BY E. F. BENSON WITH 12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY C. FLEMING WILLIAMS AND 47 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY MRS. AUBREY LE BLOND LONDON GEORGE ALLEN & COMPANY, LTD. 44 & 45 RATHBONE PLACE 1913 [All rights reserved] Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh...

There is an amazingly silly proverb which quite mistakenly tells us that “seeing is believing.” The most ordinary conjurer at a village entertainment will prove the falsity of this saying. For who has not seen one of these plausible mountebanks put a watch into a top-hat, and, after clearly smashing it into a thousand pieces with a pestle, stir up the disintegrated fragments with a spoon and produce an omelette? Or who is so unacquainted with the affairs of the village schoolroom at Christmas as

( a ) A forward outside three on each foot, the length of each curve being 15 feet at least. The figure need not be skated to a centre. ( b ) The four edges, outside forward, inside forward, outside back, inside back, on each foot alternately for as long as the judges shall require, the length of each curve being 15 feet at least on the forward edges and 10 feet at on the back edges. ( c ) A forward outside 8, the diameter of each circle being 8 feet at least, to be skated three times without pa

( a ) A set of combined figures skated with another skater, who will be selected by the judges, introducing the following calls in such order and with such repetitions as the judges may direct:— ( b ) The judges shall call three “unseen” figures of quite simple character, in order to test the candidate’s knowledge of calls and power of placing figures upon the ice. These shall be skated alone. ( c ) The following edges on each foot alternately for as long as the judges shall require, namely:— (

This section consists of the combined figures in Parts I and II. The judges may also give such simple calls as they think fit, to enable the candidate to recover his position, to alternate the feet, &c. The figures shall be skated with another skater, to be selected by the judges, but if there are only two judges, neither of them shall skate. Each call must be skated at least twice, beginning once with the right foot and once with the left. Subject to these conditions the calls shall be

The turns and changes are to be made on the near side of fixed points determined by the candidate; the distance between these, and the lengths of the first and last curves, are to be each not less than 50 feet beginning on forward edges, 35 feet beginning on back edges. Now, again omitting for the moment the subject of combined skating, we see that in Part II the rest of the groundwork of English skating is very thoroughly traversed. To pass this final test the skater has to be able to execute a

It has been already remarked that the two styles, English and International, have nothing to do with each other, and that the practitioner of one who is so imbecile as to belittle the other, is no less crack-brained and idiotic than a Rugby football player who calls Association a “rotten game.” Personally, I do not skate in the International style, but to attempt to depreciate the beauties of it would be to me as unthinkable as it would be to run down polo. To the spectator, whether of polo or o

This has to be passed before three judges, and is divided into two parts—(1) Compulsory Figures; (2) Free Skating. The regulations for them are as follow:— (1) Compulsory Figures. —Each figure may be marked up to a maximum of 6 points. The marks given for each figure are multiplied by the factor of value for that figure. In order to pass, a candidate must obtain a minimum of 2 marks out of 6 in each figure, and an aggregate of 130 out of the maximum of 234 marks. (2) Free Skating. —The candidate

These great Swiss rinks, the construction of which has already been dealt with, are made for the benefit of the skater and the curler, but wherever possible the curler should be accommodated with a separate rink of his own. Epicure though the skater is, with regard to the smoothness and levelness of his ice, the curler, quite rightly, is even more exigent, and slight slopes of surface and minute inequalities and roughnesses which do not interfere with the skater at all, make it impossible for th

There is one Mecca: there is one St. Peter’s: there is one Cresta. As is Mecca to the Mohammedan, as is St. Peter’s to the Catholic, so is the Cresta run at St. Moritz to the tobogganer. It is the ice-run. There may be others, and there certainly are, but what does the Cresta care? It has a cachet which no other possesses. The Cresta was first engineered, I believe, in the year 1884, and its chief architect was Herr Peter Badruth of St. Moritz. From that time onwards it has yearly been built up

This charming form of the sport may be described as combined tobogganing, and in bobbing races teams of four enter against each other. The form of toboggan used is, of course, immensely larger than that employed in single tobogganing, since it will hold five or six persons, and its construction is altogether different and most elaborate. It consists of a long, low platform some 10 feet in length, and is mounted, not on one pair of runners, but on two. The pair that supports the fore part of the

1. The puck shall be made of india-rubber, 3 inches in diameter, 1 inch thick, and shall weigh 1¼ lbs., or shall be of such other size or shape as shall from time to time be decided. The stick shall be so made that it can pass through a ring 3 inches in diameter. 2. The goal-posts at each end of the ice shall be 4 feet high and 4 feet apart. 3. The team shall consist of six players. 4. The goal is scored when the puck passes between the goal-posts. 5. The game shall consist of two halves of 20 m

Of all spectacular feats compassable upon frozen snow surfaces, ski-jumping is, to the minds of most people, the most amazing, and compared with it all performances on ice-rinks and toboggan-runs seem to the spectator almost tame. Not having the smallest or most elementary practical experience of it (I should freeze with terror if told that I had to go over even a very mild ski-jump, and probably be found hiding in the station waiting-room to take the next train home), I can but give an impressi

(i) First among the Oberland resorts, by virtue of its age and established attractions, must be mentioned Grindelwald. It is one of the lower winter centres, but, as has already been mentioned, the limitation is largely discounted from the point of view of skaters and curlers, because the rinks during the months of mid-winter lie practically entirely in the shade, and thus preserve their solidity. And if Davos and St. Moritz must be called the cradle of English skating, Grindelwald has no less e

I have attempted in the foregoing pages to give some general account of the out-door sports which are, as a rule, indulged in by altitudinists in winter. But any picture of this enchanting Swiss life, however slight, would be imperfect without some allusion to other entertainments which take place between sunset and sunrise. As a matter of fact, there are a good many such, and at most Swiss resorts there is in one hotel or another a dance, or a fancy-dress ball, or a concert, or very often more