Predating the wheel, the ski has played an important role in our history. This is brilliantly brought to life in this engaging book. Roland Huntford's brilliant history begins 20, 000 years ago in the last ice age on the icy tundra of an unformed earth. Man is a traveling animal, & on these icy slopes skiing began as a means of survival. That it has developed into the leisure & sporting pursuit of choice by so much of the globe bears testament to its elemental appeal. In polar exploration, it has changed the course of history. Elsewhere, in war & peace, it has done so too. The origins of skiing are bound up with the emergence of modern man & the world we live in today.