Throughout history, people have faced seemingly impossible obstacles – and found creative solutions. Skis exist because snow was a challenge in everyday life. But what exactly turns a simple piece of wood into a ski? And why did skis become such an important part of Norwegian identity? Join us back to the origin of skis – and see how the old invention still helps us to cope with the challenges of nature.
The exhibition starts with Norway's oldest ski find
Drevjaskia
The exhibition starts with Norway's oldest ski find. The ski is approximately 5200 years old, proving that people were skiing in Norway as early as the Stone Age. The pieces of wood have traces of fur on the underside. Skis with fur are almost silent in the snow and therefore well suited for hunting. The ski was found in Drevja in Nordland.
Fridtjof Nansen's expeditions
In 1888, Fridtjof Nansen and his expedition were the first to cross the Greenland ice sheet, from east to west. The exhibition reflects Nansen's curiosity and experimental thinking.
The exhibition also shows Nansen's attempt to reach the North Pole from 1893 to 1896. This expedition is called the first Fram expedition. With the boat Fram, Nansen and his crew would "sail" across the polar sea by allowing themselves to be frozen in the ice to reach the North Pole, but the ship went too far south. Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen decided to continue on skis to try to reach the North Pole.
The clothes and objects in the exhibition were equipment Nansen and Johansen used during their ski trip to the North Pole. The clothes are full of sweat and walrus blood. They used skis, sleds, dogs and kayaks to travel towards the polar point.
Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition
Amundsen's journey to the South Pole became a race against a British expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen reached the pole on December 14, 1911. Scott arrived on January 18, 1912.
Scott's ski expert, the Norwegian Trygve Gran, and the rest of the rescue crew found three of the five frozen to death in the tent. They made an ice grave and Trygve Gran placed his own skis shaped like a cross on top.
He then put on Scott's skis, took them home to Norway and gave them to the Ski Museum. You can see the skis in this exhibition.
The tent used during the sledge journey to the South Pole in 1911 provides a unique insight into the crew's ability to modify and develop the equipment they had during the expedition. After the expedition, Amundsen donated the tent to the Norwegian Ski Association, and it is now part of our collection. The tent was on display for several years, but is currently stored in a warehouse for preservation reasons. In March 2022, the tent was digitized using photogrammetry, which you can see here:
The exhibition is created by:
Design and concept: SixSides
Project group Skimuseet: Åslaug Midtdal, Silja Axelsen, Ane Marte Sørdal and Mikkel Totland.
Financial contributors: Nadia and Jacob Stolt-Nielsen's Charitable Foundation and Hans Herman Horn's Foundation. Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.
