Home > History of skiing

1 Ancient history of skiing

The first hints to the existence of skis are on 4500 to 5000 year old rock drawings, e.g. at Rødøy in Norway. There are also remains of skis in bogs, e.g. the oldest ski found in Hoting , Sweden, which is about 4500 years old.

The word ski goes back to two Old Norse roots, both older than 4500 years: saa and suk.

1.1 Invention

There are six possible roots from which skis originally might have developed:

• The pedal snowshoe, which was an oval wooden board later on covered with fur.
• The sledge runner, which seems to be a very obvious model for the ski, though it is hardly taken into account.
• The fur shoe, which was a combination of moccasins and sandals and worn together with pedal snowshoes.
• The marsh shoe, which later on was taken to colder regions with snow.
• The canoe or the coracle, both being utilized in northern regions from very early on. Having been used as sledges, small ones might equally have served as proto-skis.
• The ski being a spontaneous invention is very unlikely.

The fur that covered the skis made it possible to walk on them nearly noiselessly, prevented them from gliding, avoided snow to stick to them and also strengthened the often thin skis.

1.2 Early Skis

Different types of skis have emerged at various regions at about the same time, but the original inventors of skis seem to be the people of the Sajan-Altaic mountains in Asia. This is not verified. All in all there are three different types of skis in the North of Europe and Asia:

• The East-Siberian type is a thin board with a vertical four-hole binding. Sometimes it is covered with fur.
• The West-Siberian type has a horizontal stem-hole binding. One can distinguish between the Ugro-Lapp type and the Central-Northern type.
• The Southern type has a horizontal toe-piece binding. One can distinguish the Fennoscandian type and the Russo-Baltic type.

Modern ski bindings are based on the Fennoscandian model of the 19th century. The bindings of Telemark ski and cross-country skis were developed from the Ugro-Lapp type.

1.3 Ski Poles

Ski poles go back to two roots:

• The walking stick was used to keep balance.
• The ski pole developed from a spear or a bow to which a basket was added at one end. Double poles were used to reach a higher speed on skis.

2 Modern history of skiing

Pioneer Sondre Norheim, from MorgedalMorgedal of the municipality of Kviteseid in the county of Telemark Norway, is called the cradle of skiing''. The flames for the 1952 Winter Olympic Games in Oslo, the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley and the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lilleham in TelemarkTelemark is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. In 2004 there were 166 124 inhabitants. Its area is 13 854 km². The county administration is in Skien. Homepage of Telemark County is found on The county is, has often been given the honour as the true father of skiingSkiing is the human activity of gliding over snow using skis (originally wooden planks, now usually made from fiberglass or related composites) strapped to the feet with ski bindings. Skiing Many different types of skiing are popular, especially in colder, inventing the equipment and techniques that led to modern skiing as we see it today. Actually, there are no proofs that he himslelf invented anything. But he must have been a wonderful skier, and an inspiration for generations. The myth about Sondre as the father of modern skiing was largely constructed in Norway from the 1930sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Link Trainer invented Sc, and especially in connection with the Olympic Winter Games in OsloOslo is the capital city of Norway, and has 518,929 inhabitants, which is 11. 4% of the total population in Norway. The conurbation extends into the surrounding county of Akershus and has a population of 801,028 (Jan. The urban municipality bykommune of O in 1952Summary of notable events in 1952 . Events January events January 8 West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders. January 24 Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria. January 24 Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.. Most of the inventions attributed to Norheim were in fact known a long time before him.

• In the 17th century the baron of Valvasor wrote reports on skiing activities in SloveniaThe Republic of Slovenia ( Slovenian: Slovenija is a coastal sub-Alpine country in south central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north..

• The usefulness of skis for military purpose speeded up their development and spread. The Norwegian military had skiing competitions from the 1670sCenturies: 16th century 17th century 18th century Decades: 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s 1660s 1670s 1680s 1690s 1700s 1710s 1720s Years: 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 Events and Trends Newton and Leibniz independently discover calculus..

• The first known civilian ski race took place in Tromsø, Norway in 1843.

• In 1875, the first ski club, and two years later the first ski school were founded in Kristiania (now Oslo).

• The Englishman William Cecil Slingsby , the "father of Norwegian mountaineering", helped inspire ski mountaineering after his crossing of the 1,550m high (5,800 feet) Keiser Pass, Norway, on skis in 1880.

• In 1883 the German ski pioneer Paulcke crossed the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland on his Norwegian skis.

• In 1888 the Austrian Max Kleinoschegg had his first attempts on skis on the Ruckerlberg near Graz.

• Also in the year 1888, the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen made the first crossing of Greenland, travelling from East to West on skis. The report on his expedition, Paa ski over Grønland, was published in 1890 in both Norwegian and English, and later in German. It aroused great interest in skiing in Europe and the United States, as well as creating a Norwegian national hero. From then on skiing was regularly in the news, and was soon adopted as a passtime and a sport by the wealthier classes of Europe, as well as being adopted by the military in several countries.

• The first ski club in central Europe was founded at Munich, Germany, during the winter of 1890 to 1891.

• The German Wilhelm von Arlt made the first ski ascent of a over 3,000m, when he climbed the Rauris Sonnblick (3,103m / 10,180 feet high) in 1894.

• The first packaged ski holidays took place in 1903, to Adelboden, Switzerland, organised on a commercial basis by Sir Henry Lunn under the guise of the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club , which booked entire hotels. Winter holidays in Switzerland had become very popular with the British aristocracy since the first winter tourists to St Moritz in 1864.

• The predecessor to the downhill ski race, the Roberts of Kandahar Cup took place in Crans-Montana ( Montana-sur-Sierre ) in 1911, the cup donated by Lord Roberts of Kandahar .

• The first downhill race took place in 1921, organised by Sir Arnold Lunn for the British National Ski Championships, followed by the first modern slalom in 1922, also by Lunn.

• 1924 saw the foundation of the International Ski Federation in Chamonix, France.

• In March 1928, downhill and the modern slalom events were combined for the first time to form the Arlberg-Kandahar open international alpine skiing competition, organised by Arnold Lunn and Hannes Schneider in St. Anton, Austria.

• At the invitation of the FIS, the Ski Club of Great Britain organises downhill and slalom races in parallel with the 1928 Second Winter Olympics at St Moritz.

In Austria centers of skiing activities were Mürzzuschlag and Semmering .

In the 19th century the Telemark ski revolutionized alpine skiing, being the first ski with a remarkable waist making it much easier for skiers to turn.