| Show Z ca r NN 0 K I 1 N at A etzi S cwg k kv A off for a days seii skiing 1 9 thrilling winter sport that Is popular in our mountainous regions prepared by national geographic society washington D C service AMERICAS skiing season is on snow and weather conditions are right and railroads are publicizing the accommodations of their special ski trains when one has learned to enjoy it skiing wins an affection akin to that of a golf addict for his game no other sport to a skier is so much a matter of self skiing is essentially a solo performance A sportsman writes in my own limited experience I 1 have tried many sports polo has its tremendous thrills but after all the horse does much of the work scull ing has its charms but also its labors I 1 have never ridden a free surfboard perhaps that is as thrilling for the sport resembles skiing I 1 have soloed gliders soaring certainly is tops but even there the machine introduces an impersonal element 1 I suppose the first man to stand on the top of everest will have a feeling of personal achievement beyond that of any other mountaineer but in a more humble way every skier who stands at the top of a beautiful unmarked stretch of new snow waiting for the clean flowing track of his own skis experiences that exaltation it is like being the first one out in the crisp frosty air of an autumn morning the f skier gets a chance to breathe it before anybody else has breathed it racing on skis Is thrilling g racing has its place it is a thrill to see a well co confident runner come streaking down a narrow trail cutting a hot corner by a graceful quick thrust with his heels and an almost instantaneous skidding of his skis which changes their course or to watch a skier in a slalom race riding a steep slope in easy schusses ses checking his speed with broken ens cris ties or tail wagging taking deep or soft snow in a graceful telemark or steered turn some racers crouch very low to keep their center of balance near the ground others ride erect and confident the most experienced make their control movements so easily that they seem to float while the skis do the turns tempo stuff that the acme of controlled skiing but a person alone in the wilderness finding a pair of skis and kno knowing ing what they were could find fun long before he found technique As a child on the kenwood hills behind my home in minneapolis said a skier 1 I learned to stand on skis then to walk on them then to run on them then to slide on them and then to stop and maybe fall fal i down on them no matter what language one uses to name it that sequence is about all that skiing is I 1 used to crouch down when I 1 was afraid of falling jt it was 25 years before I 1 knew I 1 was doing an arlberg crouch 1 I still lose patience when I 1 hear some fairly good veteran chilling the ambitions of a would be skier with a display of ski terminology yet even the most kindhearted kind hearted group of novice skiers each owning skis and harnesses from which price marks have not rubbed off will register derision when they notice some uninstructed girl or boy with a pair of store skis having only the leather loop P or toe strap on them toe is a word of open scorn children always have learned skiing with only toe stra straps ps grown people will find for themselves that toe roe straps are good for nothing except straight ahead easy slides A pr pair of skis which do not turn with the feet obviously cannot be controlled when a grown girl attempts to ski with high heeled shoes it is absurd when she falls and twists her ankle as she well may her suffering is just a reward for her stupidity girls however must be credited with much of ski ings popularity many no doubt became interested w when hen attractive ski costumes were made available they looked so swagger in the clothes that they had to carry on buy skis board the snow trains and become skiers and when all the pretty girls were going on the snow trains they were not going alone said an old timer 1 I have no intention of ever running the full headwall in tuckerman ravine on mount washington my racing days are all behind me the only skiing championship I 1 hold and cherish is the neighborhood championship won for riding down the vertical pitch from the high tee by the bridge on the winchester mass golf course on a single ski without falling to have the worlds most extensive network of down mountain trails more than miles of them as new england has guarantees its popularity as a mountain runners paradise many of the existing trails despite the effort to classify them as expert intermediate and novice vary so much from day to day with weather and snow conditions that under certain circumstances even some of the novice trails will scare the beginner new england trails after all how much multitude appeal is there in mountain trails with such reassuring names as hells highway chin clip nose dive wildcat and thunderbolt those are actually the names of five new england trails they have sp spectator appeal people would want to go an and d watch others risk their necks on them obviously if a steep mountain trail has plenty of turns a skier will automatically slow down when he makes the turns or in trying to turn he will fall harmlessly in either case he has killed the speed which can be so dangerous A mountain trail with such frequent turns would not be f fast ast enough for olympic caliber racing runners most of the new england eggland down mountain trails were laid out according to the preferences of racing men fortunately new england has not stopped with its down mountain network skiing like golf requires f facilities a cili ties and c communities omm unities sensing the winter business possibilities cities have undertaken to provide suitable open slopes woods roads new connecting trails slopes which can be floodlighted flood lighted for nighttime skiing the snow trains which brought 35 skiers to new england ski a reas areas during the winter of 1935 5 have created an interesting new problem it is difficult for the new york new haven and hartford railroad for example to locate areas near enough to new york for a one day excursion train trip where the snow is is sure to be satisfactory and where the skiing terrain can accommodate thousands of skiers weekend week end snow trains the f first regular snow train was run by the boston and maine railroad from boston in 1931 that winter these trains carried passengers pass eners la last st winter they carried passengers SO 80 per cent of whom were skiers being nearer the more mountainous section of new england the boston and maine has a wider choice of one day snow train destinations ti than th the e new haven however new york has solved that problem by introducing the weekend P snow train |
