Click for the History of Skiing in North Idaho and Schweitzer
Mountain While the art of winter sports has now evolved to
fantastic levels, early Indians in North Idaho were adept at ice
fishing and certainly made snow shoes to facilitate the winter
hunt and travel. Our area was settled much by German and
Scandinavian stock, as well as the early French trappers,
priests, and settlers. So, it was a natural that the descendants
of these settlers followed with skiing the area. Snow skiing
originated from two geographic groups: Alpine and Nordic, much
like our ancestors. Nordic skiing is the oldest category and
includes sport that evolved from skiing as done in Scandinavia.
Nordic style ski bindings attach at the toes of the skier's ski
boots, but not at the heels. Alpine skiing includes sports that
evolved from skiing as done in the Alps. Alpine bindings attach
at both the toe and the heel of ski boots. These two categories
overlap with some sports potentially fitting into both. However,
binding style and history