THE ART OF THE SKI

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21116, 17 March 1934, Page 15

THE ART OF THE SKI

TWO TREATISES The Wonders of Skl-ing. By Hannes Schneider and Arnold Fanck. Allen and Unwin Ltd. 234 pp., and 54 pp. of photographs. (21s net). Ski-ins in a Fortnight. By Arnold Lurtn. Methuen and Co. Ltd. 78 pp. (2/6 net.)

Hannes Schneider, the originator of the Arlberg style of ski-ing, and Arnold Fanck, whose photography of ski-ing and mountain climbing is known through the film "The White Hell of Pitz Palu," have in this book collaborated to produce one of the most thorough and efficiently illustrated books that have been published about any sport. In New Zealand ski-ing has been popular for only a few years. Most ski-runners here are still busy learning the elements of the sport, and they have been compelled by snow conditions, the nature of the grounds, and the lack of effective teaching to adopt some sort of crouch style. For them the Arlberg, with its forward crouch and stem position and consequent greater stability and general usefulness, has had a particular appeal. Other books setting out to teach skiing have failed to be as useful as they might be to beginners because they have not clearly enough analysed movement—the timing and succession of weighting and unweighting skis, keeping them flat, edging them, and turning them. The writers of this book have given j as much detail as possible to make easy the working out of a short and pithy method of teaching and learn- ' ing. Beginning with details of equipment, the authors proceed I through the first step of walking i uphill and on the flat on ski, to < the various turns, which they coordinate into a system, not only showing how to do them, but when, on what slopes and sorts of snow, in what order, and at what speeds. In addition, the chapters on waxing the ski and on ski-ing in high mountain country, particularly in the treatment of the dangers to be

guarded against, are important. As the book is a reprint of the second German edition of 1928, some of the remarks on equipment (particularly bindings) are out of date, and the analysis of the stem-Christiania has since been disputed; but there is no doubt of its value as an exposition of a technique which seems specially suited to New Zealand conditions. The illustrations scattered through the text are at once pictorially pleasant and informative; but the chief glory of the book is in the 54 pages containing slowmotion film strips (1100 individual photographs) in which every change of movement in the turns may be studied in a way which hay not previously been possible. Mr Arnold Lunn's many books about ski-ing are so instructive and so lucidly written that they are deservedly popular. In this latest small manual his object is to simplify ski-ing for beginners ; and the title has been chosen because Mr Lunn believes that "any reasonably active man should be able to master in a furtnight the technique of skiing if he follows the system laid down." That system aims at dash as well as control ; but though Mr Lunn favours running loosely in an' upright position wherever possible, ho is not so bigoted as to favour Ihe Tclemarl; technique to the exclusion of all others. The turns arc clearly analysed, and the chapter on snowcraft is valuable. | A minor fault in the book is that [Mr Lunn sometimes uses without I explanation terms which, though familiar to every ski-runner, are puzzling to the beginner.