Objects Database

Ski poles

Accession Number

781.2009.1

Object Name

Ski poles

Created

23/01/2009

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

23/01/2009

Brief Description

Pair of metal Military ski poles painted white with plastic baskets and grey leather wrist straps. Metal spike

Materials

metal, plastic, leather

Dimensions

140 (l) x 5 (circumference) cms

Number Of Objects

1 pair

Colour

white

Provenance

The modern day skier might be surprised to learn that two ski sticks are a fairly recent idea - skis have been around for thousands of years, two sticks only becoming the norm just over 100 years ago. Skiing as a sport didn't really begin until the 1860's and at that time a single pole was the norm being used to 'pole' along on the flat, ride upon to check the speed when going downhill and to 'swing' on when doing turns. Although the Finns had been using two poles for a long time the Norwegians actually banned them in some of their early competitions.
By around 1910 two sticks were becoming the norm and Scottish Ski Club Journals from that era ran articles on how to make them. Hazel and ash was the timber of choice in the early days; this was gradually replaced with cane as it became more commercially available. The sticks themselves were quite straightforward though the snow baskets were often mini-masterpieces.
Glass fibre, plastic,aluminium and carbon fibre were some of the materials that brought us into the twenty first century - better in many ways but somewhat lacking in character!
Possibly British but more likely Norwegian, these are a pair of military issue ski poles made from aluminium and plastic with leather straps. Mick Tighe bought them as part of a job lot from a military surplus store in Edinburgh circa 2004. The poles probably date from the 1980's.