A past issue of TBM (that I can’t identify immediately) included an excellent article by Don Thomas on the virtues of cross-country skis for hunting. (Hoping that our Webmom can tell us when it was published so others can see it.) The technique has also been discussed occasionally here in the forums.
This is a match made in heaven as far as I’m concerned. However, I’ve found someone who makes the vaunted Dr. Thomas look like a downright sissy when it comes to pursuing game in the wintertime. 😉
An ancient technique of skiing with just one long pole is famously depicted in an 1889 painting from Norway which shows the original Birkebeinere carrying the infant future King Håkon IV to safety through the mountains. The technique was used in Norway into the early 20th century but was then lost.
However, it has survived into the present in the Altai Mountains of China. The 2014 discovery in Norway of an intact binding on a ski some 1300 years old prompted an exchange visit to Norway this month by some skiers from China. One of them shows the technique in the video at the bottom of this linked article. As you’ll see, even this guy’s arrow is longer than Don’s. 😈
http://www.nrk.no/ho/kinesere-sikrer-urgamle-skitradisjoner-1.12653938
