Naked Science Forum

On the Lighter Side => Famous Scientists, Doctors and Inventors => Topic started by: DoctorBeaver on 12/08/2007 20:55:43

Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 12/08/2007 20:55:43: They weren't copied from anything in nature, so how were they invented?

Did some caveman wake up 1 morning to see 3 feet of snow outside the cave and think "Ah, if I strap 2 planks to my feet I'll be able to travel faster & catch yon mammoth which I & my kin can then feast upon!"?
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: eric l on 13/08/2007 09:01:35: What came first, the ski or the sleigh (sled) ? Rather than the planks, I would imagine mammoth ribs as the first skis, but that would mean that they captured the mammoth before.
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 13/08/2007 09:07:50: I'd love to have seen Franz Klammer going down the Lagerhorn on mammoth bones! [:D]
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: another_someone on 13/08/2007 19:17:25: Both Ski's and Sleds are known from prehistoric times.

I suspect that sleds come earlier, since sled have been used on other surfaces than snow, and would predate the use of wheels.

Skis are known to have been used by early Uralic peoples (the precursors of the Finnish and Hungarian people's, amongst many others), although it must be stressed that these are cross country skis, and not downhill skis - there is very little practical benefit to downhill skis except as a sport).
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: Alandriel on 10/10/2007 22:26:18: What I find hillarious is that an Englishman brought skiing to Switzerland
[;D] [;D]

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsherlockholmes.stanford.edu%2Fimages%2Fissue12_alpinepass3.jpg&hash=bb08bb13226225f7b5e80fbfe389b3a9)
That's really him!!!!!

Quote from: Wikipedia
The first ski tour in the Alps took place in 1894 when the local Branger brothers teamed up with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--creator of Sherlock Holmes--for a traverse from Davos (Frauenkirch) to Arosa. Conan-Doyle was living in the area as his wife took the cure for TB. He ordered the skis from Norway & applied himself to learning to ski as a cure for his enforced idlement in the sleepy Alpine town.
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 11/10/2007 16:53:23: That's an interesting dance he's doing (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fdancing%2F11.gif&hash=848240bc668b6081f82609dbfc37b1e1)
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: time-cop on 11/10/2007 23:47:56: Gosh doc ! i didnt know you could do the bosanova !( i think thats how its spelt )
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 12/10/2007 08:59:00: Hey, I'm versatile! [:)]
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: eric l on 12/10/2007 11:49:45: Quote from: time-cop on 11/10/2007 23:47:56
Gosh doc ! i didnt know you could do the bosanova !( i think thats how its spelt )
Frankly, I think it's more like a bossa-snowa (in the photograph)
Title: How were snow skis invented?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 12/10/2007 13:03:06: Actualy, he may just be piste [:D]