The alterations and additions to this book in its present form are
due partly to fresh practical experience; partly to adverse criticism
of which I now see the justice; and partly, as I freely admit, to the
picking of other people's brains. Since this book was published I have
read for the first time books on ski-ing by Zdarsky, Bilgeri, Luther,
and Arnold Lunn, and have re-read those of Richardson, Rickmers,
Paulcke, and Hoek. As a result I have had to alter a good deal of my
theory and some of my practice, and to alter and enlarge this book
accordingly. To all the above-named authors, therefore, I am more or
less indebted, and feel correspondingly grateful.
In adopting an idea one can seldom help altering it more or less, and
if in the body of the book I have made few direct acknowledgments, it
has been from no lack of gratitude, but rather from a doubt whether
the originator of the idea would be gratified at its development or
indignant at its distortion.
I must however make special acknowledgments to Ober-Leutnant
Bilgeri. From his excellent book I have gained much fresh knowledge
of the theory and practice of ski-ing. This book, moreover, while
confirming me in my opinion of the vices of the Lilienfeld system of
ski-_running_, has given me a fresh insight into the virtues of the
Lilienfeld system of _teaching_, and consequently a fresh sense of my
indebtedness to the chief apostle of this system, my first teacher, Mr.
Rickmers.
If Herr Bilgeri has ever happened to read my book, certain resemblances
between it and his own--the analogy of the bicycle and tricycle with
the single and double-track runner, for instance--may, since his
book was published first, have struck him as remarkable. I take this
opportunity of assuring him that when I wrote this book I had not read
his, nor for that matter any of his writings, and that, if I had,
the resemblances would have been not only fully acknowledged, but
considerably more numerous.
To Mr. E. C. Richardson I must return special thanks for criticism that
has shown me the error of some of my ways of thinking; I have also to
thank Mr. C. W. Richardson for new ideas gained from an article by him
on "Knee Action in Ski-ing."
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to everyone whose suggestions
I have adopted, or who, either by precept or example, has taught me
anything new and so has had a hand in the revision of this book, but to
whom I have not referred individually.
This heavy list of acknowledgments makes me realise more than ever how
difficult it is nowadays for a writer on ski-ing technique--or at any
rate for _this_ writer--to say anything new. I am afraid that even a
_succès de scandale_ as the fanatical prophet of complete sticklessness
will soon be out of my reach, if it is not already, for we are all
agreed now that the stick should be used as little as possible, and
therefore that not to use it at all is, if possible, best. It is a
short step from this to finding out by practical experience that, so
long as one is travelling on _snow_, not _ice_, and has a little more
than room enough to place the skis horizontally across the slope, one
can move just as freely, quickly, and easily, and with just as perfect
control, without the stick as with it.