We’ve featured the bindings rather than skis on this occasion since they are a bit of a rarity; we have over 100 pairs of skis and these are the only Geze bindings. Based in Germany, the Geze company started making ski bindings in 1898 and they go on to tell us that ‘the innovative Kandahar cable binding becomes a best seller in the 1930s.” Which dates our skis and bindings nicely to that era. Kandahar was already an established ski binding at that time, so it seems Geze tweaked it a little to create their own version. The leather strap at the back/heel end of the binding is an early safety device designed to release the boot from the binding in the event of a fall. We are not sure if this was a Geze invention or not.

Made of oak, the skis themselves are on a par with the bindings, combining to make a very fine addition to our collection.

They were kindly donated by Andy Hume on behalf of his father Ronald, a long time member of the Ferranti Mountaineering Club in Edinburgh. Ronald bought a lot of his gear back in the 1950s from Northern Supplies in Leith Walk, Edinburgh, and these skis may well have come from there. Lillywhites of London would have been the original importer and we suspect they would have come from Germany post World War Two.