I posted a little bit ago about a new book on the history of skiing. Seems like the topic is on a couple of folks’ minds these days. While I would be more interested if the new Museum of Skiing were in a place like Vail or Aspen so that you could admire the exhibits and then hit the powder-blanketed slopes, Maine works, too.
The museum is located in Farmington, Maine, a college town where the history of skiing…at least of the Northeast variety, goes back to before the Second World War. The history of skiing actually goes back quite a bit further than that, some several thousand years in northern Europe and Asia. In fact, pieces of skis dating back 5,000 years have been found in peat bogs, and cave drawings suggest early use of a form of skis, or so says Glenn Parkinson, author of First Tracks: Stories From Maine’s Skiing Heritage. Then there is Fred Flintstone, who can be seen in one episode skiing down the back of a Brontosaurus. So you see, skiing is reaaaal old.