Ski Running: An Impression 



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SKI RUNNING: AN IMPRESSION 



By Hazel King 



"Out of your cage, 

 Come out of your cage, 

 And take your soul on a pilgrimage !" 



Come away from the rush and stress of life and follow on 

 skis the flight of a mountain blue bird.* To find those birds 

 in the high mountains in winter is a rare privilege and to be 

 able to observe them from skis is still another. So let the 

 Pullman porter set you free at Truckee when he lifts his trap 

 door, and glide away over the snowy slopes to the silent haunts 

 of that wandering bird. 



Already your soul has swung far out on the keen driving 

 air to a snow-tipped pine tree; but your unmanageable and 

 awkward body, (it is all of that with strips of boards, half again 

 as long as you are, attached to your feet), must struggle and 

 push to make even a little headway up the hill. 



It seems at the first careful lifting of one's feet that one needs 

 the strength of a Sandow. There can be nO' doubt; the use 

 of skis demands muscular effort. But this winter sport takes 

 not alone physical ability, but mental agility as well, — the art 

 of looking ahead, determining one's course and swaying one's 

 body accordingly. In the ascent you must place your weight 

 forward. In the descent it is just the reverse. The extent of 

 this forward and backward movement varies with the steep- 

 ness of the slopes encountered. The steeper the declivity the 

 more the body, in ascending, swings forward, whether you are 

 traveling straight ahead, or are taking a zig-zag course. Again, 

 the opposite movement takes place in the descent, while in any 

 case the weight is always thrown from the knees. 



You, of course, would suppose that the responsibility of 

 keeping your equilibrium rests with your feet and ankles, they 



* It will be of interest to ornithologists to learn that mountain bluebirds (Sialia 

 currucoides) were found wintering on the vast snowfields at Truckee in February 

 and March, 1914. Curiously enough at that high altitude, in the dead of winter, 

 small butterflies and other insects, especially tree-hoppers (Membractdce), were 

 found abundant during the sunny hours of the day wherever patches of chaparral 

 were free of snow and exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The heating power 

 of the sun in such places, aided by reflection from the snowfields. would appear 

 incredible to one who has not experienced it. For Mountain Bluebird, see Sierra 

 Club Bulletin. Vol. VIII. No. d. — Editor 



