Did you know that…

• It was Sondre Norheim (1825 – 1897) from Morgedal who started a ski revolution that made heel bindings and skis with in-swing (carving skis) known all over the world
• A world champion skier and ski maker, Olav Bjaaland from Morgedal, was a key member of Amundsen’s Norwegian team who were first to reach the South Pole in 1914
• The world’s first ski school was started in Christiania (Oslo) by two brothers - the champion skiers, Mikkel og Torjus Hemmestveit of Morgedal.
• The word Slalom which today is an international word has its origins in Morgedal and West Telemark. “Sla” means sloping, uneven terrain and “lom” means tracks or traces in the snow.
• The Christiania swing (parallel turn) and the Telemark turn have their origins in Telemark, Norway and were the two turns that Sondre Norheim demonstrated for the first time in a major ski competition in Iversløkken (near Christiania) in 1868
• Svein Sollid from Morgedal won the kings cup in the first Holmenkollen event ever held in 1892. He is also the first man on record to have jumped over 100 feet on skis – 31.5 meters on the Donstad slope in Morgedal.
• The very first winter Olympic flame was lit in Morgedal up at Øverbø the birth place of Sondre Norheim for the 1952 Oslo Games.