Predating the wheel, the ski has played an important role in our history. This book presents a history that begins 20,000 years ago in the last ice age on the icy tundra of an unformed earth, when man is a traveling animal, and on these icy slopes skiing began as a means of survival. "In his early books, Huntford chronicled the race to the South Pole ("The Last Place on Earth") and wrote biographies of Ernest Shackleton and Fridtjof Nansen. "Two Planks" seems a natural progression for him ... Huntford deserves praise for bringing together a lot of rich material." New York Times Book Review.