Doug Smith, age 12, of Colorado Springs, Colo, for his question:

HOW DID SNOW SKIING START?

Originally skis were probably made from the bones of large animals. They were developed as a way of moving across great frozen distances by people who lived in areas where there was heavy snowfall. A pair of skis about 5,000 years old is on display in a museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

During the battle of Oslo between Norway and Sweden in 1200, scouts used skis for military purposes. Swedish ski troops also used them in 1521 in a battle against Denmark, and the U.S. ski troops used them in the European Alps during World War II.

Skiing as a sport probably started in the early 1800s. Skiing was also important in the first winter Olympic Games, which took place in France in 1924.