By Dave Rees
CANADA WAS FIRST!!!
At the 1992 Olympics in Albertville and at the cross country venue at Les Saises, the wax test area was not very close to the wax cabins and transporting 15 or so pairs of skis back and forth became tedious. Wax the skis; put on the ski ties; load the bags and take them to the test area; undo the ski ties; test and then redo the ties; re-load the bags; transport to the wax cabin and unload the bags and undo the ski ties once again!
So a device was designed by Dave Rees (glide wax helper to Canadian wax coach, Dave Wood) to shortcut all of the fiddle. Made from scavenged wood and nails (hard to find around the wax cabin milieu), Toko ski tape and a borrowed saw ( we had a hammer), the ski holder worked a charm. It drew a lot of interesting looks as well and low and behold the next year on the circuit more professional models began to appear. The holders are still used to this day (see photos below).
CANADA WAS FIRST!!!!!
The former method of ski testing transport- note the many ski ties in the bag
The first ever ski testing transporter – built at the Albertville OWGs 1992
Ski testing transporter loaded – at the Albertville OWGs 1992
Ski testing transporter – World Cup Canmore 2012 – Canadian Team
Ski testing transporter – World Cup Canmore 2012 – French Team