The History of Alpine Skiing

every sport has a beginning and with modern Alpine Skiing the beginning dates back to long before living memory in fact long before recorded history the [Music] first example of scheme can be found to date back to 6000 BC in what is modern-day Scandinavia we're at half rudimentary skis were found during an archaeological dig [Music] although it is quite clear that this former ski was used to helping business people of northern Europe negotiate difficult snow conditions not for enjoyment or leisure skiing in the early days was quite simply a method with which one could travel across wintery landscapes in a much easier fashion certainly the design of early almost prehistoric skis was to allow a person to float on the snow in a much easier fashion in landscapes that might otherwise severely slow a person down and in comparison to modern-day alpine skis these early prototypes one seemed cumbersome and slow skiing really began to develop during the late seventeen hundreds of early eighteen woods in Northern Europe the Norwegian army was already using skin during true training and it started using torski of course country skiing competitions as a regular part of their winter training courses but when the pioneer of modern alpine skiing mr. Sandin or high Telemark Norway developed the first toe heel strap as well as the first ski with side cuts modern skiing was born nor Heim was a charismatic and creative man with a real passion for nature and skiing especially downhill ski during his life he made many important innovations in ski technology by designing different bindings shorter skis with curved sides to facilitate tight turns and eventually this ski known as the Telemark he would combine normal scheme with jumping and slaloms to create a totally new approach to what was previously only a very traditional sport it is this attitude and revolutionary daring of norheim that allowed modern skiing to develop and move to steeper terrain and more dangerous locations at the same time as noir homes developing the technology and new skiing attitudes to propel the sports into the modern era a hotel owner in the then small Swiss resort for summer it's came up with the business proposition that would revolutionize the ski tourism industry on the sport of European alpine skiing johannes bad roots of the Engadine Macomb hotel enjoyed regular business from wealthy British patrons who would visit his hotel during the summer months to enjoy mountain hiking and fresh mountain air but during the harsh Alpine winters he would completely close his hotel and enjoy the financial loss that winter would bring not satisfied with this predicament johannes in 1864 had the idea to open up his hotel to these wealthy families during the winter season and he managed to convince four families to take of his offer of spending the winter in summer rinks originally these guests were entertained sledging and ice skating but it was not long before holiday makers of summer it's moved into skiing slowly but surely more hotel owners began doing the same an offering skiing holidays to their summer customers however this remain exclusively available to the wealthy of the classes and did not become available to the public as more and more people began staying through to winter in the alpine resorts of Romani vengan summer it's and kids born there became a need to not only develop the technology of the equipment but also develop the infrastructure of the ski users in 1908 a man by the name of Robert had been to howl they invented the first ski tipped which was in essence an early version of the drug lifts that we still see around ski resorts all over the world today this early skied it was powered by a Waterman and ran for a length 280 meters with a height difference of 32 meters all they're only small this high gain meant visitors would not have to walk up the slope in order to ski down it a big motivation anyone who wanted to take part in alpine skiing little did vinter how the no but his new invention would quickly paved the way for bigger and better lifts to come around the same time British tour company Thomas Cook began to see a gap in the market and in 1909 began offering skiing holiday packages to the wealthy English public this early inclusion of the European Alps into Thomas Cook's winter portfolio would signal the beginning of a very popular and very lucrative all-day industry with the official establishment of the F is the world's first Alpine Ski World Championship was held in the Swiss mountain town of miran in 1931 this heralded a new era for alpine skiing as it now became recognized internationally and in 1936 the discipline made it into the Winter Olympics and Garmisch in the Bavarian Alps with our paint scheme becoming an official part of the Olympics public interest began to grow in the sport more and more people were taking advantage of the cold winters and heading out to resorts such as vengan and window valve San Moritz kids pool San Anton and chamois to take up the sport during the same year American James Curran developed a new kind of lift a lift that would quickly change alpine skiing for good the chairlift the chairlift was invented in the Sun Valley Resort in America working with the original ideas of rope tows and slow-moving cable cars the chairlift revolutionized mass or pill travel by speeding up the process and increasing the capacity by offering regular seeds at short intervals therefore getting more people of the mountain than the previous solutions as more and more developments came with both skis and mountain lifts the more the popularity of alpine ski increased and other areas of 1930s European society during the late 1930s and 1940s Alpine Skiing was put on hold after the German invasion of Poland in 1939 although our playing scheme was practiced during the Second World War in the more mountainous battle arenas such as the Alps and Scandinavia there was very little development of the sport as a leisure activity in 1950 howard head of head skis introduced the head standard this was an innovative design encompassing the sandwich of aluminium alloy around a plywood core this design included steel edges used to bite into icy slope on steep terrain that was complemented by a phenol formaldehyde resin exterior which could hold wax the head standard paved the way for a series of new developments in ski technology from 1962 to 1975 where our plane skiing saw rapid improvement and not only weight and design but also performance by the mid-1970s fiberglass had completely replaced aluminium skis in the late 1960s the ski boot company launched created the first modern ski boot made of plastic with buckles as the technological advancements of skis ski boot and ski binding design continued to improve so did the advancements on the mountain sites and in the resort new lifts were made large cable cars yogurt pots eight-seat of chairlift and bubble cars opened up new areas of the ski resorts and increased access for ski tourists financial investment increased dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s the ski resorts all around the European Alps had new hotels popping up built hurriedly during summer months in time for the start of the ski season skee results became classified into three types first generation results these are well established some results such as summer it's chamblee or kids born second generation these were created from non touristic villages or pasture lands such as San Antone or lek in Austria or Kosovo in France and finally third generation these were designed from scratch in new mountain territory such as flen in France or LaPlante as a demand for beds in these results grew so did the demand for the increase in companies offering ski holiday packages in the 1980s and 1990s companies such as Ingham ski and crystal ski started offering ski package holidays into Europe to the masses in a pre-internet era the vast majority of our fine hotels relied on ski tour providers to advertise and sell their rooms these ski tour providers would build holiday packages which would include everything you would need to go on an alpine skiing holiday a flight transfer Hotel food ski higher lift pass instruction and insurance not to mention providing the in resort support in the form of the infamous ski rope this absurd of investment and development in alpine ski resort facilities supported by the technological advances in mountain access and lifts hand-in-hand with the design developments in skiing equipment all resulted in the recreational sport the Ricci today with the support of big brand sponsors such as Solomon Patagonia North Face or La Sportiva mountain athletes such as Kilian Jornet or Caroline blight are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the mountain a reading from the early beginnings of alpine skiing with the heavy wooden skis and rubber bindings it's where we find ourselves now makes a really exciting story and this story continues it's not the question of what is possible in the future of alpine skier it's the question of who is already doing [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Alpine Life

Views: 146,756

Rating: 4.8560672 out of 5

Keywords: 27.08.18, History of skiing, History of Alpine skiing, Skiing history, Skiing, Alpine skiing, downhill skiing, salomon, caroline gleich, killian jornet, alpine life, la sportiva, the north face, ski documentary, jeff freiheit, skiing documentary, skiing in the alps, alps skiing

Id: NzOJeFbAJKI

Length: 11min 30sec (690 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 24 2018