 Poster: A snowHead
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Brand New Skis, 1944 Bavaria
By Ott Gangl -- (c) copyrighted article
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Ott Gangl is retired as a PSIA Level-3 ski instructor after 25 years of teaching four times a week. He was a photojournalist for 35 years and his web site ( http://home.neo.rr.com/ottmar ) displays many of the classic images he has captured on film.
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Growing up in Bavaria, I remember that my parents gave me for Christmas 1944 my very own ski outfit, really just a note saying I could have it. So off to our village shoemaker I went, I was 12 then, and he made me stand on a piece of paper and drew my feet outlines on it, measured the instep height, etc. and said he would get right on them and I could have them in a week.
Then we went to the cabinet maker in the village and he knew how I skied because I had borrowed a pair from him belonging to his son who was also my age, who had the luxury of having two pairs of skies, courtesy of his dad. The cabinet maker said he would also have them in a week since he had a number of pre steamed ash blanks, hickory is not known in Germany.
You can't imagine my heart pounding after that endless week of waiting when we picked up the brand new boots, all shiny and brown with the leather strap and a buckle across the front and the square toe. My new skies made me so proud, they had a lacquered top and the cabinet maker had even put the pitch base on them, all I had to do was iron on the wax.
Leitner may have invented the steel edges by then, but we didn't know about them or need them, we thought, not until we got them.
In the fall my father had cut some nice straight hazelnut branches for poles and taken them to the shoemaker who fitted leather straps to the top, which, along with the skis which had a through slot about a quarter inch by two inches for the bear traps, we took to the local blacksmith who measured the poles and cut them and fashioned a ferule and a square pointy point at the bottom, a hole was drilled where the basket would be and a quarter inch dried and lashed willow twig circle about six inches or so in diameter was fastened with two criss-crossed leather bands to the nail in the hole in the pole.
The blacksmith put the bear traps on by sliding a steel plate through the slot and bending both sides up to fit my boots, they also had a slot on each side near the top for the leather strap which holds the boot down and another pair of slots on the side for the heel binding, which were just leather straps with a buckle. The heel was free to come up and when the leather got wet the straps of the heel bindings would fall off and only the wedged boots in the bear traps would hold us in.
The skis would also get wet on every outing and had to be blocked with a wooden clamp at the tail and just before the bend at the shovel and a spreader block under the bindings and a tip spreader fork, held in place with nails through holes in the fork and the tip which had kind of a nipple on it.
Forgetting to do this one day after skiing would have you see a couple of flat boards the next day...
My new skis had a little problem in that, when blocked, one ski was almost straight while the other one was like a bow, which necessitated me taking them to the shed and wedging the assembly between three fence stakes until the curve was equal on both...
Suffice it to say that on my first day out with my friends I laid down beautiful s-curves which my friends made into figure eights and I never complained about my left ski being a noodle and my right one a plank, I just adjusted my skiing to compensate.
Now to compare those skis to my 200cm Atomic Beta Carves 9.26: I lay down beautiful s-curves with my wife or my friends making them into figure eights...no real difference...
...Ott
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thank You
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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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Ott,
This sport, this skiing thing isn't that old. There are very few people that were there from the early days. The body gets older, the knees aren't the same, you are probably not quiet as fast as you were as a teenager (i'm still talking skiing here  ) but you gotta stay with us. There's always a manhattan at the bar for someone who can tell stories like that.
Das Leben ist zu kurz.
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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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Ott, you rock! More, more, more!
Are you really skiing on 200s?!
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Since you all could figure out that I am old now, I don't mind telling you youngsters what the uphill transportation was for us at that time...I lived in the foothills of the Alps but not too far to the really tall mountains.
The village where I lived was in one valley and the next town, which actually had railroad connection to the outside world, was over a hill in the next valley, with about 800 to 1000 foot elevation in-between, I would guess. A road wound over that hill
connecting the two. We could catch busses, milk wagons pulled by tractors, trucks and even horse drawn sleighs, since the road was always snow covered, no snow plows then.
But we weren't allowed to ride inside of any of these conveyances, we had to hang on behind and catching them was tricky, but we had it down to a science.
We had a long rope with knots in it and a sling on the other end. A half dozen or so of us on skis would stand in line holding onto the rope facing uphill and our strongest skier would wait up on an embankment with the sling. As a bus or truck would come by he would schuss down the embankment timing it so he could hook the sling around the bumper or any other convenient place and hold on for dear life as the rest of us were jerked into motion. Going uphill they were doing 10-15
mph I would estimate.
After some hilarious initial attempts we learned that the weakest skier had to be on the end of the rope, and the rest of them, graded up to the best in the front since we found out that if a weaker skier was in front and would fall he would take the rest of them down with them, but if he fell off at the end, oh well, catch the next one...
Since all the bus drivers and truck drivers were the same local ones all the time, they would watch for us and play games, like breaking hard when the skier came off the bank so as to have him hit the side of the bus and then accelerate trying to run over his skis, but it never happened, they were dealing with agile teenagers...the sling was undone at the top after everyone but the first skier let go, he would hand over hand up to the bumper and hold onto it while he undid the rope.
Well, that was our rope tow (wouldn't lawyers over here have a field day with that one).
From the top of the hill we had a beautiful glade for about 500 ft vertical and then a traverse back to the road.
Oh the fun we had... Some weekends we would strap our skis to the side of our bikes and pedal a couple of hours to the real mountains for some real adventure, but that is another story...
...Ott
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Great stuff. Keep them coming!
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I particularly liked the bit about getting your skis made by the village cabinet maker, and your version of a ski lift 
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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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Once Steven Smith sorts out his moving house and starts posting again I reckon we should set up an old timers' thread for great tales like this. Did I ever tell you about my childhood playing in the bomb sites of South London...
Here's a picture of Steven for those who haven't seen him in action in 1965
Scary thoughts 1) there are folk on this forum who have never skied on "long" skis
2) there are folk on this forum who have never used skis at all
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Some great tales Ott - looking forward to more 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ott, wonderful
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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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Ott - great stuff, more please.
Where in Bavaria did you learn to ski ?
I ask simply because the Bavarian foothills is where I learnt (Lenggries/Christlum) and have seen many photographs of the area in the era you desribe - can picture your early skiing experiences and they've always looked as much fun as you describe them.
Have actually seen people at Lenggries using wooden skis as you describe (and 1 long pole), an inspiring sight.
Long may you continue 
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sat 13-03-04 14:11; edited 2 times in total
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ott, thanks for taking the time and trouble to post.
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You know it makes sense.
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Ott thank you for posting here, I loved reading them.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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So much of what we "newbies" experience is manufactured that it's hard to imagine what things were like once upon a time.
Evocative posts, Ott. Keep 'em coming.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks everybody for your kind words. Now just one Sigi story, the rest will have to wait for another slow day in the future, I don't want to spoil it for you by overload 
....Ott
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When I was 16 in 1948 I bought a pair of real skis with money from working after school, they were Laupheimers and were laminated and thus would hold their camber, and had steel edges, those four inch strips held with wood screws to the skis. Also they had Kandahar cable bindings which could be either skied heel free or could be hooked down near the heel. The first time I saw bamboo was when I got the ski poles, they were great.
Our local ski hill with a rope tow powered by a farmer's tractor was not challenging and had hordes of little kids on it and adults who kept hollering at us to slow down, bummer. So we continued our hang-on adventure during the week after school. About every three weeks we had a school sponsored chaperoned two day bus trip to the mountains for skiing, plus I got to go during school holidays and vacations with my best friend's
parents since mine were non-skiers.
But the best was on weekends when a bunch of us, boys and girls, went to a mountain a couple of hours away by bike, with a little village in the valley. Our parents figured there was safety in numbers since there were usually 14-16 of us so we had one night without adults...
This mountain had a hut on top at the Alm, an Alm is where a farmer's cows are driven up to in May and they stay there grazing until September, with a couple living in the hut and milking daily and making cheese. The drives, both up and down are done with a lot of hoopla, the cows decorated with flowers on their horns and big bells around their necks. The huts are left open all winter with firewood and all utensils intact and anyone who uses them must leave them the way they were found .
We would leave home right after Saturday school (half day until 11 a.m.) and start climbing the mountain by 3 p.m. It was wide open from the top to the bottom and it meant traversing for four hours to reach the top.
Some of the richer kids had skins, but we poorer ones just buckled a short thong around the skis just ahead of the binding making the bottoms ice up, kind of heavy but we didn't slip backward.
Now I must make you aware what motivated us: there was Siglinde, Sigi for short, a tall lanky 16 year old beauty with a big blonde braid down her back, always a twinkle in her eyes, who could outski us all and all of us boys were smitten with her if not even in love, as I was. There is nothing sexier than a beautiful, graceful girl who skis better than you do...all the boys went because of Sigi and the rest of the girls went because the boys went...
It would be dark when we got to the hut and after making a fire cooking and eating supper from the supplies we brought up in our packs, some horse play and telling of stories and singing some songs, we went to sleep on blankets over straw, boys on one side of the room, girls on the other.
Sunday morning it was a snowball fight, girls vs. boys, which ended up by all the boys tackling Sigi and the rest of the girls jumping on the boys.
Once I was first to tackle Sigi and she wrestled me to the snow, not that I resisted much, and she straddled me kneeling over me and stuffing snow into my face while I held her hips and rocked them back and forth pretending to want to get the upper hand....
For weeks there after I had fantasies about me and Sigi which still make me blush just thinking about them. Then it was time to clean the hut and get down the mountain, probably a four mile run. Sigi would lead followed by the boys, watching her stretch pants tighten on her great figure with every turn, and trailed by the rest of the girls.
It was exhiliarating to make new tracks, only crossing our uphill traverses, hootin' and hollerin'.
We would ski right through the church cemetery to the front door of the church, lean our skis against the wall and went to mass. After lunch we packed up and biked home...
Though it seems now like a lot of trouble to go through just for one run, but we got more satisfaction out of that than the constant up and down all weekend at other places...
It was all Sigi's fault...
...Ott
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Memories like these should be in print. Find yourself a good publisher, if you haven't already!
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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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Ott Gangl, ah, a Sigi story! I feel like I'm there with you. Well done, Ott!
What ever happened to Sigi?!
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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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Have you gone back to see her? Or as I'd rather you'd done, not gone back and kept your wonderful memories?
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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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Matteo, she dropped out of sight after marrying my best friend who eventually drank himself to death. She moved and no one knows where she is.
But you are right, I'd just as soon remember her as she was. To meet a 70-year-old now may rupture the dream.
...Ott
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Too true... going back invariably results in disappointment..... those memories are delicious, really evocative.
NIce photos on the website Ott Gangl, but couldn't spot too many skiing ones (mostly pretty girls )... have you got any unusual skiing ones???
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Pete, my web site was created to give away pictures I shot in my career not to display skiing or personal shots.
If there a way to post pictures in this forum, how?
.....Ott
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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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Not in the forum but you can link to other sites, I'm trying to persuade people to put their faces on Snowhead Pics if you'd like to put a pic of yourself on there just email me one and I'll put it up, I'm also happy to put any funny ski related shots up as well such as the one on the what not to wear thread
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Sorry, D G 
....Ott
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Thats O.K. I forgive you because the stories are great
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You know it makes sense.
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Ott Gangl, Why am I not surprised?!!!!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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You're scaring me now, Ott 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That's a lot less disturbing And by the power of Google I now know who Pepi is!
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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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Yep I'll agree with Ian on this one a lot less disturbing
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Ott, I'm looking for a b&w skiing photo or two to illustrate a history page on a (non profit) ski site, something that really 'shows its age'.... if you're interested, please mail me...
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PG, as a newsphotographer I only shot pictures from the late 50s and I don't have any shots that are really 'old'. And I'm very councious of not violating any copyrights so I wouldn't know where to send you. Maybe the skiing hall of fame? Try to google them.
.....Ott
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Thanks Ott... I'll check it out.
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FAQ
, but it was a great story 
