THE ART OF SKIING. N. Y

Charles N. Proctor '29 and R. R. Stephens. THE ART OF SKIING. N. Y., Harcourt,

Brace if Company, 1933.

About a year ago the same authors published a booklet about skiing, now probably out of print, which I reviewed very favorable in the March, 1932, number of this MAGAZINE. Whether intentionally or not, it served as a trial balloon, and this volume has doubtless profited from suggestions received. Proctor and Carleton '22, rank among the very few first class all around skiers yet produced in America. Carleton contributes an introduction in which he praises the book very highly. It would ill become me to differ from him, and anyway I do not. It is an adequate statement, from an American point of view, of the present theory and practice of skiing. It is lucidly written and, it seems to me, describes the intricacies as clearly as can be expected. In expanding from their previous attempt the authors have added material which any keen skier will wel- come without making it all seem too complicated to the beginner. In this book due credit is given to its European predecessors, the work of Lunn, D'Egville, Schneider, and others. These many skiers will still find useful, after a certain point in their development, for their more detailed discussions of theory and their dif- fering points of view. But the essentials are all here. The illustrations, cut from movie films, are most helpful and more attractive in their gray tones than the usual stark black and white.

I find little to criticise. The chapter on waxing will, I fear, alarm the beginner by its complications. But, as the authors say, waxing is still an art rather than a Science. Until more is known on this subject it is doubtless impossible to formulate a simple code of directions. It would have been most helpful if, in addition to the admirable chapter on the slalom race, the authors could have included one on down- hill racing, especially as practiced on our mountain trails. This last is a peculiarly American development calling for a special technique, and it is unfortunate that Proctor's most illuminating hints about this, printed in the Boston Transcript this winter, could not have been republished here.