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! A fine old set of homemade poles probably dating from the 1930’s. Made from hazel with cane and leather baskets, they had a fair dose of woodworm which we hope has been eliminated with a good soaking in our patent woodworm bath. The little rounded tops tell us they were lovingly made, well used and hopefully now – well preserved.