Vintage Skis and Snowshoes

From the turn of the twentieth century through the 1940s, skis and snowshoes were painstakingly handmade for both children and adults, each pair bearing the mark of a culture bound to winter’s rhythm. American makers such as Lund, Elmira, Sprague & Co., Winchester, and Black Bear crafted wooden skis that carried generations down New England slopes and across frozen lakes. Across the Atlantic, Austrian artisans of the 1920s shaped alpine skis in a country synonymous with high mountain adventure and the romance of snow-dusted villages.
Equally evocative are the snowshoes fashioned in the United States and Canada, their wooden frames bound with rawhide and leather thongs, designed to carry explorers silently across deep drifts and forested trails. Whether destined for a child’s small steps or an adult’s long trek, these implements of survival became symbols of endurance, craftsmanship, and the poetic bond between humans and winter landscapes.
Today, these heirlooms serve as more than reminders of early alpine ingenuity. Leaned against a stone fireplace or mounted on the walls of a ski lodge, they transform into nostalgic emblems of snowy holidays past, evoking the warmth of crackling fires, wool sweaters, and steaming mugs of cocoa. Both functional artifact and romantic décor, vintage skis and snowshoes carry forward the stories of simpler times, when winter travel demanded resilience, artistry, and a respect for the elements.