Even in the first
issue of his magazine, Das
Neue Leben (A Fresh Start) which appeared in
March 1929 (later known as A.Vogel’s Gesundheits-Nachrichten), the young
Alfred Vogel pointed out the advantages of Po-Ho oil. Here are a
few extracts from his article:
“We wanted to reach a height of 2700 metres and there was a seemingly
almost level, large expanse covered with 30cm of snow lying before
us. Our skiers’ hearts began to beat faster at this sight because
undisturbed powder snow is, for a skier, virgin ground. When we
ventured into this, with gullies on three sides and no borders, a
comfortable warmth surrounded us and to me it was like being hugged by
the Sun. Our summit seemed so close now as though we could reach
the top in quarter of an hour.
“However, we were not in that much of a hurry because although the
summit was our goal, as you should and must have a goal, our ascent was
not the only purpose of our trek. We wanted to ‘bathe’ in the
mountain air and sun and so we made another stop at the foot of a very
steep summit. As always, after such a trek, I was not hungry but
I did have an extremely strong thirst because I had been sweating so
much. To the astonishment of my colleagues who were already
sitting down, I quickly began to undress, laid aside my damp underwear,
dried myself off thoroughly and began to massage my entire body
vigorously with skin oil.
“During my winter stay in the high mountains, I used to go into the
nearby windless Alps almost every sunny day for several weeks with my
skis, strip to my shorts, hang my clothes on a snow-free ledge or, if
they were too high up, on the posts of an Alpine hut, and ski non-stop
from about 10 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon.
“We must not forget that in the high mountains the sun’s rays are much
warmer than in the lowlands so that, even in colder air, it is possible
to sunbathe as the body soaks up the warmth of the sun in the same way
as a dry sponge soaks up water. You must take care not to get too
cold because this is not healthy. When you get undressed, there
should be no wind. Moreover, you must never forget to rub in skin
oil immediately (or virgin olive oil mixed with a few drops of
eucalyptus, Po-Ho or pine needle oil). (…)”
