SKI COLUMN

"Why don't we warm up and get in condition for skiing?" asked Howard E. Cox L'27, director of the Hemenway gymnasium, in an interview last night at the gymnasium. Citing the large number of accidents last year in skiing and Dr. Bock's report last year in which it was stated that injuries in skiing outnumbered the injuries in football at Harvard, he said, "It is my firm belief that most of these ski injuries are caused by lack of being in condition.

"You get falls in skiing that are just as bad as in football. In football you have a long conditioning period, and the men warm up before they have physical contact. While here in skiing, people drive up to the mountains or take "snow trains," and to get up the actual mountains they use a tow. Then without any limbering up they start their downhill run. When they fall, something snaps, and there's another candidate for Stillman Infirmary."

Starts Ski Conditioning Classes

To meet the problem of ski conditioning Cox, an ardent ski enthusiast himself, has inaugurated special calisthenics classes for skiers.

For the past two weeks from 5 to 6 at the Hemenway gymnasium he has led a group of about 40 undergraduates, law school students, and men from the engineering department in regular ski conditioning classes. Open to all, these classes will probably be continued in the Indoor Athletic Building, as the Hemenway gymnasium will be closed this week in preparation for its destruction.

Training is Necessary

Pointing out that a man cannot loaf all week and then put in a tremendous day of skiing without endangering his physical well being, Cox emphasis ed that the prospective skier should do some kind of conditioning for weekend skiing, whether it be special ski exercise classes or a good, active, competitive sport.

Optimistic concerning skiing prospects at the University, he said, "There seems to be greater interest in the sport this year than ever before. It is surprising the number of men in my ski class that I recognize on the trails."