Technique

The sport underwent a revolution more than a century ago, when skiers gradually shifted from a single shaft to holding a pair of poles.

By Luzi Hitz with Seth Masia

At a military cross country race in Chamonix, in 1908, the French and Italian squads showed up each with a single long pole, as they’d been taught by their Norwegian instructors. But the Scandinavians pulled a fast one: All their racers pushed off with two poles and sprinted away in a modern diagonal stride. The northern platoons took the first eight places out of 30 finishers. A couple of the locals were so disgusted at being passed that they threw away their “grands batons” and raced pole-free, finishing ninth and 13th. It marked the end of the single-pole era, at least for ski competition.

Double-poling was not new. Right from the beginning, hunters on skis used a spear for balance and propulsion. But if need arose, a hunter could use his bow as a second pole. Dating from 5,000 years ago, rock art in northernmost Karelia (Russia) shows ski tracks with pole plants on either side. Saami (Laplander) reindeer herders traditionally used two poles (see the Moses Pitt woodcut from 1680, and a better-known drawing in Per Högström’s 1747 description of the Saami.)...

Two of the world’s most popular adventure sports have inspired and influenced each other for more than half a century. By Jay Cowan

LIFE magazine was likely the first national publication to recognize surfing’s impact on skiing, and it wasn’t favorable. In the issue dated March 12, 1965, the editors ran a feature headlined, “Aspen’s Awful Surfer Problem.” The story described Aspen as “one of the toniest ski resorts in the country—until the surfers arrive. Then the town fills with youngsters…there’s wild skiing and wilder parties rock the nights. These surfers-turned-skiers are a new breed on the slopes.”

While the story insisted “the new invasion makes Aspen very unhappy,” it gave skiing the same glamorous national spotlight that was already making surfing explode. Skiing grew in popularity among surfers—and also attracted people who had never considered either sport, but wanted to try something sexy and fun. 

Snow riding and wave riding have many of the same followers who pursue both passions with one love. Soulful sports that employ water as their medium—on liquid waves or frozen slopes—both are artistic expressions of freedom in exciting and beautiful places. And the lifestyles can be alluringly hedonistic. 

Of course, not all the surfer/skiers were “bums” and “vagabonds,” as the Life story labeled them. Joey Cabell from Hawaii was one of the most famous surfers of the 1960s. He started skiing at 19 in Alta and moved to Aspen in 1960 to take up ski racing. “In the early ’60s, Europeans still dominated the Aspen ski scene,” he told me. “And we weren’t what they were used to. But as long as crossovers with [skiing] exist, surfers will be there.” ...

Tomm Murstad (1915–2001) was an outstanding multi-discipline skier, but is principally remembered in his native Norway as the founder of the first ski school for kids—possibly the first such program in the world. 

Murstad grew up in Vindern and won his first ski jump contest at age six. At 17, in 1932, he was invited to teach skiing in Grenoble, where he met Hannes Schneider...

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