"The turtle boat" The museum manager's favorite was made from "garbage"

Sailcloth, bamboo poles and ropes are carefully lifted. It is fragile. It seems impossible that two men made it across an icy Greenlandic fjord in this vessel. But when Fridtjof Nansen and Otto Sverdrup had to cross the Ameralik Fjord in September 1888, towards the end of the Greenland expedition, this was the only solution: To assemble a craft from old tent scraps, crooked branches and old rope.

Sailcloth was made into oar blades, stretched over Y-shaped branches and then mounted on bamboo poles. The result was two complete oars.  

- You might wonder if Nansen was a little impressed himself. After all, he took care of the boat, even though it was practically made of rubbish. Perhaps he had a future museum in mind," says Ski Museum manager Åslaug Midtdal.  

History writing

The boat is no beauty in terms of design. But the 2.56 m long, 1.42 m wide and 61 cm deep vessel is one of Midtdal's absolute favorite objects. From a somewhat modest location in the old museum, it now has a new, purpose-built stand. 

One wonders if Nansen was a little impressed himself.

Åslaug Midtdal, museum manager

- The boat is an example of how good planning was important on the expedition. But it was also important to improvise along the way. The fact that it was possible to row this vessel is fascinating in itself. The fact that it was also cared for through the winter, taken to Denmark, then transported to Norway, eventually given to the Norwegian Ski Association and many years later exhibited at the Ski Museum, is incredible. It shows that Fridtjof Nansen was aware that he was helping to write history," says Midtdal. 

Nansen as a curator

The Ski Museum has been rebuilt and relocated several times before. But it has always been located at the entrance to the cross-country skiing paradise of Oslomarka: First at Frognerseteren, then in Holmenkollen.  

Nansen was one of the driving forces behind the realization of the world's first special museum for skiing in 1923. He contributed a symbolic ten kroner and became the Ski Museum's first curator. The exhibition was largely based on his own merits: the expedition equipment.