Iran Ski - History of Skiing in Iran

In Ancient History

Devices to stop people from sinking in snow were made in Iran in ancient times. An example is a device which has been dated to 2000BC. It was common among the Kafkaz tribes of the period, a ski board covered with animal hide that was tied to the feet.

Linguists associate the main root of 'ski' to the Aryan language. Many historians also believe that skiing spread from the East to the Scandinavian countries.

Mostafa Aalam, the translator of the book 'Modern Skiing', refers to Kurdish villagers using thin long pieces of wood to go hunting and from one village to another. The device is still in use today. General Yahyaei, the ex-head of the Iranian Skiing and Mountaineering Federation, still remembers that while on an exploratory trip in the mountains of Lorestan province, his guide used a racket-shaped ski, known as a 'Derg', which was made from the horns of bulls.

800 years ago the Moghul conqueror 'Amir Teimour Lang' recalls his time in a district of Iran known as Firooz Kooh where he saw a courier who had just arrived from the mountains wearing "Two flat pieces of wood as shoes, which would stop him from sinking into the snow and would at times allow him to glide."

Picture of a 'Derg' made by the mountainous Bakhtiari tribes from the horns of bulls. Notice the small holes on the horns through which leather straps or threads would bind the device to the shoes.