 Poster: A snowHead
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I am fascinated when looking at pictures of skiers from yesteryear.... you know, a 50 year old women in long dress, wearing plain leather boots tied onto two planks of wood. She probably hiked or climbed up the mountain and then proceeded to ski down an un-marked, un-groomed slope.
Anyway, I just wonder if any of you have skied using old gear and what it would be like? Would it be a case of taking years and years of practice just to get to a reasonable standard? I suppose the latest technology allows for skiing more varied and extreme terrains, and achieving higher speeds. Possibly the steeper learning curve nowadays makes the sport more accessible and appealing than having to persevere with long thick planks of wood whilst holding a broom handle - I don't really know.
Then we have the pistes, the lifts and the thousands of ski instructors - don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a return to what must have been a very demanding and inconvenient pastime - maybe the skiing ethos was different, more akin to a social Sunday stroll in the park as opposed to a frantic 45 minutes of five-a-side football.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We've all done it though haven't we? Maybe not with planks of wood on our feet, but we've all slid down a slope on a heavy duty bin liner, or tea tray, or piece of car. Maybe there's something about us that when we see a slope covered in snow, we just want to slide down it somehow.
We mustn't forget also, that nowadays many just enjoy skiing as a recreational activity, but for much longer than that, it has been an important mode of transport.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hywel, I've not done it myself but my father used to have to walk to the start of the piste before skiing, I even have a piste map from the early 1950's though to say piste's would be wrong, more like trails as in those days there were no piste machines, in those days a typical day might mean a climb to altitude over perhaps 5 or more km in deep snow carrying skis, a short break for a bite to eat then a long run down the mountain on effectively all off piste, I've heard people say that these oldtime skiers would not have been able to compete with modern skiers but I would suggest that if you gave them new gear and a few days to get used to it that they would have blown us all off the mountain, they were definately much fitter in those days
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hywel, interesting question. I suppose skiing back then was all what we now call Off Piste or Back Country combined with a fair amount of walking and climbing (now called Nordic and Ski Touring). With lifts and Piste Bashers we essentially invented a new sport: Piste Skiing. And, if you think about it, the bashed piste is essentially an Artificial Slope - just a longer version of Xscape, but out-of-doors.
How would those old guys cope with modern equipment? Well, from a controlled trial of one: not very well. But my father-in-law was a very stubborn man (now in Heaven, and may he forgive me for my comments). He learnt to ski in the army after the 2nd World War in Austria. No piste bashers, but they did mock up some sort of ski lifts from winches. He skied the way of the time, which seems to have involved throwing yourself round the turns, all brute force and rotation. And of course his skis were 10 feet long, and leather boots with laces that were welded to the skis. He did no more skiing after the war, until we took him to Obergurgl as a Grandpa aged 65. He refused to have any lessons, and insisted on skiing His Way. Remarkably he didn't injure himself or anyone else, and continued to ski this way in various resorts until he was 70 when his knees gave out. I think he was quite a good skier in his youth, but he looked more like an unguided missile on modern equipment.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Jonpim, Modern equipment could have been the problem. Maybe he would have been better on the kit he had been brought up on? I knew a seniorr chap who couldn't be persuaded that he should discard his old leather boots, and somehow persuaded them to fit the bindings of the mid-1980s. Neddless to say he didn't ski at a high standard.
However, my very rusty memory of my ski instructor of 1961 - an Austrian instructing in New Zealand - is of someone who skied fairly fluently. Mind you, he was teaching callow youth snowplough truns, and stem christies to those who got really advanced. But not throwing the body into the turn.
We walked from our hut quite a distance to a simple rope tow. We were using leather boots, and long wooden skis with cable bindings. There were no piste bashers - but I remember hard-packed snow - perhaps because the soft stuff in our area had been skied out. A great school trip. Sadly, I didn't ski again for over 20 years. I've tried to make up for that since!
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Time for a reminder link to steven smith skiing in the early '60s in his leather boots. (there are 3 pics of him if you visit the album)
steven is still in the throes of moving but eventually hopes to get broadband in his new place - I'm looking forward to his snowHeads registration 
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Wow, Alan, apart from the gloves and specs, I think I am wearing almost the same as Steven just sitting here posting.
Here's an even older pic.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The problem with the "old" way of ski-ing - I learnt in lace-up boots and cable bindings - was that it put so many people off. As a 12 year-old it was very difficult to carry those huge planks around, then get the snow removed from the sole of your boot enough to do the bindings up. And the straps - no ski brakes then. But the worst humiliation was having to get my dad to tighten up the laces on my boots every few hours. My sister gave up the fight after two years - why suffer an endurace test when you're supposed to be on holiday?
While it's tempting to wax lyrical and claim that the young 'uns of today don't know they're born, it's imprtant to remember that ski-ing is much much safer now and, personally, I'm really pleased that snow-boarding and blading have opened the sports up, so it's no longer seen as elitist. Maybe we are cissies now, Hywel, but there's really no virtue in suffering for it's own sake. If I had to walk farther 500metres to the nearest lift I'd have given up by now.
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scream, It's great to get a view from someone who tried "real" skiing years ago... I suppose what you say confirms that the newer equipment, lifts, pistes etc allow for a steeper learning curve. Quicker improvement giving rise to more satisfaction, enjoyment and commitment and broader appeal to the sport.
As regards waxing lyrical about days gone by, someone (not sure who!) once said...."Nostalgia ain't what it used to be..."
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hywel, they were wrong, it is.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Nick Zotov..... NZ by any chance? Which would explain your words "....my ski instructor of 1961 - an Austrian instructing in New Zealand..."
Cleverly hiding out in the open? Takes one to know one.
Course I could be wrong.
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I, but when I were a lad.........
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You know it makes sense.
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I too learned on wooden skis with cable bindings and lace-up boots in the late 50s and early 60s (and I still have the skis and boots) but it was only a bit different (for example the skis were waisted, though not nearly as much), Sure it was a bit of bother doing up the boots, but not much. The worst was the ski straps to stop the ski running away (but tangled your legs and skis in a fall).
Anyway, now I'm an off-piste skier I walk more than I did then (a half hour walk to find a good slope is quite normal, particularly if it hasn't snowed for a few days.
It was the early skiers like my father, who skied before the war, who had it very different. I'll try to find a pre-war picture of him skiing (and one of me in the 50s).
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