The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-02-20
Championship Skiing
On Maryland Hills

recognized ski championship tourna-
ment ever to be held south of the Ma
son and Dixon Line is scheduled
(snow permitting) for the New Ger
many course in the Savage State for
est. Sponsors of the tournament are
three ski clubs-Baltimor Washing
ton and the Western Maryland-and
it is expected that there will be sixty
contestants and about 500 spectators.
It's "snow permitting" of course,
as has already been pointed out, and
that snow will permit is three-to-
one shot, according to officials of the
State Forestry Service They have the
weather records of those mountains
for more than twenty years and these
show that during January and Febru-
airy there is usually plenty of snow
there Data gathered during the win
ter of '39-'40 show that from 10 to
121 inches of snow fell in the noun
tains during December, January and
February-and it was good skiing
snow, too.
Furthermore, there is another re-
assuring note: The Washington Ski
Club as early as last spring checked
the weather among the oldest inhab-
itants of these Garrett county noun
tains and found that for years they
have had heavy snow falls every win
ter. And further, that this snow lasts
fairly we'll into March. Naturally
there is no point in tempting fate by
overemphasizing the point-but the
prospects are excellent.
BaItimoreans Taking Part
Among the outstanding Baltimore
skiiers expected to participate are
Amos Little, member of the Dart
mouth team in 1937-40; Paul Jordan,
who has skiied in contests in Germany
and this country; DR.. William KEN
per, one Of the founders of the two
months-old Baltimore Ski Club; DIR.
Winslow Hartford, Miss Dorothy
Moore, Miss Regina Flanagan, Paul
Berge, Leroy Hutchins and Carl
Hasse.
Representative of the ski clubs of
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia
and Penn State college are expected
to participate in the contests. In addi-
ton, independent skiiers from Will
mington, Hagerstown, Chestertown,
Frederick and various places in Viz
ginia will enter.
There are to be five events in the
tournament-downhill racing Satur-
day afternoon, a cross-country race
Sunday morning, slalom racing Sun
day afternoon. Participants in these
must be experienced skiiers. The two
other events-a slalom and down.
hill race-are reserved for novices.
The down-hill race will be on a
slope 5000 feet long with an 800-foot
fall between it's top and bottom. Those
who know say it is a fine course vary
ing from 80 to so feet wide-and,
unique among ski courses, it's sides
are bordered with rhododendron bush
es. The slalom course is neither as
long nor as steep, being just 600 feet
from bottom to top with an average
slope of about Is degrees. The ski eX-
perts say as seconds will be required
to come down it. And when you figure
in all the curves one makes weaving
through the course marked by the
flags, that, too, is going to be pretty
exciting.
4-Mile Cross-Country Course
The cross-country course is about
four miles long. 1t will be over paths
cut in the woods by the State Forest
ny Service and, according to DR.. KEN
per, it has done fine job.
One of the most interesting of the
events-that is if you get laugh out
of people falling headlong in the snow
will be the slalom for novices. Even
so, slaloming is said to be one of the
best ways to learn skiing, that is if
the flags are so adjusted as to slow
down the speed a bit. Slaloming aids
in the development of technique and
of control, for head work is as neces-
Sary as foot work
Farmers Find Profits
Here are some words of advice to
the amateur from a famous Olympic
star: "When in competition take plen-
ty of time to study the course. Ana
lyze each set of flags and plan the
best way to run them. Study so thor
oughly you can visualize the whole
course and your proposed path down
it. You literally should be able to
draw diagram of the whole slalom
without looking down the hill again.
Once you start you will have no time
to think of how to run set of flags.
You must know beforehand. Avoid a
long wait at the start-this would
help induce nerves and the resulting
tense muscles"
Farmers in the State forest (there
are quite number of them there)
have been busy with paying guests
since the Mountain Club of Mary
lands forty skiing members and their
friends have been disporting them
selves there this winter These skiiers
have spent many weekend there
lately slaloming and gliding down the