Many ski resorts make the claim of being the birthplace of modern skiing. Last winter when I was in Lech am Alberg and Mürren, I heard claims that skiing, as we know it today, began in these ski resorts. I was told the same thing when I was in St.Moritz! So what’s the real story - who thought of inventing bindings and where did they built the first ski lift?
The history of skiing dates back a lot further than we think. In Norway, a rock carving of a character on skis was discovered that dates back to over 5000 years ago. We therefore have proof that man has been skiing already for thousands of years! The Norwegian Sondre Norheim, played an important role in the development of skiing as we know it today, when he invented the first ski bindings in 1850. However, skiers had to wait over 50 years to be able to get up the mountain easily!
It was in 1907 in Bödele in Vorarlberg in Austria that the first "help climb the mountain" was used. The first ski lift was in fact a number of large sledges which, with the aid of an engine, climbed the hillside of the mountains. These "Fruni" were used mainly in Switzerland until around 1940. In 1908, in the Black Forest Eisenbach (near Feldberg) the first ski lift was opened but it was not the most comfortable as skiers had to hold onto an iron bar that used hydroelectric power to take them to the top of the slopes. The first modern ski lift was built in 1934 at Davos.
The story of the gondola lift dates back to the same period and it was a Dutchman who played an important role in its invention. Adam Wiebe built a gondola-style lift to transport construction materials over a river to Bastionberg in 1644. In 1908, in Zwölfmalgreien near Bolzano, the first gondola lift, called the Kohlerer Bahn, was opened to the public. The same year, another similar lift was opened in Grindelwald in Switzerland, but it was unfortunately destroyed after the First World War.
The first chair lift was developed in 1936 by the engineer James Curran in Sun Valley. This chair lift was then used on Boyne Mountain in Michigan, where parts of this lift are still in use today. In Europe, the first chair lift was built in the Czech Republic in 1940. It was 400 meters long going from Raztoka to Pustevny. Subsequently this chair lift model was used in several ski resorts in the Alps.
So, it seems that similar ideas were born around the same time in different countries and from this moment onwards, rapid development took place across the mountains. In later years it was mainly the English who helped develop the ski resorts in the Alps. Currently, every year, new technologies are introduced and ski resorts sometimes spend millions of Euros on renovating and replacing old lift structures to attract more winter sports fans.
Many ski resorts make the claim of being the birthplace of modern skiing. Last winter when I was in Lech am Alberg and Mürren, I heard claims that skiing, as we know it today, began in these ski resorts. I was told the same thing when I was in St.Moritz! So what’s the real story - who thought of inventing bindings and where did they built the first ski lift?
The history of skiing dates back a lot further than we think. In Norway, a rock carving of a character on skis was discovered that dates back to over 5000 years ago. We therefore have proof that man has been skiing already for thousands of years! The Norwegian Sondre Norheim, played an important role in the development of skiing as we know it today, when he invented the first ski bindings in 1850. However, skiers had to wait over 50 years to be able to get up the mountain easily!
It was in 1907 in Bödele in Vorarlberg in Austria that the first "help climb the mountain" was used. The first ski lift was in fact a number of large sledges which, with the aid of an engine, climbed the hillside of the mountains. These "Fruni" were used mainly in Switzerland until around 1940. In 1908, in the Black Forest Eisenbach (near Feldberg) the first ski lift was opened but it was not the most comfortable as skiers had to hold onto an iron bar that used hydroelectric power to take them to the top of the slopes. The first modern ski lift was built in 1934 at Davos.
The story of the gondola lift dates back to the same period and it was a Dutchman who played an important role in its invention. Adam Wiebe built a gondola-style lift to transport construction materials over a river to Bastionberg in 1644. In 1908, in Zwölfmalgreien near Bolzano, the first gondola lift, called the Kohlerer Bahn, was opened to the public. The same year, another similar lift was opened in Grindelwald in Switzerland, but it was unfortunately destroyed after the First World War.
The first chair lift was developed in 1936 by the engineer James Curran in Sun Valley. This chair lift was then used on Boyne Mountain in Michigan, where parts of this lift are still in use today. In Europe, the first chair lift was built in the Czech Republic in 1940. It was 400 meters long going from Raztoka to Pustevny. Subsequently this chair lift model was used in several ski resorts in the Alps.
So, it seems that similar ideas were born around the same time in different countries and from this moment onwards, rapid development took place across the mountains. In later years it was mainly the English who helped develop the ski resorts in the Alps. Currently, every year, new technologies are introduced and ski resorts sometimes spend millions of Euros on renovating and replacing old lift structures to attract more winter sports fans.
Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!
