Evening star., 1936-12-27


either is coming or one may 60 to 1t
without going far, thoughts are turn
ing to skis.
It Is Q real pleasure to tell those
about to initiate themselves in the
sport, what it Is all about, and the
indignities which have to be suffered.
Skiing Is the art by which, while
standing on two slippery planks, with
. couple Of pointed sticks in hand, it Is
possible to travel much faster than
the skier wants to. down frightful
inclines, bordered by vast precipices
millions Of feet in height. to sud-
den. damp and very undignified stop.
There Is no object in all this travel.
1t Is not . question of getting from
point A to point B for any specific
reason. or from crash to crash again.
but its great fun for all that.
Now, one snow-covered slope is
much like another snow-clad slope,
whether it be in Canada. Switzerland,
Norway or any other country. But
let's take Grindelwald in the Bernese
Oberland of Switzerland for the novice
to take his first fall. because In
Switzerland skiing is not sport so
much as an industry, almost an entire
nation catering to the sportsmen from
the States. England and Germany.
Out Into the Snow. ..
Issuing forth from the hospitable
walls of the Hotel Belvedere. after
breakfast of wonderful French rolls.
honey and coffee, the guide marches
the would-be sportsman out to throw
himself about in the snow.
Practice starts on what Is so aptly
named the nursery slopes" The man
who thought up that name must have
had q real sense of humor, because
nothing could be more baby like than
. novice Graded on his back in the
lovely white snow with his be-skied
legs waving impotently in the air,
struggling once more to regain Q YER
tical poise.
At first. the skis will be either in
sufficiently waxed. or overwaxed. In
the former case, the victim will walk
sedately and very firmly down the hill.
carrying about 20 pounds Of snow
balled under each ski. The guide will
gently chide him. saying. "the ski
are meant to slide, Herr Hemingway,
to walk one wears boots. Let us more
wax apply"
Perhaps the sportsman, in his dud-
geon, then overwaxes the accursed
: timbers-then things are different,
startlingly different. Having clipped
the bewitched boards once more to
boot. the novice leaps up with shrill
cries of joyous anticipation at the
thought of the exhiliarating run ahead
of him-well the skis are willing
enough, they start-quickly. but not
50 the sportsman, he lies down
quickly.
Changes Tactics.
This time exercising trifie more
caution, he stands up again. and
man and skis move of together for
. brief spell until such time as one.
two or all three Of them decide to
take different paths. The man ap-
parently comes to the conclusion
that 3 sharp rest would be In order
and lies down again. He rests an
awful lot in the snow, but eventually.
after many stops, he gets better and
better, until one day he finds that
he can actually run.
Now. having learned to turn at the
halt. he must do 30 on the run. He
must also learn to stop correctly, be.
cause. a. young Hauser. the instruc-
tor will have it, "the posterior hui
man vas nefer designed to be used
Is q brake to stem the herr's head
long rush. Better far is it to use the
sh or the sticks"
The turns come under four head
ings. the Stem turn, the Telemark.
the Cristiania and the Teleania.
stemming. Hauser will tell him. is
done by putting most Of the weight
on the inside ski. stemming round
with the other, and round you go,
but in actual practice he just falls
down, a. usual.
The Telemark BY throwing the full
weight on the heel Of the outside ski
he falls down, and the other two are
explained at length, but he falls down
anyway, 20 what the heck. The
Jump turn comes later. There he Is
told to leap into the air, turn. land
ing at right angles to the original
course and stop dead, but he will
refuse to discuss what happened to
him while trying this invention Of
VIRGTNTA