A Guide to Vintage Skis from Olympic skier Graham Bell | Erna Low Ski Holidays

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ski on skis that are over 100 years old? Olympic skier Graham Bell joins forces with journalist Peter Hardy in our video, which guides you through the differences between vintage skis from 1900 up to 1960, in celebration of Erna Low’s 80th anniversary! Erna Low arranged her first group ski holiday in 1932 as a way to finance her family’s Christmas skiing holidays. Graham talks us through how Erna used an advertisement in a newspaper to get a group of 15 people together for a fortnight’s skiing holiday in Austria and how her knowledge of mountains and natural charisma sparked the beginning of one the UK’s leading ski holiday tour operators. The vintage skis featured in the video include wooden skis with no knuckle edges and ‘break leg’ bindings. Despite the risk of getting into trouble when skiing on ice with these skis, Graham Bell demonstrates how to use them! The 1900 vintage skis were the earliest and most difficult to use, but Graham describes them as being similar to modern day telemarking skis, with the exception that they have no edges and are a bit sticky (even he came to a stop when skiing on a slight incline). The video also touches on the invention of après ski – an important feature of modern day ski holidays, which Peter gives credit to Erna Low for. SUBSCRIBE to our channel for the latest specialist ski and snowboard holiday advice and offers: or visit