ON THE ICE AND SNOW--THE ROYAL SPORT OF SKATING, WITH SOME HINTS ON
SKIING, AND SNOWSHOES
Outdoor sports in winter are necessarily restricted to the thing that
can be done in the snow or on the ice. But what glorious, health-
giving, strength-making things they are! It is from the land of the
stern winter that the world's greatest men have come.
Usually the frost comes before the snow, and with what joy the boys
and the girls hear the news, brought by a rosy, eager comrade: "The
ice is strong enough to bear."
Of course, our first experience on the ice was when we tried our first
slide guided by the hand of a stronger and more expert companion. How
soon we learned to do the trick, and what fun there was in "keep the
pot a-boiling," while strings of youngsters took the slide. What if
some did topple over? No bones were broken, and the incident always
caused a lot of good-natured laughter.
Roller skating indoors or on smooth roads is certainly a good
preparation for ice skating, but it is not at all necessary to begin
that way, any more than it is to practice swimming with a support
about the body.
It is said the children in Holland learn to skate as soon as they
leave the cradle. Certainly the young South Sea Islanders learn to
swim at an equally early age.
My advice is: Begin skating as soon as Santa Claus, or some other good
fairy gives you skates of the right size. Some more advice: Never,
from first to last, skate with your hands in your pockets. Leaves,
sticks, bits of paper, or similar obstructions may check and stop,
perhaps throw you, and at such times the hands should be free to ease
the fall.
In the old days, with the help of the blacksmith, the harness maker,
and the carpenter, boys had to put their own skates together. Those
were certainly clumsy affairs, but there was no end of good sport in
them.
To-day, the patent, clamp skate, fitting snug and securely and without
any tight straps or tiresome screws, can be bought cheaply and
fastened on in a jiffy. But can you use them when on? That is the
question. If you can't, be assured you will soon learn, with patience,
practice and the advice of a more experienced companion.
WRONG HELP
I note that some books on skating advise the beginner to take a chair
to the ice and learn on this till confidence is gained. Now confidence
is never gained by leaning on anything or depending on any person.
Start in to win by having confidence in yourself. This applies to your
life work as well as to skating.
When you have mastered your legs somewhat, and can move fairly well
forward, it will be quite time for you to learn some other way of
getting experience and fun from the sport.
Begin the variation by trying to cut a forward circle. To begin, you
strike out on the left foot, with the body leaning toward the left,
the center of the proposed circle. When the weight of the body is on
the outside edge, the line described by the skate runner will be a
curve directed outward. As soon as you find that you can continue on
that stroke no longer bring the right foot quickly forward and down.
This last must be a short stroke of only sufficient duration to give
you time for another outer-edge stroke with your left foot. At first
you will make a very large circle, but gradually you will be able to
contract the dimensions. When you have mastered the left-foot circle,
try it on the right foot, and practice until you are able to go either
way with equal speed.
The backward circle, when learned, is easier than the forward ring,
for the push stroke is made with the toe. When going backward great
force can be given to the toe-push stroke by slightly lifting the
heel.
To cut the circle backward, you must simply reverse your forward
movement.
To skate backward, work or scull yourself along any way, until you are
able to detect the proper movement and proper manner of giving the
strokes. This accomplished, you may call yourself a good plain skater.
The spread eagle is one of the first steps in the advance from plain
to fancy skating. Even when well done, it lacks the elements of grace,
but it is most excellent practice to render the limbs supple, and make
other more graceful tricks possible; and it is a favorite performance
of boy skaters.
You must skate straightaway until you have gained sufficient headway,
then at the end of the last stroke turn the toes out so that the
runners of your skates make a straight line, heel to heel, one skate
following the other. In this position you will glide over the ice
until the momentum first gained is exhausted. At first the beginner
will be only partially successful, but gradually he will be able to
describe a wide circle forward, and in a little while gain sufficient
control of his feet to slide across the skating pond in a straight
line.
The spread eagle backward will be found more difficult, for it
necessitates turning the toes out until they point backward. In
performing this last feat, it is no easy matter to keep your balance,
but perfection comes with practice, and soon the boy who devotes time
to practice will excite the admiration of his comrades by the ease
with which he turns either forward or backward. During his practice
the beginner will undoubtedly bend his knees, but after he has reached
that point of excellence where his whole mind need not be centered on
his feet, he may learn gradually to straighten his legs until at last
he can do the spread eagle forward and backward without looking like a
straddle bug.
A ring can be made without lifting your skates from the ice. This is
called a spread-eagle circle, and it is cut by spreading the feet. The
skater must learn to keep his feet moving, first the right foot
forward and the left foot back, then the left foot forward and right
foot back, always with toes turned out spread-eagle fashion. When
properly done, this motion will cause the skater to glide around in a
circle, his feet moving in a most bewildering manner, while they weave
a pretty grape-vine pattern on the ice.
It would take a volume properly to tell all the possibilities of
skating, and the ice games, like shinny, and curling. But the boy who
can manage the movements already indicated will be sure to learn by
himself the more advanced art of this fine sport.
SNOW SHOES
are not so well known in the United States as in Canada and throughout
the St. Lawrence valley.
Snow shoes are shaped very much like tennis rackets, and are made in
much the same way and of much the same material. They are from thirty
to thirty-six inches in length, and about one-third that in width. The
broad point is to the front, and some eight inches back of this the
foot is fastened by means of straps to the front and sides. The
framework can be of light willow or strong rattan. The meshes should
be closer than in a racket, and the best are made of water-proofed
rawhide.
It requires much practice to become expert in the use of the snow
shoe; but once the skill is acquired, twice the distance, over soft
snow, can be made in the day, as compared with the average foot man on
ordinary ground.
Without snow shoes, winter travel would be well nigh impossible over
large areas of British North America. We are indebted to the Indians
for this valuable aid to locomotion.
SKIING
pronounced in Norwegian "sheeting"--is the great winter sport of the
Norwegians and Swedes. The sport is fast being introduced into this
country and is gaining in popularity in every place where the two
requisites--snow and a long, steep hill--can be had.
The ski is a strip of ash or spruce wood, turned up in front like a
sled runner, and smooth and straight grained. The length varies from
six to ten feet, the width from three to four inches, and the
thickness from. a third to three-fourths of an inch.
The strap, attached by screws to the middle of the ski, is fastened
over the toe part of the foot, leaving the heel free to rise and fall.
Skies are hard to manage going up hill, but on a level of soft snow a
great pace can be kept up. But it is in going down hill, and leaping
from a "jounce" that the skier is at his best. It is not unusual for
experts to jump one hundred and twenty feet from rise to fall.