Re: skis and skies

David Dermott wrote:

>   Oh, also there's "Snowshoe Thompson" which really should be "Ski
> Thompson" (he carried mail across the Sierra Nevada, 1870s)
> (real name Jon Torsteinson Rue, born 1825 in Tinn, Telemark)

The ski racers in the 1860s California mining camps called their ski 
"snowshoes" so "Snowshoe Thompson" was appropriately named. First 
big-money ski racing - $1000s exchanged hands (in the form of gold dust, 
often.)