In message , funkraum
writes
"PSmith" wrote:

I recall many years ago reading a book about the history of skiing. The
British popularised winter holidays in Wengen and to stop them getting
bored, they popularised skiing as a recreational sport. Prior to that time,
only mountain dwellers skied and then only as a means of transport.

Your author was in error. There were no skis in Switzerland prior to
their importation (by foreign tourists) from Scandinavia in the 1870s.

I wouldn't normally agree with anyone, but Funk's right. Skis were
originally "nordic", used on flattish ground around the Baltic. To
understand why, read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's description of skiing in
the Alps in the 1880s (it's in several places on the web, Google for
it).
Downhill skiing was invented by lazy Brits who CBA to walk up so they
took the train up and skied down. They were thrown out of the Club for
this, and quite right too - without them there'd be no concrete
apartment blocks, no drifts of cigarette butts, no clouds of dope fumes,
no mogul fields, no cable cars so big you can see them from outer space,
avalanches would inconvenience only the wildlife...
--
Sue ];(