Scottish skiers often made their own ski poles in the good old days – some made skis too. The poles were often pretty fragile and broke quite easily as did many of the early production poles.It was therefore common to strip the ‘spare parts’ off a broken pole and transfer them onto a new one. Baskets themselves would break, of course, and early ski parties would always carry spares. The Napier family, who previously owned these baskets, obviously kept them as spares in the shed, or on the hill. The wooden ones probably date from the 1930’s and could be home made whilst aluminium ones seem to be production versions from the 1950’s.