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6 • Touchline • Issue 15
wo Telemarkers (Telemark is known to be the birth
place of modern skiing) were taking a leak off a
bridge and one says “Brrr, this water’s cold”, and the
other says “And it’s deep too”.
Perhaps something has been lost in the translation, but
Norwegian humour is famously obtuse and leaves foreign
visitors smiling politely and perhaps reaching for their coats.
But once you get beyond the odd references and baffling
punch lines, something innocent and charming emerges. And
it is this mix of practicality and fun that helped change skiing
from a practical method for getting around into the single most
popular snow sport.
In 1864 Sondre Norheim attached a second brace to his
traditional skis and decided it would henceforth be deemed
a sport. Until then, Telemarkers had been gliding around the
slopes on wooden skis but the style was very different from
today. Norheim’s second strap went over the heel and allowed
for vastly better control over the skis.
Over one hundred years have passed since Norheim made
his skis fit properly in the small town of Telemark, which has
become synonymous with skiing.
Of course, the history of skiing is not limited to Telemark, and
there is evidence of people strapping planks to their feet to run
over snow from around the world. But it was in Norway that the
sport in a modern sense developed, as the Telemarkers will only
too proudly tell you.
Today, Norwegians ski in numbers that are staggering for such
a small country. To say it is the national sport is something of
an understatement. According to a report from “Views and News
from Norway”, 700,000 Norwegians own two or more sets of skis,
which represents almost 20 percent of the population. Seventy
percent has one set.
T
SKIING IN NORWAY
By Timothy Mottram