"'Huntford manages to bind a wealth of material together with a strong narrative thread.' The Independent on Sunday 'What elevates Huntford is his comprehensive approach... accessible and enjoyable, even to the most armchair bound of 'schussers'.' The Times 'The most in-depth study of skiing currently in the English language and it will no doubt remain the defining record for some time.' The Guardian 'This will be skiing's definitive history for years to come' Times Literary Supplement"

Roland Huntford is is the world's foremost authority on the polar expeditions and their protagonists. The biographer of Shackleton and Nansen, his other books include Scott and Amundsen. He was the Scandinavian correspondent on The Observer for many years.

Preface, Acknowledgements; Note, Maps. 1. Skiing Necesse Est; 2. Ski Tracks in the Milky Way; 3. The Earliest Written Sources; 4. The Finnish National Epic Kalevala; 5. The First Printed; 6. Norway - the Cradle of Skiing as a Sport; 7. The Influence of Rousseau; 8. The Ski in Foreign Literature; 9. Evolution of Skiing as a Sport; 10. The Men of Telemark; 11. Development of Technique and Equipment; 12. The First Nordic Marathon; 13. The Conquest of the Mountain World; 14. Fridtjof Nansen and the first crossing of Greenland; 15. The Nordic Olympia; 16. The Waisted Telemark Ski; 17. The Rise of Ski Touring and the misadventures of Roald Amundsen; 18. As Important as the Plays of Ibsen; 19. The Spread of Skiing on the Continent; 20. Norwegians Bring Skiing to Austria-Hungary and Montenegro; 21. Skiing Comes to Switzerland; 22. Davos: Cradle of the Ski Resort; 23. The English Skiing at Davos; 24. Mathias Zdarsky; 25. St.Moritz; 26. Skiing in France; 27. Polar Exloration; 28. The Inventions that Founded Modern Skiing; 29. The New World; 30. The Study of Snow Structure; 31. The First Winter Olympics at Chamonix; 32. Mass Winter Tourism; 33. The International Recognition of Downhill Skiing; 34. Skiing Mechanised and Politicised; 35. Military Skiing; 36. Skiing Since 1945; Bibliography.