Skiing in New England has not always been such a breathtaking sport
connected with winter vacations at distant and local resorts. From the
early 1870s, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish immigrants utilized skis to
carry the mail and to travel through the woods to school and work.
Later, a group of college men at Dartmouth founded the Outing Club,
which transformed skiing from everyday practicality into swift-moving
recreation. Since that time, the excitement and exhilaration of skiing
has spread nationwide. In this volume, we will explore the history of
skiing in this region, from its early, simpler days of cross-country and
jumping to the rising popularity of alpine skiing beginning in the
1930s. Rather than a technical history, this book concentrates on
presenting a story that is fluid like the sport itself, focusing on
places, personalities, and major innovations between the early 1870s and
1940.