Used by Miss Sandiman, Edinburgh 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! Baskets, leather grips and straps, aluminium sleeves and metal tips could all be bought separately back in the good old days along with the cane itself. The leather grips on this set certainly look hand sewn though it’s hard to tell whether or not a professional hand has assembled the rest. We reckon they date from the 1950’s whatever.