AN ECLECTIC COLLECTION OF SKI STORIES
Ski racer Ingrid Christopherson has collated some real gems form over 60 world-famous authors. As a result, To Heaven’s Heights: An Anthology of Skiing in Literature makes for fascinating reading, says Arnie Wilson
Trying to summarise approximately 200,000 words (across 23 chapters) in 600 words is noeasy task–Ingrid Christophersen's new book To Heaven’s Heights: An Anthology of Skiing in Literature is an eclectic collection of ski stories from over 60 world famous authors, and it has so many tantalising gems it’s hard to know what to include.
Her own life story–based around both ski racing and teaching Alpine and Nordic skiing–takes some telling, even before you get to page 1!Born in Oslo, and later an extra in the Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, filmed in Mürren, she was “reared on trolls, whale meat–and tales of Nansen and Amundsen; Scott never got a look in. ”Her skiing accomplishments are endless, and include being in the British team from1963-1968, then managing the British Ladies’ B Team, working as a ski trainer for the British army, and teaching at the British Mountaineering Centre at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms. She later became racing and training manager of the DHO (Downhill Only) skiclub in Wengen, a position she held for more than 50 years. No wonder she was awarded the MBE in 2007 for 'Services to Skiing”. She speaks four languages, and has translated several books from Norwegian to English.
To Heaven’s Heights, with forewords from Lord Moynihan and Sir John Ritblat, President of GB Snowsports, includes references to extracts from an astonishing number of books plus quotes from big names including Garrison Keillor, Bill Bryson, Amundsen, Scott, Balzac, Ian Fleming, Sylvia Plath, Graham Greene, John Updike, Robert Kaplan, Brad Thor, Hammond Innes, A.A. Milne, Algernon Blackwood, D.H. Lawrence, Conan Doyle, Arnold Lunn, Hemingway, Erica Jong, and Nansen, who once wrote: “It is better to go skiing and think of God, than to go to church and think of sport.” Another great quote comes from Roland Huntford: “Amundsen skied better than he wrote. Scott wrote better than he skied.”
Most of the chapters, which include Arctic and Antarctic Exploration, Ski Jumping, Skis in Warfare, Murder and Skulduggery, and a poetry section, have introductions written by the author herself. The Olympic rower Lord Moynihan, former Sports Minister and chairman of the British Olympic Association writes: “This anthology will surely grace the sitting rooms of skiing enthusiasts around the world and give life-long pleasure to all, beginners and experts alike.
”Writing about her early years in Norway, “the cradle of skiing,” Ingrid says: “Little children with labels round their necks were sent off to kindergarten... clothed like little Michelin men, to bask in the abundant snow.” She continues: “Skiing was not something you learnt; skis were just an addition to your feet .”Ingrid describes the celebrated movie The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas, as a “stupid film” because her father had trained the real Heavy Water Plant saboteurs at Rjukan. According to Ingrid, the producers should have asked for his help, because “it was as wrong as it could be”! I once asked Bill Bryson whether he skied and he said no. His contribution in To Heaven’s Heights explains that he did try it, just once! Bill says he was given a pair of skis when he was eight, and went outside, strapped them on, stood “in a racing crouch”–but nothing happened. “This” he explains “is because there are no hills in Iowa.” He did, however, try to ski down the five back-porch steps. “I went down the steps at about, I would guess, 110 miles an hour,” he wrote in his book Notes From a Big Country. He hit the bottom step with such force that the skis “jammed solid” whereas he continued to fly through the air. “About 12 feet away loomed the back wall of the garage,” he writes. “I smacked into it somewhere near the roof, and slid down its vertical face in the manner of food flung against a wall.” It was at this point that he decided winter sports were not for him. A final quote from Joyce McKinney, former US beauty queen, famous for her role in the so-called Manacled Mormon case in 1977: “I loved Kirk (Anderson) so much I would have skied down Mount Everest in the nude with a carnation up my nose if he asked me to.”
To Heaven’s Heights: An Anthology of Skiing in Literature
by Ingrid Christopherson
is published by Unicorn Publishing, £30. Proceeds from the book will go to the Snow Camp charity (snow-camp.org.uk)