Ski History

You may be a ski lover, but do you know how and why skiing go to where it is today, or where it is heading tomorrow? Most people that take a vested interest in their hobbies do know these things, but there are those of us that just enjoy what is in the now and forget about the past as easily as if they weren’t there at all! This is understandable as some of us didn’t want to sit through US History to 1877 during school, but there are a few things that every skier should know about skiing. Here are a few facts brought to you by the good folks at www.SkiingHistory.org:

> In 1850 Sondre Nordheim discovered the perfect heel strap from the shoots of a birch tree root and figured out how to get sufficient control of the ski to make the process possible. This was the beginning as we know it of skiing in the world as an organized and designed activity.

> In 1866 competition conducted by the Centralforeigning, or Central Ski Association in the Norwegian capital Christiania (now called Oslo), Sondre Norheim and his fellow Telemarkers demonstrate what is later called the telemark turn and the Christiania skidded stop turn.

> In 1905 the National Ski Association was founded in Ishpeming, Michigan with Carl Tellefsen being elected the first president of the Association. Tellefsen was a former jumper and got his title after the first national jumping championship at Ishpeming.

> 1921 was when the first modern slalom race, the Alpine Ski Challenge Cup, was held at Mürren, Switzerland, on Jan. 6, after rules set down by Arnold Lunn: first, J.A. Joannides. The following fall, the first systematic exposition, complete with diagrams of two-gate slalom, was published was published by Lunn in the British Ski Year Book.

> In 1924 the Olympics held their first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France, with Nordic ski events only. The world’s first triple gold medal winner came out of the games in Norwegian Thorleif Haug after winning the 18 and 50 KM cross country and Nordic combined. In all, the Norwegians took 11 of 12 gold medals available.
This is obviously not where the history of skiing comes to an end, but it does begin to show you its growth and history in America and abroad.For the rest of the story