The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
786.2009.1
Ski poles
26/01/2009
Hermione Cooper
26/01/2009
Cane ski poles with leather straps and hand grips. Leather and cane baskets and aluminium and metal short spikes.
cane, leather, metal, aluminium
142 (l) x 6 (circumference) cms
1 pair
brown
The modern day skier might be surprised to learn that two ski sticks are a fairly recent idea - skis have been around for thousands of years, two sticks only becoming the norm just over 100 years ago. Skiing as a sport didn't really begin until the 1860's and at that time a single pole was the norm being used to 'pole' along on the flat, ride upon to check the speed when going downhill and to 'swing' on when doing turns. Although the Finns had been using two poles for a long time the Norwegians actually banned them in some of their early competitions.
By around 1910 two sticks were becoming the norm and Scottish Ski Club Journals from that era ran articles on how to make them. Hazel and ash was the timber of choice in the early days; this was gradually replaced with cane as it became more commercially available. The sticks themselves were quite straightforward though the snow baskets were often mini-masterpieces.
Glass fibre, plastic,aluminium and carbon fibre were some of the materials that brought us into the twenty first century - better in many ways but somewhat lacking in character!
Founder member of our heritage collection, Mick Tighe, remembers using a set of poles like these when he first started skiing back in 1970, so these poles are 1950's/60's style. Poles very rarely have a maker's name, but these are almost certainly manufactured by one of the major Norwegain ski companies and would have sold back then for 40/50 kroner per pair i.e. 4 or 5 pounds.
26/01/2009
28/04/2009
Bohuntin
Bohuntin
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
28/04/2009