Skiing's History: Old vs. New

Skiing first originated in Sweden or at least that is the common knowledge. The Swedes used skiing as a form of travel as well as adventure. The first ski was found in a pete bog in Norway almost 4,000 years ago, proving skiing to be a useful as well as exciting sport. The use of this sport which was first developed by the Norwegians has come a long way since it was used for hunting and warring against neighboring tribes.

Old school In the 1850's skiing went from a free heel design of touring ski to the fixed heel. this innovation allowed skiers more control on the steeps, but also limited the walking ability on the flats. The Austrians first figured that it could be fun to just ski down the mountain slopes and developed the first ski lifts. The skis they used were little more than shaped wooden slabs secured to the foot with leather straps.

New school Today, the high tech equipment can deliver the same control to the driver as a finely tuned race car, and just like the race car, the more the machine is tuned up the better the performance. Kevlar, high density plastics, impact resistant or "sintered" bases and every possible configuration are some basics for ski design these days. You will have to learn the difference between a good ski for a beginner or intermediate and how to maintain it, but don't despair it really is quite easy (more on ski tuning and equipment in each book).

Alpine Skiing School section in english version of WWW.SKI.BG is based on
"A Guide To Becoming An Expert: From First Time To A Lifetime"
by John Mukavitz Copyright © 1998