What an unusual first page to an article in the March, 1933, issue of National Geographic Magazine! It is a full-page photo of a skier swooping down a steep, snowy hill, "Frost flowers replace the blossoms of spring and summer; icicles assume fanciful shapes. . . To this magical land, sparkling under the rays of a brilliant sun, come lovers of winter sports - skiers, skaters, tobogganers and curlers," (Skiing in Switzerland's Realm of Winter Sports, photo caption, p. 345).
Turn a page and I find the whole article is photos - a first for me to discover! And my question is answered: Why are the Swiss such good skiers? "The wide popularity of skiing in Switzerland is due largely to its many opportunities for sport and utility. In the tiny mountain villages boys and girls go to school on skis which sometimes are made of two barrel staves. Postmen in the snow-filled valleys deliver mail on skis. They are a common means of pedestrian travel in winter," (photo caption, p. 346). The best skiers begin the sport at a young age.
Concerning ski-jumping, "Jumping is a development of skiing which has become so popular in Switzerland that now practically every center of winter sports activity has a jumping hill. The important feature of a ski jump is not the height attained, but the distance traveled through the air," (photo caption, p. 351).
As a pre-schooler with my parents on vacation in Switzerland (dad was stationed in the Army in Germany), I remember looking out a train window at the steep mountains. The train was very slow and the windows were nearly all fogged. Far below I spotted a small, circular, blue lake in a valley. At the top of the mountain was a station for the train to pull in and a restaurant. It was called the Zuder Zee. I didn't know then that the entire country of Switzerland is full of the Swiss Alps, very high mountains.
This delightfully short article has made me feel cooler on this blistering hot summer day!
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