Snow and Skis

SKIING, an ancient sport and our newest industry, will lure the multitudes to the hills this winter. For its devotees there are books which will explain the fundamentals to the beginner, give information on advanced technique and equipment to the more experienced, and vicarious pleasure through photographs to the non-participant.

The Wonders of Skiing, by Hannes Schneider and Arnold Fanck (Scribners, $7.50), does all three. The second English edition of this sturdy hook has just appeared. It was Hannes Schneider who developed and, through his famous skiing school at St. Anton in the Austrian Tyrol, gave to the world what has become known as the Arlberg or Alpine technique, whose catchword is vorlage or forward lean, the principle of keeping the body of the runner always perpendicular to the slope. As the Arlberg system is rapidly becoming the universal system, and as Arnold Fanck has translated Schneider practice into lucid theory and detailed description of its application, The Wonders of Skiing may be called the complete book on skiing. Its 242 photographs and 1100 cinema reproductions, all taken in the Alps, illustrate every conceivable phase of cross-country and downhill skiing.

For the benefit of those who already own this book, it should be said that this second edition contains only slight changes; Arnold Fanck has written a new introduction mentioning certain refinements, tending toward still greater emphasis on vorlage, which should enable the experienced runner to dispense with the stemming operation in the interest of more speed. The text itself remains unchanged, with the single exception of some slight revision in the section on ‘bindings.’

But The Wonders of Skiing is too large a book to carry about while in the hills. When professional instruction is not available, the American skier anxious to get full enjoyment from the sport will need a terse book simply written and clearly illustrated, explaining the principles and describing the necessary turns. The best of several volumes which I have seen, aimed at. this need, is Downhill Skiing, by Otto Lang (Holt, $1.25). Mr. Lang learned under Hannes Schneider, taught last year in New Hampshire, and will this winter direct skiing schools in the State of Washington. He not only knows how to teach skiing, but how to express himself in compact sentences which cannot be misunderstood. ‘The most important law, the cardinal rule of skiing, is the principle of projecting the weight of the body always forward, so that the vertical axis of the body is at least perpendicular to the slope. That is what is called vorlage. Vorlage means standing on your skis, means being always ahead of your skis with your body. The faster you go, the steeper the slope becomes, the more vorlage you will need.’

Elsewhere the author devotes a few pages to dynamic principles. ‘ We control the skis by not allowing them to take the line of maximum speed as it is their very natural tendency to do. And we do this by traversing a slope and by turning.’ ‘ One can change the direction of the skis only when they are unweighted. . . . So in order to make a turn one has either to unweight first one ski, lead it into the new desired direction, and then follow the same procedure with the other ski; or to unweight both skis at a time and bring them around.’ Simple sentences, and well worth emphasizing.

This book should find favor among the uninitiated for its emphasis on grace and the perfection of technique, rather than the smashing of speed records. It is solely an instruction book for those learning to ski. It contains no information about equipment or about racing. A word about the admirable photographs. They focus on the skier and the snow immediately surrounding him. They are not spectacular; their purpose is to

complement and clarify the adjacent text. Only incidentally are they beautiful photographs.

For the ambitious competitor, High Speed Skiing, by Peter Lunn (Stephen Daye Press, $1.50), will be found useful more for the light it throws on such controversial topics among racers as waxing, bindings, reenforced edges, and the care of equipment, than for its discussion of the various turns and their application. The author is himself a racer, not a teacher, and in his book pretends to set down only what he has learned from his experience. The racer may profit from what he has to say, but the beginner will find less confusing instruction elsewhere.

Ski Tracks, edited by Charles and Percy Olton (Morrow, $3.00), is a book of photographs of skiing in America with a foreword by Charles H. Proctor. Many will want to own this book not alone because it so strikingly captures the thrill of the sport and the beauty of winter scenes, but for the shots of American skiing centres, snow trains, and faces familiar to them. Unfortunately the sharp outlines which one associates with snow scenes are somewhat lost by the process of reproduction which tends to blur for the sake of artistic effect.

If you want to know the best places to ski in this country and at what time of year, what equipment to> buy and where you may buy it, what association to join if you are a ‘joiner,’ where downhill races and jumping competitions are held, what American men and women were on our last Olympic skiing team and how they fared, how to patch up a broken ski or a broken leg in the wilderness, or whether anyone cares about promoting safety on skis, you wall find it all and much more in the American Ski Annual, edited by the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association. This well-illustrated paper-bound volume, with advertisements in front and back, provides as complete a picture as there is available of skiing activity in America. Its 196 editorial pages were apparently opened to anyone who had a constructive or entertaining thought on any subject pertaining to skiing, and the result is well worth the modest price of admission.

SUMNER PUTNAM