Customer Reviews

Two Planks and a Passion: The Dramatic History of Skiing

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I got this for my uncle for Christmas and was halfway through reading it myself by the time we had to head back home. So now I guess I have to get a copy of my own...
If, like me, you are a fan of serious history and the meticulous research that goes into it, then this book is what you are looking for. There have been other books that provide a breezy and cursory treatment of the fascinating history of skiing, but Huntford really goes far beyond what the other books have to offer.
Highly recommended for skiers and history buffs alike.

If you're serious about the early history of skiing, Huntford's book is essential reading. There are now a number of very good academic English-language studies of the history and culture of skiing in the modern era (beginning with the eighteenth century), but Huntford is the best scholarly work on the sport's prehistory -- that is, on over-snow travel by the preliterate peoples of Northern and Central Eurasia. Excellent, authoritative detail on the transfer of skills that led to the adoption of Scandinavian skiing in the Alps, on the relationship between wintersport and nineteenth century nationalism. Huntford is a polyglot and was able to do most of his research by reading sources in their original languages. The book is not flawless, but it's a gem and should serve as a starting point for any further research into the history of the sport in Europe. And it's fun to read. --Seth Masia, http://skiinghistory.org

You know I saw the fantastic cover and thought this would be cool to learn about Franz Klammer, Ingemar Stenmark, Rosie Mittermaier, Hermann Maier, Anne Marie Moser-Proell, etc. Sadly they are not in here.

This is a book basically about skiing and how it started, how the equipment evolved and there is only one chapter on post-WWII skiing. I'm sure it's fantastically researched but, honestly, it's like reading a book on the history of hockey and learning about the game up till the NHL starts. It's great if you're into that. I'm not so I felt the book just wasn't for me.

Now, if anyone knows of a book, profiling the greats of the World Cup ski circuits (Alpine, cross-country and ski jumping), please tell me.

This book isn't what I expected. It is good for the prehistoric info about skiing but is too technical and over-worded for the rest of skiing history and doesn't come up into a modern enough time period. It misses some of the recent short, shaped ski developments and their impact on alpine racing and ski instruction.

I was very disappointed by this book. I was looking forward to reading a good history of skiing. The book is very poorly written, almost as if it is a tranlation into English. I know this is not true since the author is English. The book goes into way too much detail on early Norwigian skiing and spents too much time discussion the details of very early ski races. There is not nearly enough discussion of the developement of modern skiing and modern equipment.