HAPPY NORWAY DAY!
17th May 2019
Last modified on August 31st, 2021
Last Friday, May 17th, was Constitution Day in Norway. So, what has Norway ever done for skiing? Er, rather a lot.
Here are some facts about Norwegian skiing to mark the occasion.
• Modern skiing was invented in Norway. Innovations by Norwegian downhill skier Sondre Norheim (1825 – 1897), including new binding designs and shorter skis with curved sides, were the basis for the equipment used around the world today. Norheim also designed the Telemark ski.
• Ski and slalom (slalåm) are Norwegian words, falling into use in no small part due to the popularity of Sondre Norheim.
• A 5,000 year old rock carving on the island of Rødøya in Nordland is the oldest depiction of a human figure on skis and one of the country’s most famous historical sites. The image was used as the logo for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
• Skis have been used for travel in Norway for thousands of years. The Vefsn Norland ski found in Norway dates back to around 3200 BC, while a ski discovered emerging from a glacier in the Renheimen mountains in 2014 was complete with bindings and is estimated to be 1300 years old.
• When you’re skiing in Norway, don’t forget to pack an orange and a Kvikk Lunsj chocolate bar – four fingers of chocolate covered wafer popular among outdoorsy Norwegians. The name means ‘quick lunch’.
PlanetSKI has sampled a Kvikk Lunsj when we were cross-country skiing last winter:
Time for a Kvikk Lunsj. Image © PlanetSKI
The largest resort, Trysil, was voted Norway’s best ski resort in the World Ski Awards.
We reported last winter on its family appeal:
Built around the 1,132m high Trysilfjellet mountain and famed for its 71km of well-groomed slopes, it’s used by national teams for training.
In Hemsedal, a small, snow-sure village known as the Scandinavian Alps, there’s skiing from November until May, not to mention some of the best apres ski in Europe.
We reported from Hemsedal back in 2015 on a road trip round a few resorts – see below for a flavour of what Norway has to offer:
Ski Star also happen to run St Johann in the Tirol in Austria where PlanetSKI has just been e-biking.
Norway is one of PlanetSKI’s favourite countries for skiing.
Happy Norway Day. Image © PlanetSKI
See here as our chief news reporter, Jane Peel, visited last winter.
Jane was traveling with Norway-Home of Skiing that offers holidays in resorts across the country.
Happy Norway Day. Image © PlanetSKI
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