We’ve kept this lovely set of gear together as it all belonged to one lady, Elizabeth MacKenzie Fane Pentland, who kindly left it to us when she passed away in 2018. It seems it once belonged to her mother, Elizabeth Hepburn Martin (E.H.M) and there was a wee note attached to the skis.

“ Made from ash, originally belonged to Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer, they were bought second hand from Lillywhites in the early 1930s.”

We are a little sceptical about the skis once belonging to Amundsen since he died in 1928, and these skis were made post 1925 when the capital of Norway changed its name from Kristiana to Oslo – which appears on the skis.

Amundsen famously beat Scott to the South Pole in 1911 and the ‘type’ of skis he used were copied and often called ‘Amundsen Skis’.

The reference on the TH Hansen ski “ selected by Lillywhites” was common in the early days of skiing as they selected and imported skis from all over the world, there being very few UK manufacturers.

We can’t find any markings on the ski poles but it seems that she bought them in the 1930s with the rest of the gear, all of which she can be seen wearing in the photo opposite.