Ancient ski history question

Anybody know when actual gliding skiing started? I suspect the really
old versions were mostly snowshoe replacements.
gr

gr wrote:
Anybody know when actual gliding skiing started? I suspect the really
old versions were mostly snowshoe replacements.


A few months ago I went to a lecture/video/Powerpoint presentation on
this very subject. I'm sorry, but I do not recall the dates they felt
it began, but their thrust was that nordic skiing began in Northern
China / Mongolia, not the Scandinavian countries. Their story was that
it was a utilitarian pursuit, where they would chase game until
exhaustion and then make their kill. A single, long, heavy pole was
used as a rudder and the skier sat as far back as possible. There was
no recreational skiing by adults, but some fun shots of kids gliding.

This was a group of three adventurers who were sponsored by a few
companies, including Leki (where I got my invite). They showed actual
video of natives hand hewing skis with axes, steam bending and affixing
animal skins to the bottoms.

It was a cool show to see for a lot of reasons, but they presented a
poorly supported case in terms of historical accuracy.

- Bob