Ancient Skiing

[Bozo T. Clown]

Olaus Magnus - Carta Marina
http://lapinkavijat.rovaniemi.fi/car.../index.php?l=e

The dark edge of the north
Olaus Magnus's woodcuts as a basic portrait of Lapland myth.
The images and captions of the presentation are from the book Pohjoisten kansojen historia (History of the Northern Peoples) by Bishop Olaus Magnus, the original Latin publication of which was published in 1555 with the related first edition of Carta Marina published in 1539.

The 'sliding Finns' or Lapps as well as the folks of Finnmarken and Bjarm are enthusiastic about hunting and shooting game. The women hunt as skillfully as the men, if not better. Nor is it anything that remarkable, since those who live in broad regions of forest enjoy such an abundance of wild animal varieties that there would not be enough men to hunt them by themselves. The women bind thin pieces of wood to their feet and race along with them in the snow, their hair in disarray, so quickly that they are able to grab the deer by the horns and end its days. Nevertheless, the man distributes the catch and specifies what should be fried on a stick and what should in turn be given to the servants or neighbours.

The 'sliding Finns' (or Scric Finns) live between Bjarmia and Finnmark in Scricfinia. The name derives from the fact that when they travel they use certain sorts of wooden boards, the front of which is bent in the manner of a bow into a curve. Their way of life is primitive: their main nourishment is fish and the raw flesh of wild animals, and they are clothed in wire-haired skins. Nevertheless, they are highly skilled travellers: no hill is too steep for the sliding Finns to reach the top by skilfully choosing some roundabout way. After leaving the base of the valley, first they ascend the lowest ledges by circulating the area here and there until they attain the peak set as their goal. Occasionally they perform these heroic achievements in the fever of the hunt and sometimes only to compete with each other in resourcefulness and skill. Magical powers are also at the command of the sliding Finns, with which they manage in combat, also against overwhelming enemies.

[shera]

Rockered skis, men taking over the kill...nothing ever changes.

Really cool find there, bozo! Hair in disarray!

[adam]

not that one... Pathfinder 1987, also known as 'Ofelas'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093668/

Ah, ok. I've looked to rent that one in the past but couldn't find where to get it.

[powndnstein]

So I too would like this as a poster, but the link H-Man put up shows the product as no longer available. Anybody have any other ideas on where I might find one?

As a side note, all participants in the Norwegian Birkebeiner must wear a pack (around 15lbs) I think, to represent carrying the young king during the race.

P.S. Sorry for the partial hijack, but I came across this thread (and it had been updated recently) while searching for the poster through google, and figured I might get some insight here. Google sure didn't give me any.

When I bartended at the Stein Ericson Lodge in Deer Valley in 93 there was a large painting in the entrance vestibule to the lodge that was a reproduction in oils of this or it could have been the original. In the flesh it is an inspiring work of art and if it's still there perhaps a maggot in the area could take a photo of it for you and you could have the photo made into a poster. good luck

[shera]

Maggots don't ski at Deer Valley.

[SiSt]

How about some ancient skis?



Diagram by Endre...

[heyyyou]

I didn't see it mentioned in any of the previous posts (though I didn't look real hard either), but you might want to view "Skiing in the Shadow of Ghengis Khan" by Nils Larson.

freeheels.com is the link but for some reason the video isn't listed on the site. I ordered mine from mountaingear.

Basically, there is substantial archeological evidence to suggest that skiing originated in Asia in the Altai region and was eventually adapted by the Scandanavians.

The video is worth having. They show some great footage of the indigeonous people and their skis in use. Also a brief "how they're made" section. Towards the end there are some younger guys catching air on their 10 foot long, solid spruce skis.

[jarlybart]

I got that video from Nils and it's really really great!!! Those skis are crazy and the horse hair on the bottom scares me a bit but I guess that's what it takes to get around in that area. I stood on those skis and there is no way I would ever want to ski on them as I am super happy with today's technology :-) but cool to see someone is doing it the old way. I think Nils made a pair this summer so his Altai skis so he wouldn't ski on the ones that were made for him. If you can get a copy of the video do it as it really is well made and he took a lot of time to travel the region plus Naheed is in it ;-)

[allmountainsnowskating]

Bump

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[allmountainsnowskating]

With the recent explosion of skiing in China following the Beijing Winter Olympics, there seems to be some renewed discussion about the earliest recorded history of skiing.

Some credit the Sami people, but others are crediting the Khom people of Northeast China.

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[allmountainsnowskating]

What I'm wanting to speculate about though is what skiing might have been like before the cave paintings?

It's makes practical sense that skiing would have been around since the dawn of man...

What about even earlier, like human's ape ancestors that would've been grabbing sticks with their opposable thumb toes and skiing around?

Could it even predate that with certain types of ancient animals riding sleds around like powsurfs?

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[SumJongGuy]

What I'm wanting to speculate about though is what skiing might have been like before the cave paintings?

It's makes practical sense that skiing would have been around since the dawn of man...

What about even earlier, like human's ape ancestors that would've been grabbing sticks with their opposable thumb toes and skiing around?

Could it even predate that with certain types of ancient animals riding sleds around like powsurfs?

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[PNWbrit]

human's ape ancestors that would've been grabbing sticks with their opposable thumb toes and skiing around?

Blurred posted recently...

[TBS]

Basically, there is substantial archeological evidence to suggest that skiing originated in Asia in the Altai region and was eventually adapted by the Scandanavians.

The first known use of cannabis in the archeological record is found in the Altai region as well

Coincidence? I think not…

[XXX-er]

mostly what they did on skis was hunt, a deer wallowing around in 2 or 3 ft of pow was easy to chase down on skis

[SumJongGuy]

mostly what they did on skis was hunt, a deer wallowing around in 2 or 3 ft of pow was easy to chase down on skis

Cue the stupid snowboarders chasing the moose video.

[XXX-er]

I might still have the pic of my cousin Thun tuk on my avatar with a pair of DPS that marshal blatenlty copied

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...02763816614796

buddy looks pretty good for 72

[fomofo]

If you’re here you’ll probably enjoy this...

The Last King

Same guy that directed Pathfinder.

[rideit]

mostly what they did on skis was hunt, a deer wallowing around in 2 or 3 ft of pow was easy to chase down on skis

They probably fucked a time or two as well, you betchya.

[allmountainsnowskating]

Blurred posted recently...

What?

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[allmountainsnowskating]

The first known use of cannabis in the archeological record is found in the Altai region as well

Coincidence? I think not…

Mmhmm. Cannabis 12,000 years ago and skiing 10,000 years ago.

Denisovans were out there in the Altai region at least 50,000 years ago making wood carving tools.



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[allmountainsnowskating]

mostly what they did on skis was hunt, a deer wallowing around in 2 or 3 ft of pow was easy to chase down on skis

Then I imagine they'd drag them back on some kind of sled. Would make way more sense to do that on skis

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[allmountainsnowskating]

I might still have the pic of my cousin Thun tuk on my avatar with a pair of DPS that marshal blatenlty copied

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...02763816614796

buddy looks pretty good for 72

What a chill dude lol

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[PNWbrit]

What?

Yeah. Sure it surprised us all.

I thought he'd died in a fryer fire.

[TBS]

Mmhmm. Cannabis 12,000 years ago and skiing 10,000 years ago.

Denisovans were out there in the Altai region at least 50,000 years ago making wood carving tools.

Yeah but were the Denisovans getting baked and shredding big lines?