Ancient Skiing

[shera]

Pretty soon I need to send out flyers/cards to my ski kids. When we ski together I make up a lot of stories, about yetis hiding in the woods and stuff like that, so I would like to make up a fairy tale to send them in the mail. And I want to base it on some actual truth about ancient skiing. Below is what I found on an internet search, although once in the past I found another pic of a skier with a long pole in his hand. Couldn't fine it again though. I also thought I once saw a picture of vikings going to war with skis on.

Do you guys know any more good info or sources? If you've got some good story ideas, that's be cool too. Something other than boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boy gets girl back again.

I particulary like stories where girls kick ass. Like this chick:


Skiing was originally a practical way of getting from one place to another in packed or crusted snow. In Norse Myth, skiing was invented by Skadi, the snowshoe goddess.

The word ski goes back to the Old Norse word skíð meaning "a stick of wood"


The Fennoscandic territory has a great amount of ancient ski finds. Skiing was a must for our hunting forefathers which provided peoples of the South with furs. The finds consist of different ski types depending on dating, find location and usage. Above is a 4000 years old stone carving from northern Carelia. This carving probably was a part of a fertility cult.


This skiing archer is carved on a Viking Age rune stone in Sweden

The first hints to the existence of skis are on 4500 to 5000 year old rock drawings, e.g. at Rødøy in Norway, which depict a man on skis holding a stick. There are also remains of skis in bogs, with the oldest ski found in Hoting, Sweden, which is about 4500 years old. The earliest people to ski in Fennoscandia were probably the distant ancestors of modern day Samis. In old historic recordings there are mentionings of people called Skrithifinns or "skiing wanderer". However it is not sure who the Skrithifinns were.

[H-man]

New England Ski Museum

In regards to the Viking one, if I am thinking of the same picture, it is of two of them skiing downhill one with a spear. The other one is carrying a baby. If memory serves it is a picture about a story of a rescue of the kings baby that was stolen or something along those lines. I bet you can find it at the link above, and if I am right, it would make a cool interesting story.

Now I am going to spend the morning researching this also. Thanks...

[H-man]

Also, if you really want to get deep with this or any other ski history project, I serve on the boasrd of directors of FOTR and am personal friends with the director and i can hook you guys up if need be.

This is a great idea of yours. When I used to teach, I always made it a point to do something with the history or beauty of the sport/nature with all my classes. Good on you SheRa.

[snowsprite]

SheRa, what about a parable of sorts involving some kind of "quest?" Since many of the early skiers were also hunters, perhaps your story could involve them hunting and finding an animal but instead being given something in return. Something that enhances their skiing or their abilities...like they take on an aspect of an animal or something.

Or, of course alternately the animal could simply offer up some cool ski swag or something.


This sounds really neat though! I'll be thinking about it this a.m. and if I get any other ideas will post them here.

You are so lucky to be working w/ kids in this way. Very cool!

Sprite

[H-man]

Here is a link to the picture I am talking about.

It will at least give you further info to search from if you choose.

Ok I really need to go do some work now....

[Tunco]

The Birkebeiner celebrates the Rescue of Haakon Haakonsson

[f2f]

fwiw, the guy in the last picture could be snowboarding just as well

[H-man]

Thats the one.

[Cometjo]

There is a "virtual museum of skiing" at the link below--click on the word "gallery" for tons of pix, including several of the old fashioned one pole skiing. (Unfortunately the pix are flash, so I'm not sure if you can just grab them)


http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/...exNum=00000153

[Fuzz]

This page (http://skiinghistory.org/history.html) has this picture:

[flatNshallow]

... I found another pic of a skier with a long pole in his hand. Couldn't fine it again though.

I saw a documentary on the history of Skiing a while back... or was it a website? - no matter... I recall that the single long pole was the precursor to modern single handed poles. The single pole was used much like a trapeez balance pole... If memory serves me, the switch to 2 poles is a fairly recent I'll see if i can dig up the link or whatever...

some good info / pics here...

[TeleHoar]

we call that one-pole thing a "Lurk".
Yeah, really.


I like this picture

Rontele, Max and Squatch in line at Loveland, happy to see each other.

[flatNshallow]

^^^ From the look of things it must have been a powder day...

[TeleHoar]

We can write a story for you!
Behold the power of the maggot creative collective.

I'll start it off
"A long time ago before juice boxes and the internets, A little norwegian girl named Skadi...

[Tye 1on]

Around the year 1200, the rival groups shared the identical but opposite goal of controlling the entire country. In 1202, when King Sverre died, he had managed to acquire most of Norway, but in Østerdalen, the Baglers were still very powerful. Sverre's death meant some decrease in power of Birkebeins. His successor, King Haakon Sverresson, died only two years later, leaving his son Haakon Haakonsson as the ultimate target for the Baglers to get rid of the pretender to the throne. In 1206, the Birkebeiners set off on a dangerous voyage through treacherous mountains and forests, taking the now two-year-old Haakon Haakonsson to safety in Trondheim. Norwegian history credits the Birkebeiners' bravery with preserving the life of the boy who later became King Haakon Haakonsson IV, ended the civil wars in 1240 and forever changed Northern Europe's history through his reign.




Today, the historic event of the rescue of Haakon Haakonsson is honoured in Norway by three annual sporting events, a run, a mountain bike race and a cross-country ski race, Birkebeinerrennet or the Birkebeiner Run. Common for these events is the requirement of carrying a heavy backpack weighing 3.5 kg as a remembrance of the child the Birkebeiners had to carry on their journey. The events are located in the Lillehammer and Rena area. There are also sister cross-country ski races held in Hayward, WI USA (the American Birkebeiner) and in Canada [1].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkebeiner

----When I wintered at Old Faithful, nordic skiing was life. The winter after I left, a good friend fell into an actively boiling hot spring. His friend's efforts were superhuman, on the scale of Court's Ironman, with a side of tragedy. The next winter the 'snowlodge olympics' were born, to celebrate John Mark. This Birkebeiner story figured in heavily...as did beer and humor [one race climbs a 300 meter hill, where one has to consume a dry peanut butter sandwich before descending...]. I digress....but the above legend is pretty cool to us nordic nerds...

[bubba-k]

another legendary but more modern hero is snowshoe thompson. he did unbelievable things in the sierra nevada's on gigantic oak boards. lots of cool tales about him.... give it a google.

[chucknuggin]

So, I was standing in line at Rjukan in Norway, and this little girl comes up to me and wants to ride up the T-bar with me. She was probably 8 or 9 years old and she was on tele skis. Not only that, she had no gloves. It wasn't a warm day either. These Norwegians are hard as fuck.


Back to the point.

There is a cool museum at Hollmenkollen in Oslo, I'm not sure if there is a website or not, but here are some pictures.


The original skins






The father of telemark

[El Chupacabra]

Crossreferencing for future use:

http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79924

[MTT]

This site has quite a few of his adventures.
http://www.tahoecountry.com/oldtimetahoe/snowshoe.html



I am a little biased,\

I live in the Sierra and my last name is Thompson

[DJMingus]

H-Man, thanks so much for the link to the New England ski museum! years ago I bought a greeting card with that Bergslein painting on it but never managed to find a larger print and gave up looking. I'm placing an order for that poster right now. Love the painting and the story.

[freshie247]

Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle was a big ski enthusiast & I believe played a big part in introducing it to England & other societies.

[bio-smear]

Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris invented skiing. Then they killed some Nazis.

[biggins]

This is the sweetest curriculum study group ever!

[shera]

We can write a story for you!
Behold the power of the maggot creative collective.

I'll start it off
"A long time ago before juice boxes and the internets, A little norwegian girl named Skadi...

Yes!!! I could use the help, for sure. And I think sprite has the right idea - a gift for the children of a special power. The gift of skis from the goddess Skadi. I really like that bow she's carrying too.

"Once upon a time, a brother and sister went out hunting with their parents in the deep snowy woods of the north lands. Everyone was very hungry because it was the darkest time of winter and food was scarce.

They walked on snowshoes, which held them on top of the snow but were very slow and hard work"

...then what happens?

I need names for the brother and sister too.

BTW, I love the Birkebeiner and Thompson stories too. I'll use those in subsequent years. This time I want to write about the first skiers ever and I want them to be children. I think that will really help them love the sport and get emotionally connected to it. And I want them to feel like it's a magical thing to be able to fly down the mountain faster than their parents on their patheic snowshoes. Because it is!

[Chemical Ali' The Wax Master]

the guy with the long pole may have been me, stroking my harbl, on my skiers edge