EVOLUTION OF SKIING/THE SKI

Very first SKIS

• Invented in Eurasia 10,000 years ago (approximately)
• Made of wood
• Just used for hunting
• Very thin
• No edges
• Resembled cross-country skis

1800S-1900S SKIS

• Just switched to alpine
• Starting to make them cambered
• Beginning to get closer to modern-day skis
• Have metal edges
• Starting to be used for recreation
• No honeycomb
• The National Ski Patrol was established (1938) and after a ski patroller was certified they would receive a “national number”
• Many skis during this time were still wooden
• This ski is from the 1950s or the 1960s

MODERN-DAY SKIS

• Made of carbon
• More variety of style
• Some are Honeycomb
• Shorter
• Wider
• Variety of build for varied terrain

IMPORTANT NAMES

• Guido Reuge (invented alpine bindings)
• Hjalmar Hvam (invented first useful release bindings)
• Approximately 10,000 years ago Eurasians (inventors of the first ever skis and ski skins)
• Billy Kidd and Jimmy Heuga (first American men to win medals in Olympic downhill skiing, bronze and silver)
• Buddy Werner (first American male to win a major European combined)
• Roger F Langley (founder of the National Ski Patrol)
• Jessica Higgins and Kikkan Randall, first American women to win an Olympic gold medal in cross country skiing

IMPORTANT DATES

• 10,000 years ago (APPX year that skis were invented)
• 1850 (year that cambered skis were invented)
• 1886 (year that the first ski manufacturing factory was established)
• 1924 (year that first Winter Olympics were held, only cross country events)
• 1936 (when aluminum poles where invented
• 1938 (year that the National Ski Patrol was established)

SOURCES

• https://www.skiinghistory.org/history/short-history-skis-0
• https://skiinghistory.org/history/timeline-important-ski-history-dates
• https://www.nsp.org/NSPMember/About_Us/NSPMember/About_Us/About.aspx?hkey=8...
• Hugh Johnson II