Coffee Table Book of: Cross Country Skiing (Paperback)

Coffee Table Book of: Cross Country Skiing is a large format book of cross country skiing, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: skis, poles and waxes, groomed trails and set tracks through forest, frozen lakes, bogs and sea ice, the old ways of making and caring for skis, and a few skiers seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain on snow and bare boards:a pair of skis seen from above, a classic ski showing its high arch, a whole pole and the basket at its tip, a boot and a binding, roller skis for summer, wraparound glasses, thin gloves and a knitted hat, and the waxing kit of grip wax tins, sticky klister, an iron, a clear scraper and a cork.

The making and care follow a birch plank bent into a ski tip, planks drying under a shed, glued strips held in a press, pine tar in an old bucket and homemade wax in a birch bark box, with the groomer and track setter at work at night and a mound of snow kept under sawdust through the summer. The past runs from a long staff with a willow ring and an odd pair with one fur lined ski to cane poles, a willow toe binding, tarred wooden bases, old leather boots and a narrow wooden sled for long journeys.

Then the places, empty at every hour and in every season: a spruce forest at first light, a birch wood in falling snow, a marsh under a full moon, a lit trail at night, a frozen lake at sunrise, a sea bay at sunset, the northern lights, rime and fog, a blizzard climb, spring crust and thaw and a frozen waterfall, with a few small skiers far off, setting off together at a mass start, skating, striding, crossing a lake and training on roller skis in summer.

Short notes run through the book, on the skis, poles and waxes and how they are made and cared for, the trails and the snow, and the history of travel on skis: in winter, frozen lakes open up long flat routes across what is open water all summer, in a mass start, skiers line up in rows of parallel tracks and all set off together, a track setter pulled behind a groomer presses two parallel grooves into the snow for classic skis, and some roller skis have wheels that turn only forward, so the skier can push off as on snow.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a paperback.

Publisher - Cedar Pine Editions

Language - English

Perfect Bound

Contributors

By author

Dimitri Smith

Published Date - 2026-10-21

ISBN - 9671456003283

Dimensions - 27.9 x 21.6 x 0.7 cm

Page Count - 98