ON THE USE OF SKI
Since Nansen published his book, “The First Crossing of Greenland,”
the English public has known of _ski_ and their use. Ski (pronounced
_shee_) are Norwegian snowshoes, now admitted to be the best form of
snowshoe in the world. They are long, narrow planks for fastening one
under each foot, so as to distribute over an area of soft snow, many
times larger than the area of the foot, the weight of a man walking.
They not only prevent him from sinking into the snow, but, if it is
in suitable condition, they enable him to slide along on its surface.
The common idea in England is that the art of using ski is very
difficult of acquisition. This, as I shall show, is a mistake. No doubt
the almost miraculous expertness attained by the best Norwegian and
Swedish skisters (to coin a needed word) is beyond reach of ordinary
Englishmen, who take to the sport when they are full grown and have
rare opportunities for practising it. But for purposes of mere travel
far less skill is required.
In fact, it is with skiing as it is with skating. Any person, with
normal habits of exercise and control over his limbs, can learn to
skate in a few days well enough to go straight ahead over good ice at
a tolerable pace. Within a fortnight of his putting on skates for the
first time, he might go a-touring along frozen Dutch canals without
being much, if anything, of a hindrance to a companion, the most expert
of figure-skaters. To pass the St. Moritz test as a figure-skater takes
months or even years of practice, but that is to learn the art, not
the mere craft of skating. So it is with skiing. The artist skister
can race down steep slopes at an appalling velocity, leaping drops
or crefts of almost incredible dimensions. A traveller who needs ski
for the purpose of exploring the great snowy areas of the world has
no occasion to acquire skill of that pre-eminent character. He is not
called upon to advance faster than a sledge can be dragged by men or
dogs, as the case may be, and that he can learn to accomplish in a
very short time. Sliding downhill is a little more difficult; but any
climber, who can make standing glissades with facility, soon learns to
glissade on ski down any ordinary slope of snow.
When Garwood and I landed in Norway last year, we had never seen a pair
of ski, and did not know where to buy or how to choose them. During the
summer we travelled over 150 miles on ski, dragging our sledges behind
us. Later on we went to Stockholm and saw all manner of ski in the
Exhibition there, and availed ourselves of every opportunity that came
in our way to obtain information about ski and everything connected
with them. We soon learnt that there are ski of all sorts and kinds.
They differ in the material of which they are made, and they differ
in form. I am told that ash is the best material to make them of. The
points to be seen to are the straightness of the grain and the absence
of knots. Lightness is less important for a traveller than strength.
The questions of form and size are determined by the purpose for which
the ski are to be used. Speaking generally, narrow ski are faster than
broad of the same area. In soft snow, however, the advantage vanishes,
for narrow ski sink in more deeply than broad; indeed, for very soft
snow, ski require to be both broad and long. The edges and the hinder
ends may be either rounded or cut off square. For hill climbing it
is certain that the squarer the angle of section of edges and hinder
ends the better, seeing they take a better hold of the snow, and
prevent sliding sideways or backwards; sharp edges also make steering
easier on hard snow. Relatively short, broad ski, are best for hill
climbing, and, in general, for the work of a traveller. They are easier
to advance on, easier to steer, and easier to turn round with. Their
length may be anything from two to one and a half metres, two metres
for choice; they should measure eight centimetres at the narrowest
part under the foot, increasing forward to from nine to ten centimetres
at the broadest part, just where the toe of the ski begins to turn
up. The front ends should be well turned up, the points being raised
from twelve to fifteen centimetres above the level of a horizontal
plane on which the ski stand. Such ski are of the Telemark type, and
can be bought under the name “Telemark ski,” from the Scandinavian
manufacturers. A good pair, made of selected ash, costs about fifteen
shillings.
[Illustration]
The most important matter for a novice is to learn how best to attach
his ski to his feet. There are various ways in which this can be done.
In all alike the attachment is such that the foot can be freely bent
and the heel raised, while the fore part of the foot is kept firmly
in contact with the ski. The roughest attachment is a mere loop or
strap of leather, fastened to the two sides of the ski, and gripping
the front part of the foot. This, however, permits the foot to wobble,
a most disagreeable condition for a beginner. Such fastenings were
all that Nielsen and Svensen used, and they seemed quite comfortable
with them. The common binding, and the best for a traveller, is more
complicated. The broad strap, going over the fore part of the foot,
is divided longitudinally on each side about the level of the sole.
Through the two loops thus formed there passes a stout piece of cane
covered with leather, the middle of which goes round the back of the
foot near the heel, whilst the two ends are brought forward and drawn
together in front of the toe, where they are fastened down firmly to
the wood of the ski. This fastening has to be adjustable, so that the
cane loop may be drawn close against the heel. There are several sorts
of adjustment; one is shown in the illustration. Another, perhaps
better, is a kind of vice that opens and shuts by a screw; it grips the
two ends well and enables either of them to be pushed forward ahead of
the other. A small strap, sewn on to the back of the boot, low down,
holds the cane in place. The same result may be less well attained by
using an additional strap that passes both under and above the instep,
and is sewn on both sides to the leather covering of the cane. This
form of attachment is usually employed by winter skisters in the Alps.
For advancing over level ground, all the fastenings may be loose; but
for hill climbing they need to be tight, so that the feet are firmly
attached to the ski and can direct them with certainty. Beginners will
certainly find tightly-attached ski much easier than loose to walk or
glissade on.
[Illustration]
The next question is that of footgear. For moderate cold, such as you
meet with in summer in the arctic regions, ordinary climbing boots
do well enough; but leather Lapp shoes are better. These seem to be
known by different names. I find them called “pjäxa-schuhe” in a
Swedish-German catalogue, which mentions two qualities, Norrbotten
(price 8s. 6d.), and Norwegian (price 14s. 6d.). A particular kind of
band is made, called a pjäxband, a kind of putti, for winding round the
top of the boot to keep out snow.
Within these leather boots thick goathair stockings should be worn. So
far as I know, they can only be purchased in Norway and Sweden, the
price varying according to the length. For very great cold, such as
that of arctic winter, shoes of reindeer fur, stuffed out with hay, are
required. The adjustment of ski to these is a less simple matter, for
if the hay is badly packed the cane is likely to rub against the heel
and produce a painful raw.
One more part of the equipment for skiing has yet to be mentioned. It
is the staff. Racing skisters use two sticks, one in each hand, but
for glissading the two have to be held together like a single staff.
To facilitate this, there are specially constructed staves made to fit
together. The ordinary ski-staff is provided with a kind of plate near
the spike, to prevent the point penetrating too far into soft snow, and
to give resistance for a push off. Travellers using ski in mountain
regions will probably find it best to carry an ordinary ice-axe and
make shift with it. An axe is far less convenient than a longer bamboo
staff, for mere purposes of skiing, but its other uses, when ski are
laid aside on steepening slopes where real climbing is required,
overbalance its obvious defects. It would be easy to devise some form
of small, circular plate to slip over the point of the axe a little
way up the stick, and wedge there, quickly removable when the axe is
required for step-cutting.
The skister’s equipment is really simple enough, but its various parts
are not easily purchasable in England. The following manufacturers
of ski showed exhibits at the Stockholm Exhibition of 1897: Helmer
Langborg, 6 Birger-Jarlsgatan, Stockholm (who also sells the various
kinds of boots, goathair stockings, gloves, pjäxbands, &c.); L. H.
Hagen & Co., of Christiania; L. Torgensen & Co., of Christiania (who
also make arctic sledges); Langesund Skifabrik, Langesund, Norway (a
very good exhibit); Fritz Huitfeldt, of Christiania (gold medal at the
principal Norwegian show for ski). I give this list of names quite
ignorantly, just as I copied them down. I have no knowledge about the
estimation in which they are held, their relative expensiveness, or
anything else concerning them. One or two of these firms issue priced
catalogues, which, I suppose, may be obtained on application. Ski are
also made and sold in Austria; they will be found advertised in the
publications of the German and Austrian Alpine Club. Ski of this make
are sold in winter at the chief Alpine centres, but they are very
inferior to ski of Scandinavian manufacture.
Little need be said about how to learn the use of ski, but one or two
hints, even from so poor a performer as the present writer, may be
suggestive to an absolute novice. The first desideratum is to fasten
the ski properly to the feet, so that the boards run truly with the
feet, not with an independent motion of their own. The trouble at first
is to keep the two ski constantly parallel with one another, and in the
direct line of advance. People whose habit is to turn out their toes in
walking, however slightly, will find themselves constantly impeded by
that trick. To keep the ski parallel, the feet must be parallel. The
motion is not one of walking but of shuffling. The ski are not raised
from the ground, but merely pushed forward, the knees being kept bent,
and the action resembling a sort of easy run. If the snow is in good
condition, the ski will slide forward a little at the end of each step.
The use of a staff or a pair of staves is to prolong the distance of
this sliding. If a staff is used it is grasped in both hands and thrust
into the snow on one side every time the foot on that side is advanced.
If two staves are used, one in each hand, each is thrust back (like a
walking-stick) against the snow, turn about, the left when the left
foot is advanced, and _vice versâ_. Another way is to take three quick
steps and to thrust with both staves at the moment of the fourth step.
Yet another trick is to thrust with both staves at every third step;
this changes the foot each time, but is more difficult. About four
miles an hour is an average kind of pace on the flat with fairly good
snow. Fifty kilometres in 4h. 20m. 17.5sec. was, I believe, the record
for flat racing two or three years ago.
The ascent of hills on ski involves new problems. If the snow be soft
enough for the ski to sink into it about half-an-inch, and if the slope
be gentle, there is no difficulty in walking straight up. If the slope
gradually and steadily steepens, there will come a point at which the
ski no longer hold, but slide backward when the weight of the body is
thrown upon them. The beginner must then zigzag, pressing the edge of
the ski into the slope but, otherwise advancing as on the flat. This
is easy enough; the trouble comes at the angles of turning, where his
legs are almost sure to slide asunder, or he will tread with one ski
on the other. In turning round, even on the flat, it is at first no
easy matter to avoid fastening one ski down by treading on it with the
other. You should begin turning by moving the foot which is on the side
towards which you are going to turn; keep the legs well apart and make
the rear ends of the ski the approximate centre of rotation. In turning
round on a hillside it is easier to turn with the face, rather than the
back, towards the hill. Another way of walking uphill in suitably soft
snow is to turn the toes well out and lift each ski over the other;
this is more difficult than zigzagging. In very steep places neither
method can be applied; you have to advance sideways with the ski kept
horizontal, an easy but slow method of progression.
Downhill the real fun begins, and the difficulty of maintaining the
balance becomes serious. The weight must be thrown forward, the knees
kept bent, and the staff, or pair of staves held as one, used as in
glissading. The ski must be kept strictly parallel and close together,
with one foot a little in advance of the other. The problem is to
adjust the balance to every varying degree of slope and alteration in
the slipperiness of the snow. Such alterations have to be foreseen and
prepared for. The beginner must expect to fall often on hands and knees
and to sit down with undesirable frequency when he least expects. He
will find it much easier to fall than to rise again. He should practice
glissading on a gentle slope, then on a steeper. Slopes that he finds
too steep for direct descent can be negotiated by zigzags, but much
time will be lost at the turns.
Whether ski could be advantageously used in summer in the Alps is
doubtful. The ascent, still more the descent, of Mont Blanc between
the Grands Mulets and the Vallot Hut would certainly be facilitated by
them, but they are unsuited even for a broad snow-_arête_. Agreeable,
however, as ski would be on any snowfield, and valuable as a protection
against concealed crevasses, they are far too heavy to be carried by a
mountaineering party for incidental use. Still they might be employed
with advantage in certain places. For example, if a party of climbers
were to make the Concordia Hut the centre for a week’s climbing, they
could not do better than provide themselves with ski. Thus equipped,
all the surrounding mountains, anywhere between the Lötschenlücke and
the Oberaarjoch, would be brought within their easy reach. The new
Monte Rosa Hut would likewise be an excellent ski centre, and so
would the Becher Hut by the Übelthal Glacier in the Stubai Mountains
of Tirol. For winter climbing in the Alps ski have already established
their utility. I understand that several of the easy Oberland passes,
such as the Strahleck, have been crossed on them, whilst at lower
levels their value is even more obvious. Whether ski-running will ever
attain in western and central Europe the rank as a sport which it holds
in Norway and Sweden is a question that only the future can decide.