Skiing as a sport began about 186o in the Norwegian district of Telemark and rapidly spread over all the Scandinavian peninsula. The climax of the racing season is the great international ski tournament held annually in February at Holmenkollen, 6m. from Oslo. This famous contest was first held in the year 1892, Swed ish skiers being present : a few weeks later the first international ski races were organized in Stockholm. The "Norwegian Derby" is divided into two parts, the first devoted to jumping contests, the other to long-distance racing. The take-off for the jumping contests is built into the side of a hill, and each competitor must jump three times. No staff is allowed and no jump is counted if the jumper falls in alighting. The distances covered are extra ordinary, 58.5o metres being the record. The jumper, starting a distance up the hill, descends at top speed, stoops as he nears the take-off, and launches himself into the air with all his force. He maintains an erect position until he reaches the ground, alighting with bended knees, on both feet, one a little in advance of the other and "giving" with his legs to overcome the force of the fall and to preserve his balance. Another feature is double jumping, performed by two persons hand in hand. The highest prize is the King's Cup. The principal distance race is over a difficult course of about 20 miles. The record for 25km. (i52 miles) is 2hr., 7 minutes. A Lapp once covered 22okm. (about 138 miles) in 2ihr. 2 2 min., the country being level. Skiing is very popular in Norway with both men and women ; in fact it may be called the national sport of Norway. The sport has been introduced into other countries where the winter is severe, and has become very popular in Switzerland and the United States, especially in Minnesota and the Rocky Mountain country. The mails be tween Chile and the Argentine republic are carried in winter by relays of Norwegian ski-runners, about 30o being employed. The ski worn by them are usually shod with horn. Ski cannot be used with advantage during a thaw or where the snow is less than 6in. deep. On this account, and because of their general un wieldiness, they are less convenient in thick forests than the Indian snow-shoe, though faster in the open country.
In Great Britain the use of the ski has been encouraged by the activities of several ski clubs. The Ski Club of Great Britain, founded in 1903, was for years recognized as the governing body for the sport. In 1908 the Alpine Ski Club was started, and membership confined to those who qualified for election by tours on ski in the High Alps. This club was founded entirely for the mountaineer who climbed on ski. In 1912 the British Ski Association was formed ; this body had aims very sim ilar to those of the Ski Club of Great Britain and in 1924 the two clubs amalgamated and jointly became known as the Ski Club of Great Britain, and as such is the governing body for the sport in the British Isles. According to Arnold Lunn in a "History of Skiing" in the Year-Book of the Ski Club of Great Britain (1925), ski were used in Cumberland in the 19th century and probably in Devonshire 30o years ago.
Ski-ing in Germany was almost unheard of until Wilhelm Paulke was given a pair of ski for a present, about the year 1883. Paulke afterwards became the pioneer of skiing in his country, and together with two Norwegians who ascended The Brocken in 1884 was responsible for the foundation of the sport in Germany. In 1890 the first German ski club was formed; it was called the "Ski Club Munich." The first ski competitions were held in Germany in 1896.
In 1883 the monks of St. Bernard were pre sented by a traveller with a pair of ski, and six years later the friars had become skiers indeed, for the monastery owned about a dozen pairs of ski, and races were held. This seems the earliest record of skiing in Switzerland, but the sport seems to have really gained ground after the year 1889 when a Norwegian, 0. Kjelsberg, made some ascents on ski. The first Swiss ski club was formed in the year 1893 and was called "The Ski Club Glarus" —and in 1902 the first ski races were held at Berne. This was
not a championship meeting, however, and it was not until the year 1905 that the first Swiss championship meeting was held at Glarus.
Ski-ing in France dates from the great exhibition of 1878 in Paris. Swedish ski were a feature of one of the exhibits, and were afterwards the property of M. Duhamel, who attempted to use them without any conspicuous success. In the year 1893, some ski-runners appeared in the Bois de Boulogne; their efforts were not very enlightening and the French people were derisive. However, three years later the first French ski club was formed with headquarters at Grenoble, and was called the Ski Club des Alpes, and French skiing really became popular at Chamonix in 1898.
Canada's natural resources made it an ideal country for skiing, and in the Laurentians it has become one of the most popular winter pastimes. The early pioneers were members of the universities who, fresh from a tour in Europe, had seen ski running and jumping at Davos; and students at McGill university were soon practising on the narrow Scandinavian type of racing ski. The famous Revelstoke hill is the world's fastest "jumping hill"; it was on this that Nels Nelson jumped 2o2ft.
The largest ski resort in Aus tralia is Mt. Kosciusko in New South Wales; here there is an excellent hotel well equipped for the ski enthusiasts who f ore gather for the meetings organized by the Mt. Kosciusko Ski Club. In New Zealand the popularity of skiing as a sport has yet to become established, although the mobile value of the ski has been demonstrated in no uncertain way on the Tasman Glacier.
Ski have been used for military purposes by the northern peoples for several centuries, and of late years other nations which have mountainous regions of snow have turned their attention to this most useful mode of winter march ing. The army of Sweden (under Gustavus Adolphus and his suc cessors one of the foremost in Europe) employed infantry pro vided with ski in its military operations. In Norway special units so provided were organized in 1710. Since 1902 the Alpine in fantry of France and Italy have taken up the question. In Brian con, attached to the 159th regiment of French infantry, is an ecole militaire de ski (established 1903) which trains the Chas seurs Alpins of the first line, and also the regional troops which are intended to take part in the defence of the south-eastern fron tier of France. These regiments as a rule furnish one officer, one non-commissioned officer, and a few soldiers each to every course of instruction, which lasts two months. At the end of the first month the skieur is expected in full marching order to cover 6okm. (37i miles) of Alpine territory in the day. The ski are put to a variety of ingenious uses ; to form a stretcher-sledge for wounded men; and if rapidity of movement is desired, a horse or pony pulls the skieur along by means of long reins attached to the horse's girth. Even camps in the mountains are improvised. The skieur is thickly clothed and muffled, and his eyes are protected against snow-blindness by blue or black spectacles. Some of the performances of soldiers on ski have been notable. Capt. Bernard, chief of the ecole of Briancon, ascended the cols of Arsine ( 2,400 metres) and of the Cauterel (2,080 metres) in i6hr. with a party of 25 men. In Russia some troops from Finland in full marching order made a long hunting march in Carelia. In 29 days they covered 86o kilometres. In Switzerland a skieur took less than ilhr. to cover 25km., including altitudes of
metres. In order to witness this competition, which took place in Glarus, the soldiers from the St. Gotthard garrison made a march of 48km. including the ascent of the Klausenpass (2,000 metres). A Nor wegian soldier named Holte covered with one leap a distance of 21.20 metres, and his companion Heyderdahl later achieved
metres.