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SKIING
Sir Arthur CONAN DOYLE. Autograph manuscript signed, 'An Alpine Pass on "Ski"', n.d., [1894], 12 pages, 4to, in a notebook, blanks (first
leaf detached but present); with a related newspaper article ('Un
écrivain sportif: Les Grisons doivent à Conan Doyle la pratique du ski'); and three related letters.
The article is a humorous account of the difficulties and delights of skiing in general, and in particular of the ski-trip over the Furka Pass from Davos to Arosa with the Branger brothers, whose traverse over the same territory the previous year had been the only previous experiment with skis in Switzerland: 'The "ski" are the most capricious things on earth ... you may have had a long outing without any misfortune at all, and as you shuffle back along the road you stop for an instant to tell a group in the hotel verandah how well you are getting on. Something happens -- you never know what -- and they suddenly find that their congratulations are addressed to the soles of your "ski". Then, if your mouth is not full of snow you find yourself muttering the names of a few Swiss villages to relieve your feelings'. In spite of these indignities, Conan Doyle suggests that 'ski-ing opens up a field of sport ... which is, I think unique ... I am convinced that the time will come when hundreds of Englishmen will come to Switzerland for the "ski-ing" season in March and April. I believe that I may claim to be the first save only two Switzers to do any mountain work'. He then describes the expedition in question, in which the skis were used not only for the descent, but also as snow shoes for covering the deep powder snow on the ascent. There are many humorous touches, not least the climax of the expedition when, having lost his skis in an attempt to toboggan down a final precipice, Conan Doyle descends 'in my own fashion ... My taylor tells me that Harris tweed cannot wear out. This is a mere theory & will not stand a thorough scientific test'. (5)
Sir Arthur CONAN DOYLE. Autograph manuscript signed, 'An Alpine Pass on "Ski"', n.d., [1894], 12 pages, 4to, in a notebook, blanks (first
leaf detached but present); with a related newspaper article ('Un
écrivain sportif: Les Grisons doivent à Conan Doyle la pratique du ski'); and three related letters.
The article is a humorous account of the difficulties and delights of skiing in general, and in particular of the ski-trip over the Furka Pass from Davos to Arosa with the Branger brothers, whose traverse over the same territory the previous year had been the only previous experiment with skis in Switzerland: 'The "ski" are the most capricious things on earth ... you may have had a long outing without any misfortune at all, and as you shuffle back along the road you stop for an instant to tell a group in the hotel verandah how well you are getting on. Something happens -- you never know what -- and they suddenly find that their congratulations are addressed to the soles of your "ski". Then, if your mouth is not full of snow you find yourself muttering the names of a few Swiss villages to relieve your feelings'. In spite of these indignities, Conan Doyle suggests that 'ski-ing opens up a field of sport ... which is, I think unique ... I am convinced that the time will come when hundreds of Englishmen will come to Switzerland for the "ski-ing" season in March and April. I believe that I may claim to be the first save only two Switzers to do any mountain work'. He then describes the expedition in question, in which the skis were used not only for the descent, but also as snow shoes for covering the deep powder snow on the ascent. There are many humorous touches, not least the climax of the expedition when, having lost his skis in an attempt to toboggan down a final precipice, Conan Doyle descends 'in my own fashion ... My taylor tells me that Harris tweed cannot wear out. This is a mere theory & will not stand a thorough scientific test'. (5)
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