- The word ski comes from an old Norse word, Skio, meaning a piece of wood. While on the subject of words, skiing is the only English word to have a double i in the middle.
- It's generally accepted that skiing began in Norway, probably as a means of getting about in the snow rather than as a sport. Rock carvings depicting people skiing date back to 4000BC. That said, there's evidence that people in mountainous regions of China and Russia were skiing long before that - a primitive ski made from wood and 8,000 years old, was found in Russia. The first skis were made by splitting spruce trees by hand and covering them with Horse skins to provide grip on the Snow.
- Early skiers used just one pole. The first depiction of a person skiing with two dates to 1741.
- Skiing as we know it today was indeed invented in Norway, by Sondre Norheim from Telemark, who invented bindings.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a big fan of skiing. He discovered it when he went to Switzerland with his wife when her doctors said she needed the mountain air for her health. He met two local brothers and started going skiing with them. They had to go skiing at night, however, because otherwise the other locals would laugh at them. He was probably the first Englishman to write about skiing, saying it took him "as near to flying as any earthbound man can." He also predicted that it would one day be popular: "I am convinced that the time will come when hundreds of English men will come to Switzerland for the skiing season." He didn't mention women, because in his time, skiing was seen as a men only sport, with women encouraged to take up Ice skating instead.
- Harrison Schmitt, and astronaut who visited the Moon in 1972 was presumably a skier, too, as he commented that the mountains around the edge of the Sea of Serenity would be the ideal place for "lunar ski holidays." Not only that, but his record breaking moonwalking speed owed a lot to cross country skiing techniques.
- Skiers have a patron saint - St Bernard of Montjoux. He was a missionary in the Alps and is the same saint that St Bernard dogs are named for. Some skiers also make offerings to the Ullr, the Norse god of winter in the hope he will send loads of snow. He, along with the goddess Skao, were often pictured using skis.
- Skiing is one of the fastest things you can do without an engine. The world speed skiing record stands at 156.2 miles/251km per hour - whereas the top speed of most cars is just 120mph. Simone Origone set the record in 2006 in Les Arcs. Racing on skis was bound to become a thing, and the first recorded downhill skiing race was in 1879 in Sweden. Alpine skiing has been a Winter Olympic sport since 1936. The first person to win a gold medal was Franz Pfnur, from Germany.
- There are ski resorts in over 80 countries, including some surprising ones like Israel, Afghanistan and North Korea. Even Dubai has a ski resort - an indoor one, of course.
- James Bond films often include a sequence with 007 on skis. There is a long tradition of troops using skis in warfare. Troops in Europe had skis as a standard part of their equipment by 1747. The winter sport of biathlon, which pairs skiing and shooting, evolved from military ski patrols. Ski troops were used during the Napoleonic Wars, by Norway. They also played a significant role in both world wars.
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A Tale of Two Sisters
During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.
Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.
As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.
Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?
Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?
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