Millions of people worldwide go on ski holidays every year and it is interesting to know how it all started. The earliest recorded instance of skiing dates all the way backs to 5000BC when people in Norway started depicting the activity in primitive carvings. The word ski itself is derived from the Old Norse word “skíð”.
Accounts of skiing can be found right throughout Scandinavian history, where skiing was used as a form of common transport, in hunting and even on the battlefield. Skiing is also mentioned in Norse mythology. The god Ullr and the goddess Skaði were said to have hunted on skis. To this day there are a number of skiing events throughout Scandinavia that commemorate well-known historic instances of skiing.
The Norwegian Sondre Norheim is known as the ‘father of modern skiing’ and was the first to develop recreational skiing. Around 1850 Norheim created the design templates from which we derive all forms of modern skiing.
The advances made by Norheim lead to an increase in recreational skiing in Scandinavia. Surprisingly though, the first documented downhill skiing event happened in 1861 at Kiandra, Australia. Downhill skiing really only began from this point. By the middle of the twentieth century it had blossomed into the much loved pastime enjoyed by so many today.
Skiing continues to gain in popularity, with people all over the world taking to the slopes for leisure or serious sport. Skiing is a major and very watchable part of the Winter Olympics.
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