Skiing in Glorantha

[Akhôrahil]

13 minutes ago, dumuzid said:

Now I'm imagining troll sledges pulled by lashed-together teams of trollkin

Meanwhile, the Orlanthi are out of luck, because you just will not get working Alynx-sleds.

[Bill the barbarian]

16 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Something we don't hear a lot about but that must surely be super common is sledging. In many real-world areas, winter travel was actually easier due to frozen ground and sledges. A lot of wood-cutting transportation in pre-industrial Scandinavia took place using sledges in wintertime. You can get sleds into places where a wagon would never work. Plus rivers become highways.

Yes, good old Aldryami wood and snow seem to be a thing. Folk do take advantage of the slippery interactiveness of the two substances. 

[dumuzid]

All the Torkani children wait year-round for Waterday, Harmony Week, Dark Season, when each clan's highest Argan Argar initiate dons a goosefeather cloak and rides a twelve-trollkin sleigh between the steads through the night, bringing gifts for the little ones in exchange for mead and cookies.

[Akhôrahil]

2 minutes ago, dumuzid said:

All the Torkani children wait year-round for Waterday, Harmony Week, Dark Season, when each clan's highest Argan Argar initiate dons a goosefeather cloak and rides a twelve-trollkin sleigh between the steads through the night, bringing gifts for the little ones in exchange for mead and cookies.

"You'd better watch out..." as they say.

Also: it can come as no surprise that a trollkin with a luminescent nose will get put down by the others.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Akhôrahil

[dumuzid]

Red is the only color trolls can see, and it makes them uncomfortable and aggressive.

Children marked 'naughty' on the Lead List get only lumps of enlo dung, not toys and treats

[Bill the barbarian]

14 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Also: it can come as no surprise that a trollkin with a luminescent nose will get put down by the others.

Well not all, just one... Olive. You know, Olive the other trollkin, the one that used to laugh and call him names...

Edited January 21, 2021 by Bill the barbarian

[Sir_Godspeed]

3 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Something we don't hear a lot about but that must surely be super common is sledging. In many real-world areas, winter travel was actually easier due to frozen ground and sledges. A lot of wood-cutting transportation in pre-industrial Scandinavia took place using sledges in wintertime. You can get sleds into places where a wagon would never work. Plus rivers become highways.

This applies to skis too in some degree. In parts of Norway, alpine skiing was a quick, efficient way of reaching areas that would otherwise have required trudging through thigh-deep snow at a steep elevation. Hunting, of course, but also simply for communication and such as well. Social life does go on during winter as well. Midwinter sacrifices have to be organized, you might want to check up on relatives and friends, you might need to borrow a tool to mend something, or request help, etc, and of course winter fishing is a thing, so it might be practical to ski down the slope to the river or lake, and walk herringbone home afterwards. Beats stepping through the snow crust everytime. 

It also makes for some marvelously dramatic imagery.

[Bill the barbarian]

27 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

and of course winter fishing is a thing, so it might be practical to ski down the slope to the river or lake, and walk herringbone home afterwards. Beats stepping through the snow crust everytime. 

 

Alas, herring bone will not happen. There skis would be kick glide... that is, one is used as a skateboard and is larger and one would be to push and would be smaller. I would think this would make also schussing down the slopes very thrilling and deadly. I believe side step or momentum or taking your skis off will be what gets you uphill. Down, reasonably easy, except... easy control and stopping... almost impossible. 

[Dr. Devici]

On 1/18/2021 at 9:48 AM, metcalph said:

There's been a mention of skiing elves in RQ3 book5 but that's it

That's also mentioned in the RQG bestiary.

"Green elves are associated with coniferous forests. They inhabit cool temperate lands. In snow, they can ski cross-country with carved magic wooden shoes."

[Akhôrahil]

1 hour ago, Dr. Device said:

That's also mentioned in the RQG bestiary.

"Green elves are associated with coniferous forests. They inhabit cool temperate lands. In snow, they can ski cross-country with carved magic wooden shoes."

Which kinda implies that skis are a bit rare, at least.

[Ladygolem]

44 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Which kinda implies that skis are a bit rare, at least.

That's what I was trying to get at earlier - despite skis being very useful on snow, they are only widely used in Scandinavia and the Russian White Sea coast until the 1800s, with some very early evidence of their use in Xinjiang about 5000 years ago. This was not widespread tech, even if you only consider areas with significant snowfall. Clearly, other factors are at play here.

There is scant evidence of snowshoes outside of North America, but here they are widespread across almost every indigenous people from the Arctic to the Great Plains. These make much more sense as widespread snow-traversal technology, and sleds even more so, which were used worldwide.

 

[Akhôrahil]

56 minutes ago, Ladygolem said:

There is scant evidence of snowshoes outside of North America, but here they are widespread across almost every indigenous people from the Arctic to the Great Plains. These make much more sense as widespread snow-traversal technology, and sleds even more so, which were used worldwide.

I hadn't heard this - I knew they were used in (at least late) Medieval Scandinavia.

Note the lovely horse-snowshoes!

There are also really old - 4th millennium BCE - finds in Europe. 

[Ladygolem]

21 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

I hadn't heard this - I knew they were used in (at least late) Medieval Scandinavia.

Note the lovely horse-snowshoes!

There are also really old - 4th millennium BCE - finds in Europe. 

My mistake. I admit I'm no snowshoe expert, and was just going off of a quick google search. I still think I have point saying that just because a certain thing is physically possible to create within a given culture's means doesn't mean they'll necessarily have access to it.

[Akhôrahil]

19 minutes ago, Ladygolem said:

I still think I have point saying that just because a certain thing is physically possible to create within a given culture's means doesn't mean they'll necessarily have access to it.

Definitely agree about this.

[JanPospisil]

From Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind: 

https://sixages.fandom.com/wiki/Skiing_Horse

(so these are Hyalorings)

Edited January 23, 2021 by JanPospisil

[Jeff]

We know that the green elves of the Stinking Forest have some excellent winter ski troops. Perhaps the humans have learned the technique. 

[Brootse]

On 1/22/2021 at 7:07 PM, Ladygolem said:

That's what I was trying to get at earlier - despite skis being very useful on snow, they are only widely used in Scandinavia and the Russian White Sea coast until the 1800s, with some very early evidence of their use in Xinjiang about 5000 years ago. This was not widespread tech, even if you only consider areas with significant snowfall. Clearly, other factors are at play here.

There is scant evidence of snowshoes outside of North America, but here they are widespread across almost every indigenous people from the Arctic to the Great Plains. These make much more sense as widespread snow-traversal technology, and sleds even more so, which were used worldwide.

 

Yeah this is the reason why I thought that Sartarites didn't use them, even though they would be useful and Sartarite craftsmen being able to make them. But looks like that they are more widespread than the Guide says, even if not common.