Driving down a steep mountain on two wooden planks shortly after riding up the same mountain in a steel cage sounds too abstract to be real. However, this activity counts as one of the most popular winter sports worldwide. With more than 5.700 equipped ski resorts and approximately 135 million skiers, skiing is very well-liked and many people look forward to it all year round.
Whether you are a skier or not, you might have asked yourself at one point why people would do that to themselves or how someone even came up with this crazy idea. The answers to these questions and more facts can be found in this article.
In 1928, two men in Austria took skis to the next level with the invention of the steel edge ski to get a better grip on the snow and carve and the parallel turn, a skiing technique that almost every skier uses and the most important one for a smooth skiing experience. The very first ski academy was founded around the same time by the man that invented the parallel turn, Hannes Schneider. The first time skiing was included in the Olympic Winter Games was in 1936; the same year that the chair lift got invented. The first chair lift was installed in Sun Valley, Idaho which made skiing even more popular since you could ski down the slopes multiple times a day without having to climb them up. To not have to depend on the weather for skiing, the first man-made snow was created in 1952, making skiing more flexible. At the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988, the International Ski Federation recognized Freestyle Skiing as an official sport and with the invention of twin-tipped skis (skis with a curved-up tail and tip to ski backward), skiing was not so much about movement and transportation anymore. Instead, it became a new popular recreational activity that a lot of people do not want to miss out on.
Skiing during the Ice Age seems like a dream to every skier. What if I would tell you, that this might have been the case 10.000 years ago?
Although the exact origins of skiing are unknown, rock paintings and evidence of what could have possibly been a set of skis (two-meter-long pieces of wood covered in horsehair) in Northern China let us believe that skiing dates back to 8000-6000 BC.
The oldest confirmed set of skis was found near a lake in Russia in 6300 BC. Its original purpose was to create a movement to get from one place to the other and for hunting reasons. Ancestors of the Sami, the only indigenous people to Scandinavia, are widely credited with being the inventors of the ski. This guess is supported by Nordic mythology writings about the God and Goddess of Skiing which date back to 1300 BC.
However, downhill skiing, the so-called “Alpine skiing”, was not on the world’s radar until the 18th century. It evolved from the Norwegian army which held skill competitions that involved both navigating forests/ snowfields and skiing down the slopes all while shooting guns. If this idea seems familiar to you, it is because it got adapted into our society by creating the sport Biathlon which is also an official Winter Olympic Sport.
The evolution of skiing began in the Telemark region of Norway; hence, the name of one of the most famous skis and skiing techniques. To control speed, skis were designed in a narrower and lighter style and in a bow shape which distributes the weight more evenly and additionally prevents the ski from sinking into a hole.
The next time you are in the mountains, I recommend renting yourself skis, poles and gear (maybe you even already have that) and enjoying a day out on the slopes in the middle of the mountains. Trust me, it is worth the effort.
Sources:
https://www.skistar.com/en/corporate/about-skistar/our-industry/#:~:text=There%20are%20an%20estimated%20135,skier%20days%20than%20existing%20skiers (Skistar Corporate, June 8th, 2023)
https://www.freethepowder.com/pages/history-of-skiing (Free the Powder Ski Gloves, June 8th, 2023)