Skiing for pleasure

Gstaad

Skiing without poles accentuates the new carving technique, which uses one’s edges and the upper body to turn. During the 1950s we checked before a bump, planted the pole, unweighted the skis and turned. Then came the Austrian technique of weddle, which involves a shifting of the hips while keeping the body straight on the fall line. The new carving style derives from racing and new technology. One never brakes, while keeping the weight on both skis, using the upper body and almost facing the mountain, a real no-no in the past. Until the new high boots came along, the ankles were the most likely bones to break in a fall. A circular break of the knee was most feared during the slalom, where one tended to hook a ski in between the poles. No longer. The slalom is now laid out using single blue or red poles, and racers brush past them without fear of hooking. Back in the good old days, the longer the ski the more the stability. Pistes were laid out but not turned into snowy carpets inviting higher speeds. The downhill, with perhaps five gates, followed the contours of the mountain, and racers plunged down more or less choosing their own line. If you went off the piste, you were on your own.

Chic Igaya, the Japanese silver medallist in the slalom in the Cortina Olympics of 1956, was an inexperienced downhiller. (One was required to ski all three disciplines — slalom, giant slalom and downhill.) He went off at speed, saw the woods closing in on him, and aimed for a thick branch somewhere on the horizon. When the marshalls rushed to his aid, they found him hanging 50 feet above the ground, smiling and thanking them for their rescue efforts.