Further evidence suggests that skis have existed even before the Hoting ski. According to carbon dating analysis, a rock carving at Rodoy, Norway depicting a skier on the hunt dates back to 2500 BC and the oldest known sled-runner, a close cousin of the ski, dates back to 7000 BC.

Literary references to skiing date as far back as 400 BC. The first mention is made by Xenophon, the Greek historian, essayist and military leader, centuries after their invention and spread through Scandinavia. Later written references occurred at a rate of roughly one each century from 552 AD until 1555. These include Egil Skallagrimsson’s 950 AD saga describing King Haakon Adalsteinsfostre the Good’s practice of sending his tax collectors out on skis, and Swedish diplomat Olaus Magnus’ lengthy 1555 AD description of the ski itself.

Later historic evidence affirms that Scandinavians also found skis to be useful during times of war. Skis are first mentioned in wartime use in 1200 BC when King Sverre of Norway ordered Pal Belte and other local civilians to spy on enemy positions near Ryenbergene, and again during the Norwegian civil war in 1206 BC when two scouts on skis carried the infant king Hakon Hakonsson over the mountains from Gudbrandsdal to safety in Lillehammer. This event is memorialized in the annual Birkebeinerne cross-country ski race, named after the birch leggings the scouts wore.

Skis continued to be a defining characteristic of the Norwegian military throughout the years. It was, in fact, Colonel Jen Henrik Emahusen, a Norwegian ski troop commander, who published the world’s first ski book in approximately 1733. The publication, handwritten in German, designated the proper length of skis—270 centimeters for the left foot and 210 centimeters for the right—and outlined a complete seventy-two step military rifle drill on skis. Emahusen’s regulations were expanded and updated three times—an illustrated edition appeared in1765, and a Norwegian edition was published in 1774. In the early 19th century, following Sweden’s loss of Finland to Russia in 1814, the use of skis in the military began to decline. By 1826, both the Swedish and Norwegian ski troops ceased to exist altogether.

Eight hundred years later in the early publication Geographie, Father Knut Leem, a Danish traveler, reported children in Norway trying to pick up a hat dropped on the slope while skiing down as fast as they could. The publication states that “In Norway, it is common for kids to practice skiing so extensively that even along the coast of Norway, where there is no practical need for them, skis are used for fun.”

From Norway to North America
While some historians argue that skis were first brought to America by Lief Ericson and his men in the year 1000, the first recorded use of skis in the United States occurred in 1841 in Beloit, Wisconsin, a region in the mid-west settled by Scandinavian immigrants. In Beloit, as in Europe, skis were first used for transportation and hunting, rather than sport.

This would change upon the arrival of the Scandinavians to the mining camps of California’s High Sierra’s during the great goldrush of 1849. Lured by the promise of wealth, Norwegian immigrants came to California in droves. They soon discovered that, come winter, the High Sierra mining camps were covered with ten to fifteen feet of snow. Skis, or Norwegian Snowshoes as they were commonly called, were the only effective means of transportation.

Equipped with twelve-foot-long skis crudely fashioned from boards of hickory, ash or pine, the racers organized teams from among the various mining camps and challenged each other to races on courses that shot straight down the open mountainside. Standing at the sides of these courses were hundreds of spectators who cheered them on and wagered upon their success.

The race itself was similar to a track event. Jumping at the sound of a gong, several skiers at a time pointed their skis downhill and raced towards a finish line marked by American flags and portable bars. Stopping was achieved by dragging a single, heavy pole across a "mercifully long outrun beyond the finish." Turning was unnecessary, if not impossible.

Snowshoe races of all types were held. These included races for women, races for Chinese laborers and "Tom Thumb" races for children. Women’s races, however, typically didn’t bring high speeds as the women were forced to ski in an upright position in order to prevent their skirts from flying up over their heads.

With speed as their primary objective, the racers constantly worked to improve their equipment and technique. They developed grooved skis fastened with leather straps and they created a strange and mysterious substance called "dope," a tar wax composed of bees’ wax, human sperm, spruce oil and various other adhesive ingredients. This was applied to the bottom of the ski to increase speed by preventing snow from sticking. They also invented a low crouch to fight wind resistance.

These developments proved to be quite effective. The top speeds reached by the Sierra Snowshoe racers were impressive even by today’s standards. In 1874 a California racer named Tommy Todd set a record with a speed of approximately eighty-eight miles per hour, faster than anyone would ski for the next fifty years.

By the late 1860’s Snowshoe racing had spread eastward to Colorado’s mining camps, as well. As a result of the popularity of these early ski races, miners and early settlers not only found the courage to remain in the camps during the most unbearable months of the winter, they also managed to attract countless others to the area just to take part in the events. Bill Berry, a western writer from Reno, Nevada believes that if it weren’t for the Snowshoe races, the early conquest of the Western mountain states might not have been possible.

Mathias Zdarsky, a retired school teacher and a native of Austria, ordered his first pair of skis after reading a book written by explorer Fridtjof Nansen who had crossed the Greenland ice caps on skis in 1888. Zdarsky believed that skis might offer an effective means to get into town during the winter. Because his skis came with no instructions, Zdarsky was forced to develop his own technique. Over a short period of time had taught himself how to ski. In 1892, believing that others might benefit from his new found abilities, Zdarsky founded the first ski school in Europe.

In 1896, Zdarsky took Norwegian skis and Norwegian downhill ski methods and proceeded to develop the world’s first system of skiing technique. On a hill in Lilienfeld, Austria, Zdarsky invented the crouching turn and the snowplow, made standard the use of two poles instead of one, and became the world’s first ski instructor. His method became known as the Lilienfeld Method.

Hannes Schnieder another native of Austria, learned Zdarsky’s technique and improved upon it with his own revolutionary "Arlberg Method," a systematic technique that led skiers through the snowplow, the stem-christiania and eventually on to parallel turns. Schneider signed up as a full-time ski instructor at St. Anton in 1907. There he continued to develop the technique that eventually came to dominate the skiing world.

As downhill skiing grew in popularity and more and more people learned to ski, the demand became greater for more reliable equipment. The primitive boards of the past were no longer effective. Downhill skiers needed equipment that could accommodate and endure greater speeds. As a result the decades to come would see remarkable advances in ski technology.