History of the development of skiing in the USSR. How was skiing in the USSR? Cross-country skis from the 80s

With the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in our country, physical culture and sports became the property of the masses and acquired a truly national character. A massive, multimillion-dollar, amateur physical education movement has emerged. The most advanced and scientifically based system of physical education was created, reflecting the interests of the state and people in preparing comprehensively developed people, active builders of a communist society.

In the first years of Soviet power, in the conditions of foreign military intervention and civil war, the government and the Communist Party set Soviet physical education organizations the task of preparing the population for the defense of the young Soviet Republic and for highly productive socialist labor.
On April 22, 1918, implementing the resolution of the VII Party Congress, the Central Executive Committee of the Council of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies issued a Decree signed by V.I. Lenin on universal military training of workers under the age of 40 and on pre-conscription training of youth starting from 16 years of age. Physical education was included as an integral element in the program of general military training. Ski training occupied a special place, which marked the beginning of mass training of workers in skiing. Vsevobuch hired the strongest ski athletes as instructors, such as P. Bychkov, N. Vasiliev, A; Nemukhin, V. Serebryakov, I. Skalkin and others. Pre-revolutionary ski clubs were reorganized into experimental demonstration points of Vsevobuch (OPPV). In 1918, Vsevobuch opened instructor training courses and issued “Manual on training ski units” and “Regulations on individual ski companies and teams,” and the first sports competitions were held.

In 1919, the Defense Council ordered Vsevobuch to begin training and forming ski teams. In the same year, 75 ski companies were trained and sent to the front, and the next year another 12 companies of skiers.

I V.I. Lenin demanded the use of skis on the Northern and Eastern (fronts) in military operations. Ski detachments played a big role in suppressing the Kronstadt rebellion. A particularly striking example of the use of skis in the civil war is the defeat of the kulak rebellion in Karelia in 1921-1922. A ski squad of cadets from the Leningrad International Military School, in which there were many Finns, under the command of Toivo Antikainen, carried out a heroic raid behind enemy lines for a month and fought about 1000 km in severe frost and snowstorm, thereby providing significant assistance to the Northern Front.

During the period 1918-1923. Vsevobuch and the Red Army had a major influence on the massive development of skiing in our country.

In 1923, the Supreme Council of Physical Culture was created, which accepted the legacy of Vsevobuch and, with the direct assistance of the Komsomol, marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of sports in the country. Sections for sports were created under local councils, and activists rallied around the sections to assist the councils in their work. But in factories, institutions and educational institutions there were only physical education clubs for general physical training. Skiing competitions were held rarely, with a small number of participants and, as a rule, only for one distance.

1925 became a turning point in the development of sports in our country. The resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 13, 1925 and the subsequent decision of the XV Party Conference on the cultural and educational work of trade unions helped improve the quality of sports work. Sports sections for different types of sports began to be created in grassroots groups, competitions began to be held more often, their program expanded, and the number of competition participants increased.

In 1929, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution on issues of physical culture and sports, recognizing the need to eliminate discrepancies in physical education work, increase its scale and strengthen physical education work in the countryside. The Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to create the All-Union Council of Physical Culture with the functions of the highest governing body.

The Komsomol came up with a proposal to introduce a set of physical exercises “Ready for Labor and Defense of the USSR” as the basis of the state system of physical education. The introduction of the GTO complex in 1930 entailed a restructuring of the educational and training work of sports organizations. Skiing was included in all levels of the GTO complex, which contributed to the replenishment of the ranks of ski athletes.

In 1936, the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports was created under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and a decision was made to create voluntary sports societies, which gave a new impetus to the further development of skiing.

In subsequent years, there has been an increase in the number and skill of skiers. The active development of ski jumping, biathlon and slalom began. From year to year the number of competitions increased and their program became more and more diverse.
The international situation required increasing the country's defense capability. New paramilitary forms of skiing, mass cross-country skiing, appeared.

Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, ski athletes, teachers, and trainers have been on the combat and labor fronts: In ski battalions, partisan detachments, in the defense industry, and worked at Vsevobuch points.

A special place is occupied by the heroic deeds of individual battalions and ski partisan detachments during the Great Patriotic War. Ski battalions were part of all fronts and armies; the Nazis called them “white death”.

Many of the country's athletes died in the battles for their homeland, including the champions of the Soviet Union in cross-country skiing Vladimir Myagkov (he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union) and Lyubov Kulakova (she was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War).

It should be noted the active work of the ski departments of the institutes of physical culture of the State Center for Physical Education and Physical Education. Teachers and student skiers who were not mobilized into the Red Army voluntarily joined the partisan detachments and selflessly fought the enemy. These institutes have not stopped their teaching activities. Having relocated to Sverdlovsk and Frunze, they continued to train sports personnel and reserves for the Red Army (GTSOLIFK trained 113,000 fighter-skiers, 5,000 military ski instructors, conducted more than 150 mass cross-country skiing events).

In 1947, in order to further encourage the growth of sports achievements of Soviet athletes, gold, silver and bronze medals were established to award winners of championships and record holders of the USSR and tokens of the same value for winners and record holders of the union republics, the cities of Moscow and Leningrad. The All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions approved tokens for the three strongest athletes at the Central Sports Council championships.

On December 27, 1948, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a special resolution on the further development of the mass physical education movement and the improvement of sportsmanship. This resolution entailed a radical improvement not only in practical, but also in scientific, theoretical and methodological activities.

All-Union competitions did not begin to be held immediately. They were preceded by the holding of the first Moscow championship under Soviet power on January 28, 1918. The winner at a distance of 25 versts was N. Bunkin, the second and third were N. Vasiliev and A. Nemukhin. In 1919, the first competition for women was held. The winner at 5 miles was V. Morozova. In the same year, the titles of winners of a number of cities in the country were played: Petrograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Rzhev, etc.

In 1920, the first RSFSR championship was held in Moscow for a distance of 30 km, which was won by N. Vasiliev. In 1924, a similar competition was already held as the USSR Championship. The winner at a distance of 30 km was Nikolai Vasiliev’s younger brother, Dmitry, who for a long time was the leader of Soviet skiers. Among women, A. Mikhailova won at a distance of 5 km.

Until 1926, national championships were held for only one distance, and a small group of skiers participated in them. In 1926, the Winter Festival was held in Ostankino (near Moscow). These competitions attracted many skiers; For the first time, ski jumping was included in the program (V. Voronov won - 18.5 m). After these competitions, national championships (with rare exceptions) began to be held annually.

In 1928, in addition to races for the strongest skiers, the program of the Winter Spartakiad included races for rural skiers, village letter carriers, reconnaissance shooters and a new event - biathlon. 638 people took part in the Spartakiad. Young talented, previously little-known skiers took to the start line: V. Chistyakov,
A. Dodonov, L. Bessonov, V. Guseva, E. Tsareva, G. Chistyakova.

In 1934, an important event in the country was the Ski Festival, which was timed to coincide with the opening of the country's largest ski base and ski jump with a design capacity of 45-48 m in Uktusy near Sverdlovsk. 50 people took part in the jumping competition. The winners were: at a distance of 15 and 30 km - D. Vasiliev, at 5 km - student of the Moscow Institute of Physical Education E. Yutkina, at 10 km - M. Shestakova, in jumping - N. Khorkov, in slalom - V. Glasson (slalom for men were included in the national championship for the first time).

The national championship in slalom for women was first held in 1939 (champion - A. Bessonova), in giant slalom for men - in 1947 (champion - V. Preobrazhensky), for women - in 1947 (champion - M . Semirazumova), in downhill for men - in 1937 (champion - V. Giplenreitor), for women - in 1940 (champion - G. Taezhnaya). Since then, national championships in alpine skiing have been held annually.

In 1936, the first all-Union competition of collective farm skiers took place in Voronezh. The winner was the Karelia team. In 1938, the First All-Union Collective Farm Winter Spartakiad was held in Moscow, in which 283 skiers took part. The competition was a great success. The team from the Leningrad region took first place in the team competition. Since that time, collective farm winter holidays have become traditional.

In 1936, after the organization of sports societies, championships of individual CS DSO and departments in types of skiing began to be held.
Period 1936-1941 characterized by an increase in the level of sports achievements in racing, ski jumping and biathlon.

During these years, such famous masters of sports as V. Myagkov grew up,
B. Smirnov, P. Orlov, I. Bulochkin, A. Karpov* K. Kudryashev, I. Dementyev, 3. Bolotova, M. Pochatova, etc.

In the 50s Talented youth joined the ranks of leading skiers: P. Kolchin, V. Baranov, N. Anikin, V. Kuzin, F. Terentyev, V. Butakov, A. Kuznetsov, A. Shelyukhin, V. Tsareva, A. Kolchin, L. Baranova, R. Eroshina, M. Maslyannikova, M. Gusakova, K. Boyarskikh and others.
In 1934, the North Festival was held in polar Murmansk, which later began to attract the country's strongest skiers and soon grew into a competition of national and then international significance. This holiday is held in the spring and, as it were, ends the winter season in the country.

Since 1962, once every four years, 2 years before the Olympic Games, winter sports competitions of the peoples of the USSR are held. This competition attracts up to 20 million participants.

Since 1969, the USSR Championship in certain types of skiing began to be held annually in our country.

In the 60s The national team included I. Voronchikhin, I. Utrobin, G. Vaganov, and at the end of this decade - V. Vedenin, G. Kulakova, R. Achkina, A. Privalov, V. Milanin, A. Tikhonov, V. Mamatov, V. Gundartsev and others. In the late 60s. Sports achievements and skiing skills have increased significantly, and the density of results has increased. In the first half of the 70s. the group of the strongest was replenished with Yu. Skobov, V. Voronkov, F. Simashov, L. Mukhacheva, O. Olyunina; in the second half of the 70s. - S. Savelyev, I. Garanin, N. Barsukov, E. Belyaev, N. Bondareva, R. Smetanina, 3. Amosova and others.

Competitions for ultra-marathon distances (more than S0 km) began to be held in pre-revolutionary Russia. Under Soviet rule, ultramarathon races took place in 1938 and 1939. (Yaroslavl-Moscow - 233 km). In the first, the winner was D. Vasiliev - 18:41.02, in the second - P. Orlov - 18:40.19.

In 1940, a 100 km race took place near Moscow. A. Novikov won with 21 participants - 8:22.44.

Since 1961, a 70 km race has been held annually in Kirovsk, where since 1963 the title of USSR champion in the ultramarathon race has been played out. Since 1976, a similar title has been awarded for women (30 km).

Ultramarathon races have become traditional in Miass (Asia-Europe-Asia, 70 km), in Nizhny Tagil (Europe-Asia-Europe, 70 km), in Novokuznetsk (in memory of the heroes of Novokuznetsk residents who died in the Great Patriotic War, 70 km). Since 1972, the skiing department of the State Center for Physical Culture and Physical Culture has annually held the “Round Lake” race of 80 km, which attracts many skiers (skiers from more than 60 cities of the country participate).
International meetings in Soviet times resumed in 1928. Muscovites hosted skiers from the Finnish Workers' Union.

In the same year, Soviet skiers were invited to a competition in Norway, where they first became acquainted with the four-step alternating move, which subsequently became widespread among our skiers.

In 1934, skiers from Sweden, Norway and Czechoslovakia took part in the Alpine Ski Festival in Sverdlovsk.

In 1936, our skiers competed in the Finnish championship. This meeting was very useful; it served as an impetus for revising domestic skiing techniques and improving ski equipment.

International meetings received particular development after the Great Patriotic War. Since 1948, our skiers began to participate in the Holmenkollen Games, then in the Falun and Lakhtin Games, since 1951 - in the Universiade, since 1954 - in the World Championships and since 1956 - in the Winter Olympic Games.

Since 1956, Soviet skiers regularly hold friendly meetings with foreign skiers in their homeland.

Since 1961, FIS has included the Kavgolov Games in its sports calendar, which have become major official international competitions. These games are held in odd-numbered years between the Winter Olympics and the World Ski Championships.

Since 1961, traditional ski competitions of the Friendly Armies began, in which military personnel from the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Mongolia, Poland, Romania and the DPRK take part.

Mass skiing competitions have received great development in connection with the introduction of the GTO complex. This event provided enormous coverage of skiing among young people, as well as adults, and millions of people began to take up skiing and participate in competitions.

Since 1939, mass competitions, which were held by individual teams, grew into mass Komsomol, trade union and Komsomol-trade union cross-country races, in which skiers from the entire region or city participated. The largest ski cross, dedicated to the XXIII anniversary of the Red Army, was held in 1941 and attracted 6,120,000 participants.
Multi-day ski treks occupy a special place in the Russian history of skiing. They greatly contributed to the development of mass skiing, and in the post-revolutionary period they also served as a means of promoting political events held in the country. Attaching great importance to skiing, the party and government awarded 38 participants with orders of the USSR. The initiator of the ski crossings was the Red Army. The participants were tasked with determining the march mode, the physical capabilities of people, types of skis for long marches, shoes, clothing and equipment, as well as campaigning for the development of mass skiing throughout the country.

The first transition was made in 1923. Subsequently, the number of transitions grew every year. The British agency Reuters called them “an amazing achievement.” People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov, welcoming the group of participants in the transition, said: “I hope that your heroic transition will inspire thousands of new soldiers and commanders to fight for mass skiing and new Soviet records.” The People's Commissar's call was taken up by various units and formations of the Red Army, and in 1934-1935. many wonderful transitions were made.

A special place in history is occupied by the crossing of border guards I. Popov, A. Shevchenko, K. Brazhnikov, A. Kulikov, V. Egorov. In 150 days they covered 8,200 km from Baikal to Murmansk. Geographers involved in the development of this route considered the transition impracticable. There were serious reasons for this. The detachment had to overcome the Baikal ridge, cross the Lena, Yenisei, Ob, and pass through remote places in the harsh conditions of the North. The participants spent 22 nights in sleeping bags and moved by compass for 16 days. We replaced several dog and reindeer sleds, which carried the necessary food and equipment. But they achieved their intended goal.

After the war, cross-country skiing, including for women, was further developed.
From the first days of Soviet power, measures were taken to create a material base for skiing. Already in 1923, 7 thousand pairs of skis were manufactured; in 1938 - 1860 thousand pairs. Currently, there are more than 40 ski factories in the country annually producing up to 5 million pairs of skis.

If in 1934 one comprehensive ski base was built in the country, now large ski complexes of national significance have been created: for racing, jumping, and double-event in Käriku (Estonia) and Uktusy (Ural); for all types of skiing on Sakhalin, in Bakuri-ani (Caucasus); for racing and biathlon in Raubichi (Belarus) and Sumy (Ukraine); Mytishchi biathlon stadium (Moscow), Elbrus ski complex (Kabardino-Balkaria), Vorokhtinsky and Slavsky complexes (Ukraine), Krasnogorsky (Moscow) and Kavgolovsky (Leningrad) ski and racing stadiums; ski resorts have been created at the Central Sports Council and departments. There are more than 100 ski jumps in the country with a design capacity of more than 60 meters. There are more than 5,000 public ski stations.

To design new sports facilities, the Fizkultsportproekt Institute was created, and to develop new types and models of equipment - the All-Union Design, Technological and Experimental Design Institute of Sports and Tourism Products (VISTI).

Teaching, training and scientific personnel began to be trained from the first years of Soviet power. Already in 1918, training courses for ski instructors were organized. In 1920, by decree of V.I. Lenin, the Institute of Physical Culture was created in Moscow; at the same time, physical education courses in Petrograd, created by P. F. Lesgaft, were reorganized into the Institute of Physical Culture. The skiing departments at these institutes began to train skiing personnel for the whole country. Currently, 22 institutes and 2 branches of institutes, 89 physical education faculties of pedagogical institutes and universities, and 14 technical schools are engaged in training coaching staff. In addition, all DSOs of trade unions and departments are training public instructors and public sports judges.

Scientific personnel, in addition to the departments of the institutes, are trained by 2 research institutes of physical culture and the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR. The country has trained more than 130 candidates of science in the theory and methodology of skiing.

Scientific and methodological literature began to be published in 1919. Currently, a large amount of specialized literature is published. In the period from 1970 to 1977 alone, over 2 thousand articles were published and more than 100 manuals and programs were published. Methodological literature is published in the Union republics, and as a rule in their native language.

Following the awakening interest in various manifestations (including everyday ones) of life in a country called the USSR, we wanted to try to plunge into the ski life of those times. When creating this article, we did not pursue the goal of creating any analytical report with various statistical sections. Instead, we wanted to try to convey that ski atmosphere in various small sketches and private descriptions, without at all pretending to be complete and general. So, let's begin.

The history of alpine skiing in the USSR began in 1923, when doctor A.A. Zhemchuzhnikov, together with a team of skiers, opened a section of alpine skiing (later the bourgeois word “alpine” was replaced by “mountain”). The section settled on those same Sparrow Hills, which later became one of the central ski areas of Moscow. Equipment and materials for learning to ride were brought from Scandinavia. From that moment on, our country began its own ski history; new facilities are being built on the Lenin Hills; Ski sports and competitions in such alpine skiing disciplines as slalom, giant slalom, and downhill are held throughout the country. The Great Patriotic War stopped the rapidly developing development, but nevertheless, even during the war, city and union alpine skiing championships were held. After the war, skiing began to develop at a rapid pace. This was facilitated by the USSR's entry into the International Ski Federation. The bulk of the competitions of that time were held in Alma-Ata Chimbulak. The first and only bronze medal to this day at the 1956 Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in slalom went to Soviet alpine skier Evgenia Sidorova (In 1994, silver was won bySvetlana Gladysheva in Lillehammer). The USSR began to hold its own championships with the participation of world-class athletes. For the first time, the USSR is participating in international cup competitions.

Ski extreme

Alpine ski tourism dates back to the 30s. EThe expeditions of Osoviakhim Zhemchuzhnikov and Barkhash make treks through the snow-ice passes of Tviber (3600 m) and Tsanner (3950 m) with a descent to Svaneti and return. Initially, ski tourism meant multi-day hikes in the mountains, through passes, gorges and glaciers, and not a civilized holiday in a cafe with hot mulled wine. In addition to alpine skis, a hiker’s arsenal includes a sleeping bag, ice axes, crampons, and ropes. Skiing in the deep snow of the highlands is a well-deserved reward after a grueling climb. Mountain hikes in the absence of high-quality communications and emergency services were a serious test of endurance and required serious athletic training from the participants. As a rule, teams of professional athletes from mountain sections went on such trips, but solo trips were also made at great risk to life.The first ski descent from Elbrus was subsequently carried out by downhill champion Vadim Gippenreiter. Next came skiing from the foothills of Everest, the Himalayas, and the Pamirs.

From the author’s notes “About skiing again”(http://www.clamber.ru/117-eshhyo-raz-o-lyzhax.html):

The instructor of the Azau tourist hotel, Vladimir Maybuk, did not have to travel far away. I remember this incident well, which almost cost Volodya his life, because I am still friends with him and correspond regularly. At the end of November, Volodya passed through the Chiper-Azau pass, located in the Main Caucasus Range, from the Azau gorge to the Nenskryra valley, from Kabardino-Balkaria to the Svaneti region of Georgia. He expected, using skis on the ups and downs, to walk from home to home in a day or two, but the transition took him four days.
On the way up, he trailed the freshly fallen fluffy snow and moved very slowly. The snow was deep and kept falling into ruts. He had to spend the night in a dug snow cave, not reaching the pass. I dug with skis and hands. He didn’t have a tent and had to hulk from the cold in a cotton sleeping bag. He lightened himself as much as possible in order to quickly cover the route, and he had few warm clothes, and he tried to put those that he had to good use.
He sat in his ski boots, put his backpack on the sleeping bag at his feet, and tried to stay awake all night and move a little inside the sleeping bag. By morning he was so cold that he could barely get out of his sleeping bag. But, having somehow put on my skis, I stubbornly climbed longer, although it was much easier and faster to return. On this day he expected to cross the pass and ski down to the village of Chuberi. But nature made adjustments. It was very difficult, almost impossible, to descend knee-deep and higher in the snow, because the skis did not roll. And Volodya, taking off his skis and tying them to his backpack, set off on foot. I had to walk almost chest-deep in the snow, raking the snow with my hands and tamping it with my knees. He fell several times. This was the hardest thing - getting up. Because it was incredibly difficult to stand on your feet in such snow; there was no support. Volodya was drowning in the snow, he fell asleep, he floundered, trying to get up.
I had to take off my backpack, get up, put the backpack back on and only then move on. This took a lot of effort and time. Descending to the foot of the pass, he looked like a snowman. At this point, he began to doubt the success of his event.
On the second day of the journey, he fell into the river up to his knees. Wringing out his socks and inner boot, he put on his shoes and walked on. Walking in wet shoes, his feet froze. They were so swollen that the outer boot would not fasten. They were so sick that every step was difficult and painful. Volodya did not take a primus stove or fuel, so he could not have a hot drink or eat.
We had to ski a small part of the way. I walk almost all the time with frostbitten feet. It was a pity to throw away his skis (state-owned Polsport), and he dragged them, despite severe fatigue and pain in his feet. I hardly slept at nights. Only occasionally did I forget for a few minutes. I woke up from a trembling that shook my whole body. He immediately began to rub the numb, suffering body.
After the second night, he realized that he would not make it. And yet he walked, mechanically moving his legs, writhing from pain, insomnia, hunger and cold. He no longer walked, but wandered as if drunk, when he entered the first Svan village of Chuberi. He was still able to explain to the amazed Svans that he had come through the pass. He was able to walk home on his own, where he was sheltered, fed and warmed. And then turned off for a day.
The Svans fully fulfilled the holy law of mountain hospitality, but they could hardly believe that a person could cross the pass alone at this time of year, practically without special equipment and food. But Volodya convinced them with his story, and, most importantly, with his appearance.

60s

The 60s saw the heyday of amateur skiing. At the very beginning of the 60s, alpine skiing itself was not yet perceived by society as some very expensive exoticism (elitism and aristocracy would be attributed to this hobby later). Amateur alpine skiing goes hand in hand with mountain tourism and mountaineering, and skiing is considered only a small part of the entire tourist trip. However, very soon skiing gains independence and becomes a self-sufficient amateur sport.

By this time, a huge number of ski resorts have already been built and landscaped in the world. A cable car was built in the USSR

road on Mount Cheget, which later became one of the most popular skiing spots. At the same time, the names of alpine skiers appeared in the sport, who later became legendary - Jean-Claude Kiely and Karl Schrantz. Karl Schrantz visits the Terskol tourist base. A lot of true and false stories subsequently developed about his famous visit. According to one of them, it allegedly turned out that Schrantz does not like skiing at all, and is even afraid of it. And when he arrived at Elbrus, he was shocked by the mountains he saw, which in no way corresponded to the prevailing safety regulations at that time. Before his first descent, he thoroughly and scrupulously studied the route, insisted on installing damping safety elements in the form of mats and other related material, and then... slowly descended along it. Evidence of further outrages committed by the ski star on Elbrus together with Soviet partners in the workshop varies and is replete with various details, but the final result of this sporting (and not so sporting) trip was the phrase he uttered in an Austrian sports magazine: “When the Russians ride Elbrus with cable cars, they will be as invincible in alpine skiing as in other sports."

In parallel, systems for teaching amateur skiing techniques are being created in the USSR and the rest of the world. In addition to ski school coaches, the class of mentors in the ski hierarchy is supplemented by a new category - alpine ski instructor.

Unfortunately, it was only in the 80s that specially developed “tourist” methods with a pedagogical emphasis on the amateur level began to appear. In the 60s, sports skating was taken as the basis for training, with various simplifications and variations.

A typical instructor's room is a small trailer equipped with basic household items, minimal ski care tools, and a table for friendly gatherings with colleagues and new students. And a former or currently practicing coach of some children's school is at the head of the table.

Let's touch on skating technique in a few words. It is clear that we will talk exclusively about classical technology. In the 60s, the key points in teaching tourist riding were telemark, Christian, avalman, plow. As for telemark, in the 60s it was already an endangered type of skiing. With the advent of good ski bindings, skiing without fixed backs came to naught, and was practiced mostly among those who still skied on old wooden skis with homemade bindings. But the telemark tradition did not die, and in the 70s there was even a surge of interest in this type of skating, and followers of this type of skating can still be found today. In the first days of classes with an instructor, plow riding was mastered, and the transition to parallel skating was gradually made. After that it was possible to go high into the mountains. After successfully mastering a Christian turn on parallel skis, a skier on the slope didn't look so awkward anymore. On average, it took one season to master simple tourist skiing so that the skier would not be so noticeable with his unsteady stance. Next came the polishing of the acquired basics of technology. The trails, as a rule, had a low quality of preparation and were replete with bumps, so a significant amount of time was devoted to avalman (pushing the skis forward with pulling up the legs at the beginning of the turn). Beginners worked hard trying to load and unload skis through flexion and extension during the turn phase. For diligent and capable beginner skiers, the apotheosis of a two-week stay in the mountains is rhythmic parallel skiing with frequent conjugate turns.

Now about skiing. In sports circles, skiing is also popular. Sometimes there were Slalom skis - a Russian copy of the Austrian Kestle. Also popular were brands such as Austrian Fischer, Kneissl, Yugoslavian, and later a French company Elan. Such truly elite skis were the subject of envy or indescribable delight even among ordinary people not initiated into the skiing life. The shine of the decorative coating, the design, the sophisticated fastenings - everything together looked like the avant-garde of modern art. Such skis were usually equipped with “Marker” bindings of the “semi-automatic” type.

But the majority of “persons not close to alpine skiing” rode wooden skis. Full-fledged in-house production of alpine skis appeared in our country only in the early 70s, and in the 60s these were wooden skis with a homemade edge, usually screwed on with screws, or “second-hand” skis inherited from sports schools without identification marks. Or, Mukachevo - skis from the Mukachevo factory. Done made of pine, at best with the addition of Karelian birch. The common people called them "oak". In 1957, skis with duralumin edges appeared.

Ski bindings. The first fastenings for mountain tourists usually consisted of a set of leather straps,

wrapped around the boot several times. Next came the fastening input type “ kandahar" - a rigid, non-hinged fastening of the toe of the boot in a strong bracket. This design provided for the use of only special shoes made of thick leather, which had a flat, hard sole and a reinforced heel. By this time, semi-automatic machines with a fixed back and a releasable head had already been developed(Marker, Look-Nevada, Salomon ), but they are rare. Still belt fastenings are used, consisting of two or three pairs of rings installed on the skis.

Ski boots . Plastic boots with clips only began to appear in the late 60s. Before that, we rode in leather lace-up boots. When riding for a long time, the laces became loose or untied and had to be re-tightened from time to time. For the first time, the French company Caber produced boots equipped with metal clips instead of lacing. Buckles instead of laces are a great innovation of the time. Attempts to make boots from plastic remained unsuccessful for a long time. Polymers of that time were either too expensive, or not strong, or not durable, and in any case could not compete with leather.

BTW: Automatic fastenings for indoor use were invented by Edgar Nagorny, the father of the famous trainer Voldemar Nagorny. The heel was fixed with a special latch. And two metal plates were attached to the sides of the ski with screws. They went up along the boot and were attached to the ankle - there was a special belt with felt so that it would not rub. The plates moved with the leg back and forth, but did not allow the boot to move left or right. With a strong impact, the leg flew out of the fastening. (source http://www.sport-express.ru/newspaper/2002-12-25/8_2/ )

Later, riveted and glued metal skis briefly became widespread among equipment. In ski equipment in this decade, the Polish company Polsport and the Bulgarian Mladost appeared, which had a sufficient number of fans in the ski community.

Volkler: If you want to do something nasty to a friend, give her Mladost skis.

Metal skis had a number of design flaws - they weighed more, in the cold the snow froze on the surface, and they practically stopped. In addition, metal skis vibrated strongly (compared to wooden ones) on hard snow, which made control difficult, and upon impacts they were easily deformed.

BY THE WAY: The first Soviet metal skis were airplane skis for taking off and landing on snowy areas.

70s

Ski tourism continues to grow. This is not the first time people have gone to Cheget. Under construction cable car to the top of Mussu-Achitara, and Dombay, along with Elbrus, becomes one of the main ski centers. Seasoned skiers at this point have serious skiing experience behind them, acquired in various mountains of the Soviet Union and neighboring countries. But the Alpine mountains remain inaccessible and unconquered for the ordinary Soviet citizen, and not so much because of their grandeur and majesty. But rumors about the unprecedented service and comfort of Western ski resorts are beginning to spread through word of mouth from “experienced” diplomats and trade representatives.

By the end of the 70s, avalanche-like flows of tourists added another conventional unit to the general commodity deficit of the Union - ski lifts. The morning lines at the ski lifts compare in length to the lines at a liquor store before opening. If the pendulum lifts that deliver tourists to the mountain cope with the flow at the very least, then “on the spot” it becomes impossible to ride a rope tow without a long wait in line. Queues and rush demand for newfangled tourism give impetus to the beginning of the development of resort infrastructure. In some places, Yugoslav chairlifts, hitherto outlandish for a Soviet tourist, are being installed, the slopes are being rolled with special snow groomers, and snow cannons are being brought in. Student gatherings by the fireplace are complemented by après ski in the Soviet variation. Bars and restaurants are opening, new resort-type hotels are being built, including swimming pools, saunas, and game rooms.

The quality of equipment is increasing. The already classic ski style in the form of a knitted sweater and insulated harem pants, usually complemented by a guitar and a thermos, is enriched with newfangled ski overalls, rarely seen at that time. The bright colors of the suits, attracting attention on the slope, fulfill their initial safety functions, but also hint at the status of a visiting skier.

T Also in the 70s, domestic metal skis from VILS and Mukachevo were put into mass production. The first, despite good strength characteristics, did not differ in any dynamic qualities. Initially, it was planned to release wood-metal skis, but the ski simply did not work out.The technology turned out to be complex and capricious, the ski turned out to be heavy, the metal layers did not stick well, deformed under a strong impact and often peeled off (this, it must be said, happened with metal skis from many companies). Ultimately, serial production of fiberglass skis with a wooden core called VILS was launched. The most advanced skiers managed to buy new or used skis brought from Western Europe.

Mukachevo skis were more successful, but nevertheless, later the plant began to produce skis under the Fisher brand under license. VILS skis ceased production in the early 90s, putting an end to the Soviet ski industry.

In the 70s, new technologies appeared in the production of skis. More precisely, they appear in the 50s, and are successfully implemented already in the 60s. But it was in the 70s that especially advanced Soviet skiers became aware of new types of skis. Metal structures are being replaced by innovative cap technology - skiwith stainless steel lid and wooden core . The company is becoming a revolutionary in this area Head. Howard Head developed and patented the technology for producing wood-metal skis with a plastic sliding surface in 1954. The new skis acquire good sliding properties, they are more torsionally resistant than their wooden counterparts, and are more dynamic than metal skis. Decorative plastic on top completed the design of the most advanced ski at that time. In 1967, Head introduced the 360, an all-around non-sport version of the Competition that became one of the best-selling skis in world history. With ultra-innovative technologies, Head became a leader in the production of ski equipment by the end of the sixties.

Salomon ski feet
Application of the first
automatic
ski foot -
Wehrly brake.

Plastic mining
ski boots
ROCES

Among the fastenings, the Soviet fastenings KLS, Neva (copied from the Marker company), Neva-2 were common. The lack of ski stops was compensated for by ropes tied to the boots. Although the ski stops themselves were developed back in 1961 by E. Miller. The fastenings themselves were fastened manually. Well, here we should mention the imported automatic spring fastenings with ski stops that have already become household names - Marker and Salomon.

Most of the boots were leather and laced. To achieve the required rigidity, they had to be laced very tightly. Double-layer boots had a double lacing system - it was necessary to first completely untangle the outer lacing, then tighten the inner one and re-tie the outer one. Sometimes there were also Polish leather shoes with clip-on clips. Plastic boots with clips imported from abroad have become more common. The company ROCES took advantage of new plastic technology. The first ROCES plastic ski boots were a huge success. The use of plastic paved the way for future new products - Alpine, Dynafit, Salomon. Domestic ski boots Terskol with clips appear.

mata (clubSki-pro.ru) writes:

For 2-3 years I rode on leather boots. They were called Cheget, the inner boot had to be laced very tightly, but the outer one could be looser... and how long were the laces!!! and not laces at all, keeper tape from the Concentration Factory, this tape is also in crazy short supply, my parents brought it from work!... they made the rings for the sticks themselves... by the way, I still have them now, as a keepsake.

Logo-alex (clubSki-pro.ru) writes:

We bought skis at a second-hand store for crazy money. Czech ski suits cost 60 rubles. They bought this for me in 1979 at the Prague store. Semi-overalls and a jacket, not insulated, with pseudo-protection on the knees and elbows. In principle, Soviet-made skis could be bought in a store in Moscow. But on the slope you needed your own ski lift, but you were allowed on the ski lift for free; the slopes were run by sports clubs. I remember we always went to Loza.

80s

Some lucky ones become owners of K2, Blizzard, Elan skis. Good branded skis in Moscow could be purchased at a high markup at a thrift store on Solomennaya Storozhka. The ski market was located on the street. Saikina (Avtozavodskaya). Range -Soviet skis, skis from the countries of the Eastern bloc - youth, pollsport, Western examples were rarely encountered. Western manufacturers are mastering new technologies that allow them to create slightly fitted skis while maintaining their plastic characteristics. Previously, such experiments led to ski breakage under significant load in a turn. At the same time, the skis still remained classic in comparison with modern carving geometry, but skiers began to note the increased cleanliness of skiing.

Leather lace-up boots were being replaced by more modern plastic boots with clips. The most popular boots in Moscow were Alpine. In the 80s they cost about 160 - 250 rubles. Single clip boots Salvo you could buy it in an ordinary sports store, but not every day. Also, mainly in sports schools, there were boots Dynafit, San Marco. There were also very exotic shoes, consisting of2 parts: inner boot - leather with laces, outer - plastic with clips. The inner shoe was laced first, and then the foot was inserted into the outer one.

The most common marker mounts cost about 120-140 rubles. Later, cheap machines from Look appeared on the market, which were much cheaper. Gradually, all the world's brands began to seep into the Union, and by the end of the 80s, thrift stores already had a sufficient selection of both skis and bindings with boots.

Membrane fabric appeared in ski clothing later, and ski overalls and jackets were mostly either padding polyester or impregnated. But in the USSR, as before, a profile ski suit is a rarity on the slope. Not much attention was paid to ski clothing, and this category was not included in ski equipment as such. The main thing is to tear off the expensive imported skis with automatic bindings and comfortable Alpina boots. Therefore, everything was used in clothing - down jackets, lap dogs, knitwear. The most popular option is either waterproof pants and a jacket, or a regular knitted training suit. Another version of the “ski suit” - jeans plus a jacket - appeared only after the denim shortage disappeared.

Muscovites skated in the same places - the Tourist sports base in Shukolovo, Vorobyovy Gory, Krylatskoye, Nagornaya. For the most part, rope tows from enterprises predominated.

BY THE WAY: In Krylatskoye there are still three drag lifts from some organizations of those times that not only survived the 90s, but also preserved such a rare property in fully operational condition. Sometimes amateur slalom of “those times” is held there, when instead of modern plastic poles, wooden sticks with flags are installed.

The beginning of the 80s became the triumphant and brightest period of Soviet alpine skiing. Evgenia Sidorova's only bronze Olympic medal, won in slalom back in 1956, did not promise either officials or fans any success for Soviet athletes in alpine skiing disciplines. E. Sidorova’s success was then classified as accidental, since the material base of domestic skiing (equipment of ski centers, hotels, ski lifts, pistes) lagged far behind the level of development of foreign complexes. P In terms of logistics, skiing has always been in last place. No equipment, no equipment, no lifts, no modern trails. As has been the practice since the 40s, the Union relied exclusively on those sports in which athletes could win medals. Alpine skiing did not fall into this category at all. In the paradox of the original chicken or the egg, sports officials favored the egg. First medals, then money and good equipment. So, at the Olympics in Innsbruck in 1976, 18-year-old Vladimir Andreev represented our ski team in the singular! They did not send either a trainer or a service person servicing sports equipment with him, considering it a waste of money. All the same, they say, the medal is not shining.Our industry produced nothing but antediluvian Lviv skis, and purchasing everything abroad was expensive. And suddenly…

Of course, the events that occurred cannot be called random. Behind the victories were years of grueling training and intense struggle. Changes in sports policy began to occur in the 70s. One of them is associated with the appointment of a very young Leonid Tyagachev to the position of coach of the Soviet national team. Despite today's incessant criticism of this sports official, it must be recognized that Tyagachev made the greatest contribution to the future victories of the 80s. He somehow managed to attract to his side on a voluntary basis a number of the world's leading specialists and experienced Soviet coaches, who were themselves athletes in their youth. It was his students who later became medalists and winners of the World Cup. And by that time, a strong teaching school had already grown, and the sports methodology of the training process had been improved. The ski centers of Kamchatka, Ufa, Kirovsk, Mezhdurechensk (Kemerovo region) and Shukolovo (Moscow region) became the forge of Soviet athletes. The country began to acquire modern tracks worthy of hosting championships; they were for example in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, in the Carpathians.

And yet, no one was ready for the rise of their own ski stars. Neither here, nor in the West. Here again the famous words of Schrantz about the “invincible Russians” began to be remembered, and the Western world began to seriously talk about the awakening sprouts of a new skiing power.

In 1981, the first Soviet winner of the World Cup stage in Aspen, Valery Tsyganov, announced himself. But the brightest athlete of that era was certainly Alexander Zhirov. Later, after the tragic death of Alexander, “number one skier” Ingemar Stenmark will say about him “Zhirov was a wonderful skier. I guess... (pause) he was a genius. ». Out of 19 World Cup competitions in slalom and giant slalom, he was in the top ten 14 times, and was among the winners 7 times and won these most popular competitions four times. He repeatedly defeated Ingemar Stenmark himself in the slalom and giant slalom disciplines. The death of Alexander Zhirov in a car accident was a huge loss for Soviet sports.

The Soviet ski school continues to improve and we will see the fruits of its activities in the early 90s. Our famous alpine skiers Svetlana Gladysheva, who took third place at the World Championships in Saalbach (Austria) in 1992 and second place at the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer (Norway) in 1994, Varvara Zelenskaya, who became third in the overall World Cup standings, will bring glory to Russian sports -97 downhill is the most prestigious achievement in alpine skiing. But later Russian sport in alpine skiing disciplines had nothing to boast about. The new country in the 90s acquired completely different realities and guidelines. But, as they say, this is a completely different story.

slalomer (clubSki-pro.ru) writes:

Good skis were bought abroad and then distributed to friends. The ultimate dream of K2 Race, which were brought by foreigners specifically for sale, and were pretty much used, but this did not make the happiness any less. Youth and half-pot, it seems it was easier to buy Polish ones. The skis were repaired in every possible way, waxed, patched, puttyed and caulked, but never thrown away. It was rare to find new edgings. Salvo boots were sold in sports stores; they seemed to have one or two clips. It was impossible to buy anything else from them. Marker bindings with a normal heel appeared in Moscow, it seems, closer to the end of the 80s.

Mishka-s-Gor (clubSki-pro.ru) writes:

The beginning of my skiing history is the 80s and the Ullu-Tau alpine camp in the mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria. The ski rentals were mainly Mladost and Polsport with the Neva and Neva-2 anchorages. With the special arrangement of the ski master, it was possible to rent a Fisher with M-35 bindings. The height of sophistication! Machine guns! We looked at the sporty French Elans with a metal edge and the aforementioned American K-2!

Eh! And after all, they rode on all this and didn’t whine about what is better to buy to walk on the fresh ground or on the hills? For many, Cheget was their first mountain!))) I still remember my first descent down the second stage of Cheget, actually an ass-play).

Boots - red Alpins. This is also the height of happiness! If you are unlucky, then cable Polsport. By the time you button it up, you’ll break all your fingers... Uniform number eight clothes are what we find and wear)). At best, Abalakovsky puffs are pink. But mostly - windbreakers and bologna pants, over a tracksuit.

“Skiing may not be happiness, but it can easily replace it,” one of the great French skiers once said. At the height of the ski season and before the main period of trips to ski resorts, we offer you a photo story about how skis themselves have changed and their role in the lives of our compatriots from time immemorial to the present day.

1. The first mentions of skis were found in rock art thousands of years BC. For northern peoples, including our distant ancestors, this invention was simply vital in order to be able to move through the snow and get food in the winter.

2. Many centuries later, namely around the middle of the 16th century, skis began to be used by the military. In the photo: painting by Ivanov S.V. “The march of the Muscovites. XVI century." The painting itself dates from 1903.

3. In general, until the very end of the 19th century, skis were used mainly for hunting and in the army, so skiers all this time used only one stick - the second hand had to remain free. Skiing in Russia received official recognition as a sport in 1895, when the first ski races took place. Photo: Getty Images

4. At first, skis did not have special shoes and were simply tied to existing ones. And given the famous Russian frosts, the first ski shoes were most often felt boots. This was the case until the 30s of the 20th century, when welted boots and bindings appeared, which were actively used by skiers until the 70s, and sometimes continue to be used now. In the photo: Russian soldier on skis and in felt boots, 1900-1919.

5. In the Soviet Union, as is known, physical education and sports occupied a very honorable place in the life of every citizen. And skiing - primarily cross-country skiing - has become one of the most widespread and popular winter sports. Millions of fans of a sporty and healthy lifestyle annually took part in mass ski races.

6. They began to get involved in skiing from childhood - during the long winter months, all Soviet schoolchildren, without exception, engaged in physical education on cross-country skiing. In the photo: Moscow State University, Moscow, 1959.

7. And this is a physical education lesson in Ulyanovsk in 1967. Photo: Sergey Yuryev

8. Among adults, skiing was also considered an excellent way to spend winter leisure time and even often replaced romantic dates. Now is the time to remember the famous Soviet ski ointment with its specific smell, far from any romance. However, without it, wooden skis, an alternative to which did not yet exist, would not work. Photo: Sergey Yuryev

9. As for alpine skiing, they began to develop in Russia much later than cross-country skiing, and at first they were mainly part of the training of climbers. In the photo: Dombay, 1937

10. The first “breakthrough” in Soviet alpine skiing occurred in 1956, when Evgenia Sidorova (pictured) won the first Olympic medal at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The athlete took third place, despite a shoulder injury.

11. After this, in the 60s, alpine skiing began to gain unprecedented popularity in the country. And Dombay began to turn from a mountaineering camp into the main ski resort of the country. In 1964, construction of a recreation and sports complex began here, including a network of hotels, bases, huts and cable cars. In the photo: modern Dombay

12. Another remarkable period in the history of domestic alpine skiing is the era of the “golden team”, the time of our triumph in the late 70s - early 80s, when skiers led by Alexander Zhirov literally burst onto the podium of the World Cup stages. The headlines in the sports newspapers were impressive: “Achtung! The Russians are coming,” “The Russians are rushing to become leaders,” “24 days of the Russian miracle.” The period of the “golden team” was a time of flourishing talent and long-awaited victories for domestic sports. Photo: Roman Denisov

13. In 1974, a real revolution took place in the skiing world - the first plastic skis appeared. At the same time, boots and bindings began to be actively improved. As a result, ski equipment has acquired a completely modern look, although the skis themselves, bindings and boots continue to be constantly improved even now. Photo: Roman Denisov

14. Modern ski lovers have plenty to choose from: stores provide a wide range of ski products, among which not only amateurs, but also professionals can find suitable equipment.

15. Nowadays, schoolchildren are still required to learn the basics of cross-country skiing.

16. And alpine skiing and trips to ski resorts are gaining more and more popularity among compatriots every year. Photo: Roman Denisov

17. Some parents begin to introduce their children to their favorite sport from a very early age - ski schools accept students from three years old.

18. And for those who cannot live without skis even in summer, indoor ski resorts with artificial snow are opening.

In the first period of development of Soviet skiing, the level of sportsmanship of Soviet skiers was lower than in northern European countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland. Soviet skiers did not have sports meetings in skiing with the strongest skiers of foreign national teams until 1948. In meetings with representatives of the Finnish Workers' Sports Union at the USSR championships in 1926 and 1927. Finnish skiers emerged victorious. Only in the 60 km race in 1926 was D. Vasiliev first.

In 1927, the strongest skiers of the USSR took part in cross-country skiing competitions in Finland for the first time at a workers' sports festival near Helsingfors. None of our skiers at distances of 30, 50 and 15 km entered the top twenty, and women in the 3 km race did not take any of the first 10 places.

In 1928, in the Moscow championship with the participation of Finnish skiers from the Workers' Sports Union, Soviet skiers won: among men - Dmitry Vasilyev, and among women - Galina Chistyakova, Antonina Penyazeva-Mikhailova and Anna Gerasimova, who took the first 3 places.

In 1928, Soviet skiers took part in the competitions of the 1st Winter Working Spartakiad in Oslo (Norway). In the men's 30 km race, D. Vasiliev took 2nd place, 5th and 6th places, respectively, Mikhail Borisov (Moscow) and Leonid Bessonov (Tula). Among women at a distance of 8 km, the winner was Varvara Guseva (Vorobeva, Leningrad), and 4th-6th places were taken by Antonina Penyazeva-Mikhailova, Anna Gerasimova (Moscow) and Elizaveta Tsareva (Tula), respectively.

These were the first successes of Soviet skiers. Unfortunately, in the next 6 years, Soviet skiers did not have sports meetings with skiers from other countries, and at the 1935 USSR Championship near Moscow, in the area of st. Pervomaiskaya (now Planernaya), Finnish skiers of the workers' sports union, men and women who took part outside the competition, again turned out to be the strongest, demonstrating the peculiar features of the alternating skiing technique. After that, all sports organizations worked hard to master and improve the technique, which, along with the use of new domestic methods of training with increased loads, yielded positive results.

In February 1936, the strongest Soviet skiers took part in two international cross-country skiing competitions of workers' sports unions in Norway and Sweden. In the first competition, in the town of Helsås (Norway), our skiers, both men and women, were unable to adapt to the rugged ski slopes and performed poorly. However, in the second competition, in Malmberget (Sweden), they already showed good results: among women in the 10 km race, Muscovites Irina Kulman and Antonina Penyazeva-Mikhailova took the first two places, respectively, and among men in the 30 km race, Dmitry Vasiliev - 4 -th place.

Two years later, at the 1938 USSR championship in Sverdlovsk with the participation of the strongest skiers of the Norwegian Workers' Sports Union out of competition, Soviet cross-country skiers won (both men and women).

The Great Patriotic War, unleashed by Nazi Germany, disrupted the peaceful, creative life of our country. The Soviet people came to the defense of their Motherland.

Ski detachments of fighters and scouts, who carried out bold raids behind enemy lines, played a major role in the struggle for freedom and independence of our people. Many of them died heroically on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and the war with the White Finns of 1939-1940.

Among the strongest ski racers, Leningrader Vladimir Myagkov, champion and prize-winner of the USSR Championship in 1939, died a brave death (posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union); Fyodor Ivachev from Novosibirsk - prize-winner of the USSR championship in 1939 (posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin, and one of the streets of Novosibirsk was named after him); Muscovite Lyubov Kulakova is a three-time champion and six-time medalist of the national championships of 1937-1941. (posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 11th degree), etc.

In 1948, Soviet cross-country skiers (men) took part in the traditional Holmenkollen Games in Norway, where they met the strongest skiers in the world for the first time and achieved good results. In the 50 km race, Mikhail Protasov (Moscow, Spartak) took 4th place, and Ivan Rogozhin (Moscow, Dynamo) took 8th place.

In 1951, Soviet student athletes for the first time took part in the competitions of the IX World Winter University Games in Poiana (Romania) and were winners at all cross-country skiing distances.

In the first international competition in the USSR (January 1954) in Sverdlovsk with the participation of the strongest skiers from Finland (among them was Olympic champion Veikko Hakulinen), Czechoslovakia and Poland, Soviet skiers demonstrated considerable success. Leningrad resident Vladimir Kuzin was the winner in the 30 km race and took 2nd place in the 15 km race. The USSR team won the 4 X 10 km relay race (Fedor Terentyev, Vladimir Olyashev and Vladimir Kuzin). And after participating in the 1954 World Championships and the 1956 Olympic Games, our skiers began to be considered one of the strongest in the world.

Soviet skiers participate in almost all major international competitions. In 1977, Ivan Garanin won the traditional 85.5 km ultra-marathon ski race, which has been held in Sweden since 1922. The number of participants in the race numbered 11,800 people, including 250 athletes from other countries. (In 1974, I. Garanin was second in this race, and in 1972 he took 2nd place.)

The history of the development of cross-country skiing, both in our country and abroad, took place in a constant effort to complicate the routes of ski distances and increase the speed of their completion. This forced us to improve skier equipment (skis, shoes, bindings, poles, clothing), improve the quality of ski waxes, and also improve skiing technique and sports training methods. In the summer, since 1959, new technical equipment began to be used: roller skis, all kinds of exercise equipment, etc.

Increasing the speed of covering distances in cross-country skiing is facilitated by special preparation of ski slopes using mechanization means - snow machines of the “Buran” type, which provide a compacted knurled ski track and dense snow for support with poles along the entire length of the ski track. Such mechanisms have been used in our country since 1970.

At the 1974 World Championships in Falun, skiers from individual countries for the first time used plastic skis, which were lighter and more flexible, with increased sliding properties. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Soviet skiers competed on such skis. In subsequent years, plastic skis completely replaced wooden skis in big sports.

(Total 18 photos)