Some years ago a lady called Myrtle Simpson collected dozens of pairs of skis together in the hope of creating a ski museum at the foot of the Cairngorm ski slopes. Her dream didn’t come true. The alternative plan was to hand part of the collection over to us, which she did in 2008. As a result we inherited an amazing array of vintage skis, though many were in a very poor state of repair, the pair we have here were very poor indeed.

The skis seem to have been acquired, at some point, from Campbell’s Rubber Co in Aberdeen, who specialised in outdoor gear – as you can see from the advert above. Campbell’s didn’t actually make gear, they were the retailers, but who actually made these skis we’re not quite sure. We found a very faint MAPLE stamp when we were cleaning them, though whether or not this was the makers’ mark or type of wood we’re not sure. Our best guess is that they are made of maple wood, indicating an American or Canadian origin, as lots of maple grows here.

The skis had been painted with a horrible black laquer on top, and a similar blue one underneath. The bindings were very rusty. We’ve given them a severe dose of TLC, cleaned the bindings and kept the original colour scheme, albeit with better paint.