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History of Skiing Past and Present by Jason Lewis.

You know the pulse racing saying, “First one down the hill wins?”
Did you know that skiing as we know it today has evolved from its original use? Used as a way of life it was a vital means of transportation and was used for work, hunting and exploring in a climate that received a large quantity of snow to the popular exciting sport that we know these days.

The oldest skis were found in Norway, where it’s assumed that the first skiers tied bones of large animals to their boots with leather straps. Short skis were found in Sweden, believed to be the oldest skis, which date back to 4500 years old. Cave and rock drawing also imply skis were in use even before this time. During this time, however, skiing was not used as a sport but for survival. Skiing was so popular with the Vikings that they worshipped Ull and Skade, their own named god and goddess of skiing. According to records, there was a time when Skis were used in a war. This was during the Battle of Oslo, Norway (A.D. 1200) where Norwegian scouts used Skis to spy on Swedish enemies. In 1747, a Norwegian military Ski company was formed. Regular ski drills became commonplace and this has been said to be where the first use of leather straps around the heel, in combination with the toe-strap, came into existence to keep the ski from falling off when skiing downhill.

Skiing was introduced into Central Europe as early as the close of the 16th century and as time progressed, people in the Telemark area in Norway began to develop skiing as a finer art. In the early 1700’s, these people began to use skis to make downhill descents, and they were fond of making jumps. This was the beginning of skiing as we know it today. The jumps and downhill descents became known as the Nordic style.

The development of modern skiing as we know it was making strides in 1850 by a Norwegian name Sondre Norheim. He created skis by typing twisted wet birch roots to his boots, and waited until the roots dried. These binding allowed for better control than the old leather straps, and now it was possible to make new turning motions. Soon afterwards, in 1896, and Austrian named Mathias Zdarsky from Austria demonstrated the skill of pushing one ski at an angle to control speed. Another Austrian, Hannes Schneider, continued to refine these skills in the early 1900s and started the first formal Method of Ski Instruction (frequently known as the Arlberg technique). Because of the new developments, and the change in style, this new form of skiing became known as Alpine Skiing.

Around this time, skiing was changing into a competitive sport. In 1921, the first slalom race was held in Switzerland, and Alpine Skiing events were added to the Winter Olympics in 1936. During this time, skiing was becoming a popular pastime activity in Europe. Around this time, a ski lift was invented, which contributed to the popularity. Ski resorts were opened after World War II in Austria and Switzerland.

Skiing has continued to grow in popularity and is very much a popular activity for kids with skiwear brands developing ranges of children's ski clothing to meet demand. In less than one hundred years, there are choices of popular ski resorts world-wide. Different schools of thought about different methods exist, but meanwhile ski manufacturers are refining their products for the ever-evolving sport, making it faster, safer, and more navigable to race down the hills. You can find a wealth of information on skiing, and it has turned into such a popular sport that you can watch it on TV for the competitions from people around the world. Nowadays, Skiing has certainly taken the world by storm and is the most popular winter sport.