The Washington times., 1937-12-25
Interest in Ski Sport
Reaches High in D. c..
F Travel
To NearbV
Sites
BY CHICK KENNY

Gone with the wind are the Big
Apple. nah jongg, Ouija boards
midget golf. marathon dancing
ano monopoly. With the wind has
Come skiing.
True, the sport has been catch.
ing on in the United States now
for about three years, gradually;
but now it is definitely upon us
with it's gelandeSprung, Schuss,
stem, christie, sitzmark, slalom
and fancy.dunker, and Washing
ton is no exception.
Because of the highly developed
interest in the sport in these parts
last year. the Pennsylvania Rail.
road and the Baltimore and Ohio
scheduled special snow trains, "
laden with ski enthusiasts, bound
for the snowy mountainsides in
Pennsylvania. The Pennsy sched.
uled these special excursions to
the Poconos, while the Baltimore
and Ohio carried parties to Glen
coe. Md, near the Pennsylvania
State line.
Cons equently, Washington's
sporting gentry and femalery has
definitely gone jordiSh and
Tyrolean.
WHAT Is IT?
But just what is this latest
thrill for the cosmopolites who
have allowed themselves to go
into Mysteries over the new craze?
From where has it come? And
where is it leading us to?
The word "ski" seems to be an
abbreviation of "suski," a Finn
Ugarian word meaning snow.
glide-shoe," and, because that Ian
guage goes back almost 1000
years, the belief exists that skiing
has been means of travel for per-
haps 40 or As centuries.
The oldest ski known to man
was unearthed in northern Sweden
and is said to be about 1000 years
old.
The ski figured prominently in
the wars of the north country
about the year 1900, especially in
Norway and Sweden. When SOL
diers were injured their skis often
served as stretchers or Sleds.
OLD NORWEGIAN WORD
The first competitive type of
skiing in Norway was slalom,
which was the forerunner Of ski
jumping. The word slalom is an
old Norwegian one, the first syl-
liable (sla) meaning sloping
evenly, and the second syllable
0om meaning ski road or ski
track. Skiing as sport, however,
started about 1843.
The sport was introduced in
America as far back as 1853 in
Canada, but it took two Nor.
wegian boys, Torgas and Mikkel
Hemmestvedt, then living in Min
neSota to first actually make the
first ski jumps, late in 1870.
On January 10, 1885, twenty
eight Norwegians met in Red
Wing. Mimi, and formed a ski
club, and two years later staged
the first tournament with Mikkel
Hemmestvedt winning the top
prize.
INTEREST SPREAD
The interest spread and on
February 81, 1904, a national
body of ski enthusiasts was formed
from which the National Ski
Tournament developed. The con-
vention was attended by officials
of clubs in various sections of the
Northern Midwest. This same
body now governs the sport in the
United States today.
There appears to be three dis
tinct methods of technique for
a would-be ski enthusiast to decide
upon. There is the Arlberg tech
nique, as taught by HanneS
Schneider; the American School,
headed by Otto Schneibs; and the
Norwegian trend as expounded by
Tomm Murstad.
If you are the garden variety
of ski-enthuSiast, pitch all these
trends into the ford, and learn
to stand UP on the darn things
first-which is no easy job.
However, there are a few items
of necessity that must not be over
looked if you are going into the
ski sport. The experts tell you that
you must not overlook the problem
of wakes. Possibly with the ex.
ception of style, no other question
brings on so much grief for the
skier. No two skierS ever agree on
wax, even if they're skiing at the
same time, in the same place and
under the same climatic condi-
tionS.
$40 WAKES"
There are base wakes and down
hill wakes. There are cross-country
wakes for corn snow and cross
country wakes for powder snow.
And then there are more wakes.
In fact. there are about 370 COM
binations that can be concocted.
But all this stuff about wakes
may be very important and all