Abstract
The aim of the study is to present the development of skiing within institutions and associations established in Warsaw in the interwar period. In particular, it refers to organisations whose primary objective was to popularise skiing among their members by organising ski and ski instructor courses and staging sports competitions in Nordic and alpine skiing. The considerable popularity of skiing evidence the fact that there were 38 skiing sections active in Warsaw at that time. These sports clubs promoted lowland skiing, organised ski trips and courses in the Polish Carpathians. The popularity of sports competitions increased gradually. In the season 1929/1930, there were 9 skiing sections in Warsaw associated with PZN (Polish Ski Federation) and in the season 1937/1938 there were already 29. In the interwar period, Warsaw became the city with the biggest number of sports associations affiliated to PZN, despite the lack of mountains. As a subject of this research, Warsaw ski clubs were selected, whose activities significantly contributed to the popularization of skiing among citizens of Warsaw, and CIWF-AWF (Central Institute of Physical Education – University of Physical Education), which statutory aims covered the education of PE teachers the development of tourism and Polish sports in the whole country. Resources found in the Warsaw archives, analysis of the Warsaw press of the period, printed diaries, memoirs and studies on skiing were utilized for this research.