Originally Posted by
Hezz
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But the first organized "downhill" type of race that included high speeds of up to 90 mph were in the Sierra Nevadas in 1857. The miners were using downhill or alpine skiing techniques as early or earlier than the 1850's. So it seems that the genesis for the type of high speed skiing on a steep long course with long runs of straight skiing at high speed was pioneered by the miner's of the Sierra Nevada.
Without bindings too! How cool is that!
Seriously, you know what the second guy on a bike said when he saw the first guy? "I can catch him."
There's no reason to suppose that skiing was any different, regardless of the presence or absence of the fourth estate.