Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-12
NORWEGIAN SKI RUNNING.
An Attractive Mode of LOcOmOtiOn ms
Described by DR.. hansen.
Dr. Nansen in Land and Water.

An Attractive Mode of Locomotion ms
Described by DR.. Nansen.
DIR. Nansen in Land and Water.
1t is very difficult task to explain to one
who has never seen ski ski running what
it really means. Skis are really very simple
instruments. They consist of two long, mar
row strips of wood. pointed and curved up
ward in front In Norway the ski is gen
orally about seven or eight feet in length
and from three to four inches in breadth.
At the center under the foot they will be
about an inch thick or little more, bc> ell
ing off to about a quarter of an inch 1t
either end. The under surface Is fiat often
with a groove along the middle. and is
made as smooth as possible. They are fast
ened to the feet by loop for the toe, fixed
near the center of the ski, and band which
passes from this round behind the heel OF
the shoe and which can be tied very tight.
1 remember an incident which happened
to acquaintance of mine in America
many years ago. He was an engineer. and
was surveying for railway far west on
the prairies The winter had set in. and
deep snow had covered the fields. Being
skllful ski runner, he made himself pair
Of ski. The same day he had been out try
ing these for the first time group OF In
dams came upon a track consisting Of two
parallel grooves burrows in the snow.
and, never having seen a similar track be
fore, they followed it up to make out what
kind of an animal 1t might originate from.
Norwegian's cottage. where they saw two
strips Of wood leaning against the wall.
They measured the tracks and they meas
ured these wooden things, and found that
they were exactly the same breadth.
And now followed very close investiga-
ton Of these marvellous creatures, which
were carefully measured on all sides. When
the Norwegian by chance. came out of
his cottage door the natives darted away
from the ski and looked at something else,
pretending not even to have noticed them.
Now ynerfo CHI fhnvN lnyrr hn
ski and how they were used. They wished
now to try them. but using them they
were accustomed to do their snowshoes
they made slow progress and found them
poor and slippery.
The Norwegian then put them on and pro-
posed to with the Indians, and they
were quite willing. But the surprise Of
these swift Indians, on their light snow
shoes, was great when they discovered that
they were only able to keep pace with him
for a few hundred yards. and then rapidly
dropped behind even though they were rae
ing over their wel-known praries. After
ward the Norwegian helped than to make
ski, and some of the Indians learned to use
them tolerably well. although men who are
not trained to use ski from early boyhood
very seldom become skillful ski runners.
The motion employed in skiing has no re-
semblance to that employed in skating.
While they are moved the ski are always
kept strictly parallel and as close together
as possible. and should not be lifted from
the ground-like Canadian snowshoes. On
fiat ground they SnOulQ constantly be Kept
gliding over the surface of the snow. while
being driven forward by alternate strokes
from the hips and thighs, and the body is
thrown forward in each stride. The length
of the stride may be increased by rropul-
sion Of the staff which the ski runner car
ries in his hand.
Up HILL II the gradient be steeD, the ski
runner will have to tack from side to side,
following zigzag course, or 90 sideways.
bringing the ski almost TO a right angle
with the slope. But down hill the ski run
ner often goes with a tremendous speed,
and then It may well be possible that he
could 'outstrip the birds in flight" The ski
now slides readily, and the sleeper the slope
the greater the speed, the one thing neces-
sary being to maintain the balance and to
steer clear Of all difficulties. such as trees
and precpices. The ski runner can 20
everywhere, over hill and valley, and nolh-
ing stops him so long there is sufficient
snow to move over.
A great art in ski running is the jumping
upon ski 1t is generally done down steep
hillsides, which in the middle have some
natural breaks in the ground or where a
bank of snow is built. Sliding with great
pace from the top of the hill onto this bank,
the jumper. owing to the sudden break in
the ground, is thrown far into the air. and
after longer or shorter journey through
space. he alights on the slope below and
continues his headlong course at an even
greater speed than before. AS a rule. he
will even very much increase the length Of
the projecting bank. The length Of such
jumps is very generally seventy of eighty
feet. and In the later years jumps exceeding
Ona hundred feet are recorded