу A History of Skiing - A Concise Essay on this Popular Winter Sport Including its History, Equipment, Different Styles and Techniques - E. Wroughton - Страница 5

IF ski-running was not a method of locomotion indulged in by prehistoric man during the great ice Age it can nevertheless claim an antiquity at least as respectable as most other forms of sport. Those nomadic tribes, whose hunting-grounds lay in the great plains which, owing to their proximity to the Arctic Circle, were usually covered by snow, would soon discover that unaided locomotion was extremely perilous. To reach game at all in snow-covered country it is necessary to be provided with footgear which will prevent sinking; and the further advantage of coming up more swiftly with his prey would incline the predatory savage to look with favour on snow-shoes or ski.

From being used within the Arctic Circle exclusively, ski probably became familiar to the sub-Arctic peoples, who though not absolutely dependent upon them yet found them of the greatest possible assistance in excursions from farm to farm, or on woodcutting expeditions during the winter months, when timber is more readily transported; and thence, in all likelihood, they were introduced into the Scandinavian countries, whose inhabitants have always been in contact with the Arctic tribes. In such circumstances the sporting possibilities of ski would speedily become apparent. To a people not immediately dependent upon the products of the chase, ski-running would resolve itself into a pastime offering all the exhilaration of rapid movement and at the same time satisfying the essential requirement of keeping the performer warm.

That some such conditions probably represent the early phase of ski-running is proved by the account of Captain F. J. Jackson, who whilst travelling in the neighbourhood of the Ural Mountains, gleaned from the native Samoyed population much interesting information regarding the introduction of ski-running into Northern Europe. He found that ski were in constant use by these people, who called them “loegya,” and they stoutly maintained that the Norwegians had borrowed from them the idea of ski-running. But it would be rash to credit any one people with the invention of ski. One might, with equal possibility of success, attempt to discover the nationality of the inventor of the fire-hollowed canoe or the first rude attempt at a wheel. Such inventions are, indeed, older than the nations, and have their genesis in the dire necessities of struggling humanity.

The early snow-shoe had obvious disadvantages. When going downhill it had a tendency to slip, and this disconcerting circumstance could only be obviated by fixing studs to its under surface, which were similar to the roughing of a horse’s shoe. Ultimately, however, the sliding movement was utilised; the shoe was further elongated and the point so turned up that tripping was avoided and an easy run obtainable.

Xenophon, Procopius and our own King Alfred, are all eloquent witnesses to the antiquity of the ski. Obviously it grew out of the primitive snow-shoe, and one remarkable circumstance in connection with its evolution should not be overlooked. Shoes with upturned toes are a characteristic of the Mongolian races all the world over. There can be little doubt that the original habitat of the Mongolian peoples was Northern Asia, and upon their settlement in the warmer spheres of the south it would appear that they retained the upturned bend in their footgear. Striking proof of this is given by the monuments of that strange people of Asia Minor, the Hittites, who were a Mongolian race, and whose history is so closely intertwined with that of the Israelites. Professor Sayce of Oxford, writing upon Hittite costume, says, “Wherever the figure of a Hittite is portrayed there we find this peculiar form of boot. The boot is really pheres of the south it would appear that they retained the upturned bend in their footgear. Striking proof of this is given by the monuments of that strange people of Asia Minor, the Hittites, who were a Mongolian race, and whose history is so closely intertwined with that of the Israelites. Professor Sayce of Oxford, writing upon Hittite costume, says, “Wherever the figure of a Hittite is portrayed there we find this peculiar form of boot. The boot is really a snow-shoe, admirably adapted for walking over snow, but ill-suited for the inhabitants of a level or cultivated country. The fact that it was still used by the Hittites of Kadesh in the warm fertile valley of the Orontes proves better than any other argument that they must have come from the snowclad mountains of the north.”

FIGHTING ON SKI

From the “Historia de Gentibus Septentrionabilus” of Olaus Magnus, 1555.

In the Middle Ages the use of ski appears to have been chiefly confined to Norway, and they are mentioned by Olaus Magnus. They seem also to have been not unknown in England, and an interesting reference to them will be found in “Lorna Doone.” The military history of Scandinavia contains many instances of the early use of ski by soldiers. In A.D. 1200 King Sverre recruited a ski company composed of men drawn from the northern districts, and under Paul Belte they were sent to reconnoitre the Ryenbergen. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ski-running is frequently alluded to, and a picture in Olaus Magnus shows the Finns in 1539 campaigning on ski under the King of Hensingern. Gustavus Adolphus was in the habit of sending out scouts equipped with ski, and in the Danish wars of Charles XI. it is said that two hundred dragoons were driven back by sixteen Norwegians on ski, the latter, owing to their knowledge of fighting on snow, being easily able to outmanoeuvre their enemies.

In 1719 a Swedish army under Armfield was lost in a terrible blizzard. The remains were discovered by a party of Norwegian ski-runners, who had observed them on the march. In 1747 a corps of ski-runners was organised in companies of a hundred men each, and in 1768 a regiment was formed into four companies. Thirty years later another regiment was formed, and schools of instruction were organised at Trondhjem and Kongsvinger. A drill book relating to military evolutions in ski-running was issued in 1804 and remained in force for sixty years.

When war broke out between Sweden and Norway in 1808 the smaller country possessed over two thousand ski-runners. They were for the most part employed in reconnoitring, and there are many instances to show that signal advantages were gained by the Norwegians by the aid of this mobile and highly useful arm of their service. When through the rupture of diplomatic negotiations in 1905, war between Norway and Sweden seemed certain, not only were the regular ski corps ready to take the field, but the infantry of the line were trained to the use of the ski, and had hostilities actually resulted there can be no doubt that much valuable information as to the usefulness of the ski corps on active service would have been gained from the observations made on the spot.

Most European countries now include ski troops in their military establishments: France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, and even observant Japan possess regular organisations of ski soldiers, or have set on foot inquiries into the value and utility of ski. With the knowledge of what is being achieved by other nations before us, the question naturally arises, Of what importance is ski-running to the British Army? Our Empire, including as it does, all varieties of climate, is by no means deficient in country where ski would be of real service to our troops. The difficulties encountered by our men in the Tibet Expedition are almost too well known to be referred to, and on their return to India it was nothing uncommon for the men to march knee-deep in snow. One account states that “the unfortunate men in that expedition were often up to their waists in snow.” If ski had been available the evil results attending such hardships might have been obviated, and in all probability the true value of these easily-carried implements will in due time be recognised by the military authorities.

The modern history of the sport of ski-running may be said to date from the year 1879, with the ski meeting held on the slopes of the hill at Huseby, near Christiania, under the auspices of the Christiania Ski Club. A number of peasants from the Telemarken district were induced to attend the meeting, and the exhibition so stimulated local interest in the sport, notwithstanding the somewhat ludicrous attempts of the urban sportsmen, that a real impetus was undoubtedly given to what has since become the national pastime. In subsequent years this annual fixture, as it had become, attracted thousands of people to Christiania, and the jumping of the Telemarkings was regarded in the light of a prodigious feat. The jeunesse dorée of the capital longed to imitate, if they could not hope to surpass, the marvellous feats of the provincials, and ski-running and jumping became universal. For some years the peasants easily outdistanced and outleapt their city opponents. They possessed all the advantages of a knowledge of the sport from infancy. But the townsmen, quick to recognise the benefits arising from a judicious course of training, at length succeeded in defeating their rivals both in leaping and long-distance racing.

In many cases, notably at Glarus in Switzerland in 1903, the introduction of ski-running into European countries has been due to Norwegians, who very naturally were its best possible pioneers. The sport spread, if not rapidly, at least surely, upon the Continent, and may be said to have found its first centre, outside of Norway, in the Black Forest. The Feldberg proved an ideal centre from which to disseminate a knowledge of ski-running; the proximity of the University town of Freiburg ensured the speedy enrolment of a large number of devotees, and such an impulse was thus given to the movement that the district has ever since remained a most popular one with sportsmen.

In Austria the untiring efforts of Herr Zdarsky aroused interest in ski-running among his countrymen so quickly that now the sport may almost be said to have become completely nationalised. This gentleman taught himself the art, and by dint of observation and enthusiasm succeeded in elaborating a system of teaching the various evolutions necessary to its mastery. Not content with this, he also extended his theory to ski-running upon steep and difficult Alpine ground. He further invented a special ski which he named “Lillienfeld,” which differs in binding from the Norwegian variety. From this indefatigable apostle of the art hundreds of ski-runners annually receive their first instruction; and special trains from Vienna filled with his ardent disciples, amply testify to the popularity he has obtained for ski-running in Austria.

Much controversy was occasioned betwixt the rival schools of the Black Forest and Lillienfeld, and the difference of opinion regarding technicalities of binding and theories of running threatened to become as acute as that between the Blue and the Green chariot-racers which figures so largely in Byzantine history, making us wonder if we moderns are really such sportsmen after all. These bloodless battles were occasioned principally by the leaning of the Black Forest sportsmen to the Norwegian point of view, while the desire of the Austrian school, led by Herr Zdarsky, was to initiate the beginner into the mysteries of running on mountainous ground as speedily as possible. The dispute has, however, become now merely historical, and may be classed with those differences of opinion which occur in the growth towards maturity of all movements that are worthy of controversy.

Switzerland quickly presented itself to the ski-runner as a country peculiarly suited to his favourite sport, and some Norwegians grudgingly admit that in the not far distant future it may possibly take rank as the ski-running country par excellence.

Little was known in Switzerland of the sport to within six years ago; before that time there were a few English visitors and natives who had heard of it, probably through reading Nansen’s “First Crossing of Greenland,” and fewer still who tried the sport. Their progress, both in skill and propaganda, was slow for some years, when suddenly, in the winter of 1902–3, two clubs were formed, the Glarus Ski Club and the Davos English Ski Club, the latter, to the credit of Englishmen be it said, being the second oldest ski club on the Continent outside Scandinavia. After this the formation of native ski clubs in the cantons became so rapid as to cause an inconvenient multiplicity of meetings and championships and a consequent overlapping. In 1904, therefore, it was deemed expedient to form a large central association for the entire country, and the initial meeting of this organisation was held at Glarus on January 21, 1905. At the central meetings the skill shown is of a very high order, although nothing really approaching the Norwegian standard has been reached. Nevertheless there are many Swiss who can jump eighty feet in very good style, and although the long-distance runners are not as rapid as the Trysil men they show considerable endurance, and would undoubtedly do better if those who choose the courses for the long races had more practical experience in running against time, and selected sites where skilful running would have an advantage over mere physical strength.

At these meetings there are usually a few Norwegians who do not compete, but help to advance the knowledge of the realities of the sport by giving exhibition jumps and swings. Among the most prominent of these Norwegian exponents one must mention in particular Messrs. Heyderdahl, Harald Smith, Trygve Smith and Leif Berg as being perhaps the most famous.

From Switzerland to the Italian Alps is not a long way, and a knowledge of the sport was soon carried through into Italy, with the ultimate result that clubs were formed at Genoa, Milan, and Turin, the latter, the most active of the three, being ardently supported by the members of the local branch of the Alpine Club.

Ski-ing is by no means confined to Europe. It is practised with zest under the Southern Cross, and at Kiandra, in the mountains of New South Wales a club exists whose doings are not unheard of even in Christiania, the very Mecca and metropolis of the sport. Not that our Antipodean brethren have designs upon the laurels of those who are feet to feet, or rather ski to ski, with them, like Gibbon’s Emperor of China, who, having heard of Rome, set out next morning to batter at her gates with a lofty indifference to geographical limits. But in the midsummer sport at Kiandra we may see a remarkable proof of the coming ubiquity and significance of ski-ing as a world-game. “Where three or more Englishmen are gathered together,” says Max O’Rell, “one is certain to find a cricket club,” and, given the necessary hyperborean conditions, the future may find this true also of ski-running. The Sydney enthusiast can reach Cooma, the key of the New South Wales country, in thirteen hours by rail. This is comparatively near when colonial distances are taken into account, and such proximity suggests the possibility of a conquering raid by Antipodean ski-runners upon the mother country as a sequel to the exploits of the “All Blacks.”

Although but little known as a sport in the United States and Canada, ski-running is not without its supporters in those countries, and several of the longest jumps have been made by a Norwegian at Redwing in Wisconsin. At Schenectady, near Albany, in the State of New York, a small colony of Norwegians in the employ of the General Electric Company have started a club. The Pocantico Hills about thirty miles from New York yield fair sport, and the Catskill Mountains, famous through the legend of Rip Van Winkle, are also frequented by ski-runners. Eastern Canada, the country of the snow-shoe, is not so suitable for ski, the heavy nature of the undergrowth rendering shorter footgear essential.

In Great Britain ski-running has become fully recognised and established as a sport. The Ski Club of Great Britain was founded on May 6, 1903, and a Scottish club was inaugurated in the latter part of 1907. The former club has done much to popularise the pastime both in these islands and upon the Continent, and has been of invaluable assistance to beginners, for whom a not too rigorous test has been set for the purpose of ensuring their personal convenience and safety on prolonged tours.

Englishmen may well be proud of the support which they have given to ski-ing in Switzerland; much of its popularity in that country is due to them; and the brothers Richardson deserve special credit for the unselfish patience with which they have instructed others in the sport to which they are devoted. English people who have practised ski-ing abroad have naturally not forgotten its fascination when suitable snow conditions prevailed in Great Britain, and in consequence many parts of the country have borne the impression of the long boards; the best-known recorded instances of the sport at home are the tours I made with Mr. C. R. Wingfield in Derbyshire in November 1904, and in the Central Highlands in February 1906. As regards Scotland, the Scottish Ski Club has now over one hundred members, and the excellent circulars it issues are eloquent as to the growth and the future possibilities of the sport in that country.