In Slovenia, Europe, skiing and ski building has a very long and at the same time completely unique tradition. This tradition is rooted in the region Bloke, a plateau region with proverbially the largest amounts of snow and snow days. In this region skiing downhill the snowy slopes was practiced long before it was widely recognized as a recreational activity and when, throughout Europe and other parts of the world, skis were used merely as means of transport and hunting. The inhabitants of the Bloke region are the first people in history who were observed of making turns on the snowy slopes. In 1689, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor described these “pioneers of the turns” in the book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, where he wrote: “No hill is too steep to prevent them from sliding down even if it is so densely packed with trees; because they twist down in turns as a snake when obstacles are in their way.”
