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  SKI-RUNNING.

  BY

  D. M. M. CHRICHTON SOMERVILLE,
  W. R. RICKMERS,
  AND E. C. RICHARDSON.

  DEDICATED TO
  THE SKI CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN.

  EDITED BY
  E. C. RICHARDSON.

  _WITH NUMEROUS PHOTOGRAPHS AND DIAGRAMS._

  SECOND EDITION.

  LONDON:
  HORACE COX,
  WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, E.C.

  1905.

  LONDON:
  PRINTED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, E.C.

[Illustration: “PAA SKARE.”]




PREFACE.


Since the first edition of this book was produced two years ago popular
interest in the sport has increased by leaps and bounds. We have
endeavoured to keep pace with the times, and the present volume is an
attempt to give a really complete account of the sport, which will be
useful to beginners and experts alike. To the historical part has been
added a chapter on Continental ski-running, whilst the technical part
has been remodelled, enlarged, and, we trust, rendered more lucid and
complete. Wherever necessary new diagrams have been added, and the
whole-page illustrations have been chosen with a view to indicating the
great beauty and variety of the snow regions of the earth.

Here and there actual alterations of views previously expressed will be
found. We make no apology for these, but desire frankly to acknowledge
our errors, and to thank those friendly critics who have pointed them
out. With ignorant criticism we have been very little troubled, and
with actual hostility simply not at all.

We are further greatly indebted to the many friends who have rendered
us positive assistance. The frontispiece is from Herr Halström’s
wonderful picture “Paa Skare,” which that gentleman has given us
unqualified leave to reproduce. The ski-runner which it depicts also
serves as a central figure for the cover, designed by Mr. Nico Jungman.
To those who have kindly permitted us to copy their photographs
we hereby take the opportunity of expressing our best thanks. The
outline of the Solberg Hill is from an accurate drawing by Herr Von
de Beauclair published in _Ski_, to the editor of which paper we are
also indebted for the drawings illustrating Herr Sohm’s detachable
seal’s-skin and climbing-irons. To Herr S. Höyer-Ellefsen, Herr Fredrik
Juell, Herr Trygve Smith, Herr Durban Hansen, and numerous other
skilful Norwegian runners we are grateful for many a useful hint and
word of advice, whilst we owe to Herr Zdarsky a valuable practical
demonstration of his methods of teaching. Messrs. C. W. Richardson,
E. H. Wroughton, and H. P. Cox have been kind enough to help with the
actual production of the little work, and if there be any others who we
have omitted to mention we would hereby beg them to accept at once both
our apologies and thanks.

  E. C. R.

_November, 1905._




CONTENTS.


                                          _Pages._
  PREFACE                                   iii-iv

  THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SKI               1-13

  CONTINENTAL SKI-RUNNING                    13-17

  THE ELEMENTS OF SKI-RUNNING                18-85
    _Introduction_                           18-20
    Part I.--_The Ground and the Snow_       20-27
    Part II.--_Outfit_                       28-52
      The Ski                                28-35
      The Binding                            35-43
      Footplates                                44
      The Stick                              44-47
      Footgear                               47-49
      Other Clothes                          49-50
      Accessories                            50-51
    Part III.--_Technical_                   52-85
      Preliminary advice                     52-53
      Lean forward!                             53
      To lift the point of the ski           53-55
      Turning on the spot                       55
      Walking with ski on the level             55
      Up-hill                                56-61
      Gliding down                           61-65
      Falling and getting up                    65
      Slight changes of direction               65
      “Skating”                                 66
      Braking with the stick                 66-68
      Snow-ploughing                         68-69
      Side stepping                             69
      Stemming                               69-72
      To make a down-hill curve              72-77
      The “Telemark” Swing                   78-82
      The “Christiania” Swing                82-85

  JUMPING                                    86-98
      How to select and prepare the hill     90-92
      How to jump                            92-98

  SKI MOUNTAINEERING                        99-104

  ODDS AND ENDS                            105-116
    _Antidotes to Sticking, &c._           105-111
    _Common Faults and Failings_           111-113
    _Ski-running Etiquette_                113-114
    _Some Useful Figures_                  115-116




  THE YEAR-BOOK

  OF THE

  SKI CLUB

  OF

  GREAT BRITAIN

  CONTAINS

  Articles by Practical Men about Ski-running
  Centres in

  _GREAT BRITAIN_,
  _NORWAY_,
  _GERMANY_,
  _SWITZERLAND_,
  _AUSTRIA_,
  _ETC._, _ETC._

  As well as a great deal of other interesting
  and useful information about the Sport.
  The book is edited by

  E. H. WROUGHTON,

  and is published for the Club by Horace
  Cox, Bream’s Buildings, London, E.C.

  PRICE ONE SHILLING.




THE

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SKI.

By D. M. M. CRICHTON SOMERVILLE.


There are many people to whom the word “ski” must be an enigma, and
everything connected with the pastime “ski-ing” as a sealed book. The
object of the present treatise is, therefore, to solve the puzzle,
open the pages of the closed volume, and thus throw light on a sport
which, when once learnt, will be found more attractive, healthy, and
invigorating than any other winter exercise, provided, of course, that
it be not carried on (as often is the case) to excess, but is indulged
in only by those who are sound of wind and limb.

For the sake of the uninitiated, it may be explained that _ski_
(pronounced she) is a word of foreign origin, which, up to
comparatively recent years, has been translated “snowshoe,” a term
which conveys a wrong idea of the appliances in question, even
supposing it might be more fitly given to the forerunners of the ski,
viz., pattens formed of withes or wood, which are used in many parts
at the present day, and of which the Indian or Canadian snowshoe is
a modified type, and best known to British sportsmen.[1] The ski,
however, are of different construction, being formed of narrow boards,
7ft. and more in length, upturned at the toe to allow of their being
shoved or slid over the snow, when attached to the feet of the wearer.

With the exception of snow skates (iron shod runners some 2ft. in
length, for use on roadways and hard surfaces) they are the only kind
of foot gear used for the purpose of gliding on snow, and possess many
advantages over other snowshoes, not the least being their capability
of being used for pleasure, as well as the necessary outdoor pursuits
of daily life.

Until comparatively late years the employment of ski as contrivances
for travelling on the snow was unknown to the majority of those
inhabiting the more populated parts of the civilised globe, where
communication can nearly always be kept open by rail, steamboat, or
other means; notwithstanding that they are, and have been used from
time immemorial during many months of the year by a large portion of
the population of Northern and Central Asia, Russia, Scandinavia,
and even the southern parts of Eastern Europe, where the winters are
severe. Casual allusions to them in the writings of some few sporting
authors did not suffice to bring the ski into other than mere passing
notice; and they would probably have remained in obscurity but for
the somewhat recent discovery that they could be employed for other
purposes than those of mere locomotion, or keeping open communication
in lands and districts where snows are deep, and highways lie buried or
are unknown.

It may be of interest to mention here that, in remote parts of England,
ski appear to have been employed so late even as the middle of the past
century, their use being discontinued as communication with the outer
world became easier. Thus, apart from information derived from other
sources respecting finds of ski, or their remains in various parts, one
gentleman, writing from Cumberland in February, 1904, states that, in
the dales of Yorkshire and Durham, the sport is by no means new, and
that forty years ago he went to his school on “skees,” which were made
of beech wood, some 5ft. in length, with “nibs” about 3in., and that
it was no uncommon practice in those days for the Weardale miners to
go to and from their work on such snowshoes, it being a fine thing to
see thirty or forty men gliding down the steep <DW72>s from the mines at
a speed equal to that of a railway train. The writer also adds that,
amongst the youths, skee-jumping was a favourite pastime, and that he
believes the practice was a very old one from the fact that he knew
boys of his own age who had come into possession of “skees” once owned
by their grand-fathers.[2]

To judge from the description given by the author of “Lorna Doone,”
a form of ski was, probably, known in Devonshire some 300 years ago,
where also sledges were employed throughout the entire year instead of
wheeled vehicles for carting in farm products. In the story he relates
how when, during the great frost of 1625, John Ridd was told that, in
the Arctic regions, any man might get along with a “boat” on either
foot to prevent his sinking in the snow--such “boats” being made very
strong and light, of ribs with skin across them, 5ft. long by 1ft.
wide, and turned up at each end, even as a canoe is--he built himself
a pair of strong and light snowshoes, framed of ash, and ribbed of
withy with half-tanned calf skin stretched across, and an inner sole to
support his feet. “At first,” he says, “I could not walk at all, but
floundered about most piteously, catching one shoe in the other, and
both of them in the snowdrifts (just as a beginner would now), to the
great amusement of the maidens who were come to look at me.”

From the above description such ski would have resembled those of the
Chukchis in North-East Asia.

It is due, however, to the youth of Norway that ski-ing has of late
years been reduced to a pleasure and an art; while the notice it
has received abroad is owing mainly to the prominence given to it
by accounts furnished to, and published in, English sporting and
illustrated journals, and to allusions to it in the writings of various
arctic explorers who have lately taken ski with them on their journeys
as part of their travelling outfit.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--An early form of Snowshoe.

From a Sketch by Laurentius Urdahl.]

In turning to the history of the ski, it will be found that their
origin is as much lost in oblivion as that of the wheel; but it is not
too much to assume that human beings who have been created to adapt
themselves to their surroundings at all times, have, in lands far
separated and entirely apart, invented somewhat similar appliances
with which they could float, as it were, and proceed over depths of
snow that would otherwise bury them, or cross tracts of treacherous
ice which would give way under the tread of a human foot. In this
connection one need not refer solely to inhabitants of wintry
countries, for it will be found that the natives of other regions, who
have to traverse yielding surfaces, such as the great mud flats of
Hampshire and elsewhere, wear pattens on their feet, and are thus able
to wander in safety over a substance too soft to bear them otherwise.
Such pattens are almost identical with those employed elsewhere for
travelling over snow, and consist of slabs of wood, some 16in. to
18in. long, by 12in. or so in width, which are attached to the feet
by toe straps and thongs. In these pattens, no matter whether they be
made of withes or solid wood, we undoubtedly find the earliest form of
snowshoes or ski, a form which, however, exists to the present day,
and is met with in the north-eastern and northern portions of Asia,
Thibet, the Caucasus, Armenia, Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, and,
in a modified form, in North America, the principle of construction
there being identical, viz., a ring or framework of wood supporting a
net work of withes or sinews. There are, however, various modifications
of the original round pattern; some of the shoes, possibly to prevent
straddling, are more or less elongated, the length being increased as
the breadth is diminished, while some, thus shaped, have occasionally
leather stretched between the frames to allow of their wearer gliding,
instead of walking, over the snow, and thus become veritable ski; for
while the original object of the snowshoe or patten and the ski are
identical, viz., to support a weight on yielding surfaces, the patten
remains a shoe for walking purposes, while the ski becomes a blade on
which to slide. From this explanation the difference between patten or
snowshoe and ski is possibly made clear for the first time.

While, as previously mentioned, it is impossible to trace the origin
of the ski, mention of snowshoes is made hundreds of years before the
Christian era. Xenophon refers to their being worn (as in Scandinavia
to the present day) by the horses of the Armenians to prevent their
sinking in the deep snow. Historical mention, from a period before
Christ, is also made of the mountaineers of the Caucasus attaching
discs of leather (probably leather-covered wood), studded with nails,
to their feet to enable them to move over the snows of the fells. The
ancient accounts, however, all refer to the patten, but Norwegian
traditions dating back some 1,600 years make mention of the ski. The
Greek historian, Prokopius, as well as other writers, including King
Alfred of England, from 550 A.D. to 1070 A.D., drew attention to the
Lapps, who were called “Skrid Finner,”[3] one saying they were the best
of all men at ski-ing, and the fact of it being the Lapps who wore the
ski, or who were the great exponents of ski-ing in those early times,
would tend to confirm the theory of the ski themselves originating in
Central Asia--those parts of the old world from which the Ugrians or
Finns, Samoyeds, and other tribes of Mongols migrated northward and
westward, till stopped by the waters of the Atlantic on the shores of
the Scandinavian peninsula. There can be little doubt, however, that
pattens were used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years before
the thought of sliding over the snow, which led to the introduction
of ski, entered the head of some inventive genius. The original ski
were probably constructed by the Chukchis, or similar tribes, near
the Behring Straits, or Sea of Okhotsk. They were formed, as already
intimated, of elongated frames covered with leather, and were modified,
subsequently, as migration increased, forests were met with, and wood
was found to be a better and more durable material for the purpose
required.

It will thus be seen that ski were extensively used in olden times
by the Scandinavians as well as others. They also found their way
from Norway to Iceland and Greenland. Of ski there are many types.
The skridsko (sliding shoes), or ski of the Lapps, appear, if one is
to judge from old illustrations from the sixteenth century (Figs. 2
and 3), to have been veritable shoes, the feet being placed in a hole
made for the purpose at the heel of the ski. They are thus depicted
as elongated (some 3ft. long) sabots. There is, however, no reason for
assuming these sabot skis to have been the original form, for they
were, at best, but a hybrid type of ingenious construction, possibly
only used by the inhabitants of certain districts. The true Lapps’
ski, on the other hand, were comparatively short and broad, attached
to the feet by toe straps and thongs, and covered with the skins of
reindeer calves for the purpose of letting them glide easily without
accumulating snow on the soles, of keeping the wood from splitting or
fraying, and because, when thus covered, it was easier to ascend the
<DW72>s of the hills, the hairs which lay fore and aft, checking the
tendency to slide backwards.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Skrid-Finner hunting (Olaus Magnus, _ca._
1550).]

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Skrid-Finner (Olaus Magnus, _ca._ 1550)].

Such skin-clad ski were, and are still, employed by the Lapps, as
well as by others in Scandinavia, Finland, and throughout Siberia;
but several other types have, nevertheless, been used in Lapland for
centuries. In Scandinavia and the North, these skin-covered appliances
go by the name of “aandre,” “ondurr,” “andor,” to distinguish them from
the plain ski. As, however, the advantages of the skin are not now
generally considered sufficient to counterbalance the disadvantages,
they are gradually disappearing.

There can be little doubt but that the greatest development of the ski
has taken place in Europe, notably in Scandinavia, where they have
been modified to suit the different requirements of the districts in
which they are employed. Thus have the varied types hitherto been
many, but may be divided generally into two groups, viz., the short
and broad, or loose snow ski, and the long and narrow, or compact
snow variety (“skare ski”), this latter pattern being represented by
the Oesterdal and Swedish ski (originally one very long and one short
ski, but now generally of equal length). These are the most suitable
for open country, whether in the lowlands or mountains, and on level
or undulating land are superior, so far as speed is concerned, to all
others; but in broken country, or on mountains where obstacles such
as trees, rocks, &c., are to be met with, the shorter or “loose snow”
patterns, owing to their handiness, are invariably employed.

Almost every province, it may be said almost every district, throughout
Scandinavia possessed its own type of ski. In Russia they have possibly
been of a more homogeneous character than elsewhere, owing to the
snow-clad portions of that empire consisting of vast plains which call
for no variety of form. Of comparatively late years, however, there has
been a tendency in Norway to adopt one sort for universal use, and a
sub (lighter) variety for leaping purposes. It is a modified Telemarken
(loose snow) type, eminently suited to every purpose, and is gradually
superseding all other forms throughout Scandinavia.

Of accessories to the ski, the staff has invariably been recognised
as a necessity (except in leaping competitions, when it becomes a
source of the greatest danger) and should always form part of the
outfit on all long excursions or journeys. It assists the skier both
in aiding him when ascending, and as a brake when descending difficult
<DW72>s, or as a means of defence if attacked by animals. The Lapps
use it, too, as an offensive weapon when attacking wolves, which
they occasionally run down on their ski, and kill by a well-directed
blow on the snout, or across that most vulnerable spot, the loins of
the beast. The most effectual use of the staff can only be learnt
by experience or teaching. The fastenings may be regarded as other
important accessories, and but a few years ago, and in many parts even
still consist solely of toe straps formed of withes or leather. These
simple contrivances suited all the requirements of the expert peasants,
and it is only of late years, when leaping was introduced, and the
ski put to other and harder purposes than originally intended, that
stronger and more secure bindings became necessary. Of these, there are
many sorts, all good, but none perfect as yet. In some instances the
latter may be a source of great danger owing to its being impossible,
when peril faces one, or accidents occur, to remove the ski from the
feet, and notably so when a man breaks through treacherous snow-covered
ice, owing to the ski preventing him from regaining the surface. But
while several fatal accidents have occurred in this manner, it is
possible that others have been avoided by the greater command of the
ski afforded to most people by secure fastenings.

[Illustration: HOLMENKOLLEN.

_Photo by Rude, Christiania._]

Having now given an outline of the history and origin of the ski, it
may be well to refer to the movement by which ski-ing has been brought
into the prominent notice of sportsmen and admirers of winter pastimes.
In the extensive and mountainous district of Telemarken, Norway, one in
which ski were employed possibly more extensively than in any other,
owing to its remoteness, and the wretched state of the few highways and
byways to be found there, the peasants discovered that the ski might be
used for pleasure as well as ordinary pursuits, and arranged meetings
at which races were run, and the leaping powers of competitors tested
on the <DW72>s of selected hills. By degrees news of these trials of
skill found its way to the towns and the populated districts in their
neighbourhood, and some few citizens having found ski-ing to be a good,
and to them attractive, exercise, determined to hold similar meetings
at Christiania each winter. The accounts given of those meetings are
very ludicrous, the hill being neither steep nor long, the competitors
riding astride their poles down the track, and only jumping, if jumping
it could be called, a few yards. The exhibitions did not “catch on,”
and were discontinued for many years. The townsfolk knew too little
about the sport to appreciate it, and the absurd, if not painful,
appearance of the competitors was not encouraging to aspirants. Towards
the end of the seventies, however, owing chiefly to the exertions
of the Christiania Ski Club--a select institution with but few
members--some Telemarken peasants[4] were induced to visit the capital,
and in the early part of 1879 a ski meeting was held on the <DW72>s of
the hill at Huseby, near Christiania, which was attended by a couple
of the countrymen, who took part, together with other competitors, in
the races and leaping that had been arranged. The Huseby <DW72> was
one which, only a few years previously, had been described as highly
dangerous, and impossible to descend when the snow was fast and in good
condition.

The leaping competition proved most highly interesting. though in
some respects quite comical. Every man, except the Telemarkings,
carried a long, stout staff, and on that, so they thought, their lives
depended. Starting from the summit, riding their poles, as in former
times, like witches on broom-sticks, checking the speed with frantic
efforts, they slid downwards to the dreaded platform or “hop” from
which they were supposed to leap, but over which they but trickled,
as it were, and, landing softly beneath, finally reached the bottom
somehow, thankful for their safe escape from the dreaded slide. But
then came the Telemark boys, erect at starting, pliant, confident,
without anything but a fir branch in their hands, swooping downwards
with ever-increasing impetus until with a bound they were in the air,
and 76ft. of space was cleared ere, with a resounding smack, their ski
touched the slippery <DW72> beneath, and they shot onwards to the plain,
where suddenly they turned, stopped in a smother of snow dust, and
faced the hill they had just descended! That was a sight worth seeing,
and one never to be forgotten, even if in after years such performances
have been, in a way, totally eclipsed.

This wonderful exhibition of the peasants’ skill naturally excited
the greatest interest, and acted on the townsfolk like a charm.
Their leaping was regarded as one of the wonders of the world, and
in subsequent years people flocked to Christiania from far and wide
to witness it. Then came the turn of the tide, the eyes of the city
youths became opened--the eyes of those who, during the long winter
days had, for want of better occupation, frequented billiard-rooms or
ill-ventilated cafés, where the seeds of idleness and vice lay ready
to strike root. By degrees such old haunts became forsaken, for the
attractions of the newly-found sport proved greater than those of the
bottle, and even if they failed to attract and reform the _majority_
of men just at that period, they certainly had a most beneficial
influence on many, and, as time advanced, on the younger generation,
who were able to take to the pastime before bad customs could affect
their ways. Like other things, especially before its novelty had worn
off, ski-ing was, and often still is, carried to an excess, but that it
is a healthy pastime is a fact beyond all doubt. To men it came as a
boon and a blessing, and subsequently to women and girls, who, in the
short winter days and close confinement to the house, suffered terribly
from anæmia and all its attendant evils. At the time referred to the
fair sex was debarred by public opinion from participating in masculine
pursuits, and it is not so very long ago that pater and materfamilias
looked askance at girls who donned the ski. That is all changed now,
however, and ski-ing has produced of later years a race of robust men
and healthy women, presenting the greatest possible contrast to those
who lived “in the good old times,” unconscious of the benefits of
exercise and fresh air, shut up in close and dingy rooms to escape from
the dreaded cold and the touch of an icy blast.

For some years the peasants carried all before them, both in the racing
and leaping competitions. They were steady on their legs, accustomed
to the mountain <DW72>s from their infancy, and could out-pace and
out-distance all competitors. They did not, however, understand the art
of training; the townsmen soon saw they could not get on without that,
and ended at last in beating their teachers on all points, first in
jumping, which they practised as an art, and, secondly, in racing given
distances.

It may be well now to touch upon ski-ing proper, or the employment of
ski for the purpose for which they were originally intended, viz.,
travelling over snow-clad land or ice. By means of these appliances
people are enable to roam at will, enjoying the fresh, crispy air, the
pretty landscape, and changing scenery, combined with the pleasant
sensation of gliding, instead of tramping, over the surface of the
country. The speed attained is certainly not very great, and is about
the same in hilly as on level country, for in the former the time lost
in ascending <DW72>s is made up on the descent. In racing, the time
made by the best men, travelling lightly clad, and under the best
conditions of snow and weather, works out at about eight and a half
miles an hour on a course of a little over nine miles, and nearly
eight miles an hour on one of eighteen and a half miles. In racing,
the longest distance ever run at a stretch was covered by a Lapp,
who, at Jokkmokk, in Sweden, made a good 137 miles in 21 hours and 22
minutes, over comparatively level ground, thus at a rate of about six
and a half miles an hour. Ordinary travellers, or soldiers on ski,
would find five to five and a half miles an hour quite sufficient
to tax their powers. In 1900, a detachment of the Norwegian Guards
accomplished a march of 125 miles in seven and a half days, an average
of some seventeen and a half miles a day, which must be looked upon as
a very good performance, considering that they carried canvas wherewith
to improvise tents, sleeping bags, and provisions, and moved up hill
and down dale, once ascending to a height of 4,000ft. above the sea
level. It will thus be seen that, in marching trim, soldiers on ski
do not travel faster, or to any great extent faster, than infantry at
other times, the only advantage of the ski being that, when the snow
lies, they are able to move about, and get along in parts where men
not provided with such appliances, or snowshoes, would be compelled to
remain idle.

Attention may now be drawn to leaping, which was originally learned by
the Norwegians on the <DW72>s of their hills when inequalities of ground
would, during a rapid descent, cause the wearer to bound through the
air for some distance, possibly only a yard or two, but sufficient,
anyway, to create a longing for a little more. This led the peasants
to make an artificial rise on the face of a hill, and there meet to
see who could leap farthest. In no other country was the leaping ever
attempted, and it is primarily due to it that ski-ing caught on, and
became so popular in Norway as to throw all other pleasures into the
shade, and attain its present position as _the_ national pastime of
the people. To be understood ski-leaping must be seen. No photograph
or description can ever give a proper idea of it. Many of those who
now appear as the best leapers are men who devote their chief energies
to this branch of the sport, and who attend all the meetings they
possibly can. They might be called “pot hunters,” but this term can,
fortunately, be hardly applied to them as yet, for the remuneration of
a prize can scarcely repay the expenses they incur in loss of time,
travelling, &c. They, in fact, perform for the love of the amusement,
and, it may be said, nothing else except, possibly, renown. Ever since
the peasants, in 1879, startled the country by their leaping powers,
jumping has steadily improved, _i.e._, in length, and in the courage
or daring of the leapers. But, while acknowledging this to some
extent, it must be considered doubtful whether the modern wonderful
accomplishments equal or surpass those of the Telemarken peasants, who,
some twenty odd years ago, made bounds of 70ft. and upwards, with their
ordinary country outfit of home-made ski, simply fastened with toe
straps of twisted withes, whereas now men wear ski specially made for
the purpose, strapped securely to their boots.

It may be of interest to conclude by giving a list of those who have
made the longest leaps, and continued their course without a spill.


Records of leaps in which the men kept their feet after landing on the
snow, so-called “standing leaps”:

  Year.         Name.                  Place.            Length of Jump.
  1879.  Torjus Hemmestvedt     Christiania                 76   feet.
  1893.  Torjus Hemmestvedt     Red Wing, U.S.A.           103      ”
  1898.  Sven Sollid       }
                           }    Solberg, pr. Christiania   103½     ”
    ”    Cato Aal          }
    ”    Tollef Hemmestvedt
           (16 years old)       Telemarken                  99      ”
  1899.   Asbjörn Nielsen  }
                           }    Solberg, pr. Christiania   107      ”
    ”     Morten Hansen    }
  1900.   Olaf Tandberg         Solberg, pr. Christiania   116½     ”
  1902.   Paul Nesjö (18 years
            old)                Trondhjem                  130      ”
    ”     Nils Gjestvang        Modum