Earliest History of Skiing in the World
“There are three tribes of Mu-Ma Turks [who] have the custom of riding wooden horses to gallop over the [snow and] ice. Resting their feet on boards and supporting their armpits with crooked sticks, with one stride they travel a hundred paces.”
Xin Tang Shu (New Tang History) AD 618 to AD 907
(Earliest technical description of cross country skiing)
The earliest fragments of skis date to about 7200 BC and were uncovered at a stone age site in northern Russia. These wooden skis predate the invention of the wheel by 3,500 years. They were made with stone tools and have a sophisticated workmanship and design, including a wedge which would act as a brake and prevent back slip.
The next oldest skis to be found date to approximately 3200 BC and were found in northern Scandinavia. Prehistoric northern hunting peoples needed skis for survival, enabling them to overtake and kill their prey on snow. Skis were designed specifically to adapt to local snow conditions and included the use of fur skins on the bases to allow for hill climbing and to move more easily over hard-packed snow.
Boots and bindings were an integral part of the ski usage. Boots were likely soft soled leather, and bindings included a toe strap, a feature which lasted 5,000 years until the 20th century.
The earliest skier-hunters used only one ski pole, freeing up the other hand for the use of hunting weapons. However, pieces of pottery from the Abashevo culture, found in central Russia and dated to around 1500 BC, depict a skier holding two ski poles. The Abashevo people were nomadic farmers who lived much further south than the northern hunting tribes and would have used skis and poles to move from place to place.
Prehistoric rock drawings of skiers dating from about 2000 BC have been found in northern Norway and north-west Russia.
Reference: Two Planks and A Passion, by Roland Huntford
Continuum Books, 2008