Sticks & Poles - A Ski History

CE 922

Luther further elaborates on Asian skiing prowess by referencing:

‘…a report by Admad Ibn Fadhlan, who was emissary of the Caliph of Bagdad to the Kingdom of Bolgary on the Volga, in 922, where he heard of bovine-footed Tutkwat in central Siberia, that they “bind bovine bones…on the soles of their feet and each man takes in his hands two pointed sticks, and they thrust themselves… forward over the snow, and slide on its surface and run as with a rudder…” ‘ 6

According to Harry Hurt III, writing in the New York Times, 2009, skating (a sport related to skiing, in that it utilises frozen H2O and gliding on the feet) ‘traces its origins to Switzerland, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands, where the earliest skates were made of animal leg bones and skaters propelled themselves with poles.’ 7