64 Fun Facts About Ski

The word 'ski' comes from Old Norse skíð, which literally meant what?

Cleft wood: Old English already had a cousin of the word, scīd, a strip of wood, yet English still borrowed 'ski' from Scandinavia.

Norse mythology's Ullr and Skaði are regarded as the god and goddess of skiing and what other pursuit?

Hunting: in the Prose Edda Skaði skis and shoots wild beasts, and she chose a husband by his feet alone, hoping for Baldr but getting Njörðr.

Skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim, the 'father of Telemark skiing', is buried in which US state?

North Dakota: he settled there after emigrating in 1884, and the Olympic flames for the 1952 and 1960 Winter Games were lit at his birthplace.

In 1868 Sondre Norheim won a national ski competition held in which city?

Christiania: the win spread word of his shorter, side-cut skis and heel bindings.

Telemark skiing is named after a region in which country?

Norway: the telemark turn bends the back leg and lifts that heel off the ski, so it only works with a free-heel binding.

Who invented the slalom race, first run in 1922 with the winner decided purely on time?

Arnold Lunn: his son Peter captained Britain's ski team at the 1936 Olympics, then spent over 40 years in British intelligence.

The ski-racing word 'slalom' comes from an old dialect term that literally meant what?

Sloping track: the word began with rural ski trails in the 1860s, but slalom became today's timed gate race in Central Europe from the 1920s.

Why did Austria and Switzerland enter no men when alpine skiing debuted at the 1936 Winter Olympics?

Instructors were ruled professionals: the IOC barred paid ski teachers, which even kept 1935 world champion Toni Seelos out.

The world's first chairlifts were installed in 1936 at which resort?

Sun Valley, Idaho: rather than adapt rope tows and J-bars, its builders put single chairs on Dollar and Proctor mountains.

James Curran based his 1936 chairlift design on equipment built to load what onto ships?

Bananas: he had worked for an Omaha steel firm that built banana conveyors for tropical cargo ships, and simply swapped the hooks for chairs.

Which railroad opened America's first destination winter resort in December 1936?

Union Pacific: chairman Averell Harriman sent Austrian Count Felix Schaffgotsch across the West to find a site with plenty of snow, sunshine and little wind.

Hannes Schneider, often called the father of modern skiing, pioneered which technique of ski instruction?

Arlberg: Schneider himself appeared in Das Wunder des Schneeschuhs, a 1920 ski film about the technique.

Which French town's 1924 'International Winter Sports Week' was later recognized as the first Winter Olympics?

Chamonix: a scoring error there went unnoticed for 50 years, so American ski jumper Anders Haugen received his bronze medal only in 1974.

Which alpine racing discipline was first run in December 1982, decades after the others?

Its small crystal globe was not awarded until 1985-86; for three seasons its points were folded into the giant slalom standings.

Which Olympic sport has skiers stop to shoot rifles at targets along the course?

Biathlon: it grew out of military ski patrol exercises, and in the Nordic languages the sport is simply called 'ski-shooting'.

Which warm winds forced ski events to be rescheduled at the 1988 Winter Olympics?

Chinook: strong gusts forced the large-hill ski jump to be postponed four times.

Ingemar Stenmark's 86 World Cup wins all came in which two disciplines, neither a speed event?

Slalom and giant slalom: he won both at the 1980 Olympics, but four years later he was barred from the Games.

German-born Hanni Wenzel won two alpine golds at the 1980 Olympics for which tiny country?

Liechtenstein: she had moved there as an infant, but the country made her a citizen only after she won the 1974 world slalom title.

Jean-Claude Killy swept all three alpine golds at the 1968 Olympics in which host city?

Grenoble: he won the slalom only after his Austrian rival Karl Schranz was controversially disqualified.

When Colorado voters rejected funding for Denver's 1976 Winter Olympics, which city took over the Games?

Innsbruck: it had already hosted in 1964, so it built a second cauldron and lit both Olympic flames together.

Which downhiller won four consecutive World Cup downhill seasons from 1975 to 1978?

Franz Klammer: after those four titles he went years without a World Cup win, then came back to take a fifth downhill title in 1983.

What was Alberto Tomba's father said to have promised him if he won Olympic gold in 1988?

A Ferrari: that week at Calgary he won both the giant slalom and the slalom, and he became the idol of Italian sport.

Which famous ski marathon commemorates two loyalists who skied a royal child to safety in 1206?

The Birkebeiner: every racer must carry at least 3.5 kg on their back, standing in for the weight of the rescued prince.

After cartwheeling through two layers of safety netting in the 1998 Olympic downhill, what did Hermann Maier do days later?

Won two gold medals: he had walked away from the wreck under his own power, and within days took both of his career Olympic titles.

Hermann Maier nearly lost his lower right leg in August 2001 in what kind of accident?

Motorcycle crash: doctors feared they would have to amputate, yet he fought back to win his fourth overall World Cup title in 2004.

Ski star Bode Miller grew up in a log cabin without electricity or indoor plumbing in which US state?

New Hampshire: famous for his reckless style, he admitted on 60 Minutes in 2006 that he had sometimes raced while 'wasted'.

Lindsey Vonn won her Olympic downhill gold at the 2010 Winter Games, held in which city?

Vancouver: she had hurt her shin in training only a week before, but postponed races gave it time to heal.

Which gold medalist did a young Lindsey Kildow meet, and later count as her mentor?

Picabo Street: soon after her 1998 Olympic gold she broke her left femur in a crash, and she needed two years of rehab.

What surgery let Lindsey Vonn end her retirement and return to World Cup racing in 2024?

A knee replacement: it ended the pain that had forced her to retire, and after turning 40 she was winning World Cup races again.

Which Italian carmaker's founder built the Sestriere ski resort in the 1930s?

Fiat: founder Giovanni Agnelli built the resort's tower hotels, and Sestriere later hosted the men's alpine races at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Which ski racer won eight straight overall World Cup titles, then returned in 2024 racing for the Netherlands?

Marcel Hirscher: he could switch flags because his mother is Dutch, and he holds both Austrian and Dutch citizenship.

Who broke Vreni Schneider's single-season record of 14 wins (1988-89) in 2018-19?

Mikaela Shiffrin: she skied out of both technical races at the 2022 Olympics, then won slalom gold at Milan-Cortina in 2026.

Stein Eriksen, the 1952 giant slalom champion, is credited with devising which freestyle event?

Aerials: after the 1954 season he moved to America, running ski schools and becoming one of its best-known ski personalities.

Freestyle skiing was known by what name in the early 1970s?

Hot-dogging: FIS recognised the showboating as a discipline, freestyle skiing, in 1979.

Moguls became a full Olympic medal event in 1992 at Games hosted by which French town?

Albertville: the moguls were actually held at Tignes, on the same course as the first freestyle world championships.

Laila Schou Nilsen switched to alpine skiing for the 1936 Winter Olympics because which of her sports had no women's events?

Speed skating: the 16-year-old won the downhill leg and took bronze in the combined.

The V-style in ski jumping was pioneered in the 1980s by Jan Boklöv of which country?

Sweden: jumping with his skis in a V, he won the 1988-89 World Cup, and within a few years every top jumper had copied the style.

Domen Prevc set the official ski-jumping world record of 254.5 metres in 2025 at which venue?

Planica: Ryōyū Kobayashi flew 291 metres off a specially made ramp in Iceland in 2024, but FIS doesn't count that unofficial jump.

Which ski jumper won three golds at the 1988 Olympics, then later lived a turbulent life as a pop singer?

Matti Nykänen: his own autobiography admitted problems with alcohol and violence, and he was jailed more than once.

After Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards finished last at the 1988 Olympics, what did the IOC's new 'Eddie the Eagle Rule' demand?

Proven international results: the stricter qualifying rules made it virtually impossible for him to reach the 1992 Games.

Nordic combined pairs ski jumping with which other discipline?

Cross-country skiing: the jump winner starts the race first and the rest chase with time handicaps, so whoever crosses the line first wins.

Which Nordic ski technique did American Bill Koch popularize on his way to the 1982 World Cup title?

Skate skiing: pushing off sideways on his ski edges made him the world's best, and races now split into classic and free-technique events.

The Aiguille du Midi cable car gives skiers access to which famous off-piste run?

Vallée Blanche: the 20 km route crosses crevassed glaciers, so hiring a mountain guide is advised.

The ski resort of St Anton lies in which Austrian state?

Tyrol: St. Anton is the hometown of Karl Schranz, the favourite whom IOC president Avery Brundage banned from the 1972 Olympics.

Which Colorado ski resort did 10th Mountain Division veteran Pete Seibert open in 1962?

Vail: unlike old silver-mining towns such as Aspen, its village didn't exist until it was built along with the resort.

Whistler's ski area, first developed for a failed Olympic bid, later joined with which neighbouring mountain?

Blackcomb: it opened as a separate ski area, and a purpose-built village grew up at the foot of both mountains.

Colorado's Aspen Mountain ski area is also known by what name?

Ajax: decades after Aspen's silver boom collapsed, Walter Paepcke founded the ski area there.

Which Swiss resort keeps combustion-engine cars out of town?

Zermatt: public traffic stops at Täsch, so visitors come up by train.

Kitzbühel's Hahnenkamm downhill has been run on which course since 1937?

Streif: the gondolas of Kitzbühel's Hahnenkammbahn cable car bear the names of the race's winners.

The Lauberhorn World Cup downhill is held at which Swiss village?

Wengen: in 1991 Austrian racer Gernot Reinstadler died after one of his skis caught in the course netting near the finish.

Ingemar Stenmark won his overall World Cup titles on skis made by which Slovenian company?

Elan: the company grew out of a wartime workshop that made skis for Yugoslav Partisans fighting Nazi Germany.

Bob Lange's 1966 boots replaced leather with which material, transforming ski boot design?

Plastic: stiff plastic shells gave racers far better edge control, and Nancy Greene won medals in Lange's boots.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Ester Ledecká won an alpine skiing gold and another gold in which sport?

Snowboarding: after her alpine win she was sure the result was a mistake and thought someone else's time was on the board.

In which James Bond film does 007 flee on skis from Piz Gloria atop the Schilthorn?

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: its producers helped pay to finish the half-built revolving restaurant in return for filming there.

In American lift slang, a six-person chairlift is called what?

Six pack: on high-speed versions the chairs unclip from the cable to load slowly, so the cable itself can run faster.

Which California ski resort, host of the 1960 Winter Olympics, renamed itself Palisades Tahoe in 2021?

Squaw Valley: the old name was dropped after concerns that the word was offensive to Native Americans.

The 90 km ski marathon from Sälen to Mora retraces the flight of which future king?

Gustav Vasa: legend says he fled on skis, and the race follows his route the opposite way, finishing in Mora.

Which Hollywood producer was put in charge of the pageantry at the 1960 Winter Olympics?

Walt Disney: the same organizers skipped bobsleigh entirely after a poll found only nine countries planned to send teams.

Who plays the US team coach opposite Robert Redford in Downhill Racer (1969)?

Gene Hackman: he plays coach Eugene Claire, who clashes with Robert Redford's cocky racer as the team chases the Olympics.

Which type of avalanche is behind most avalanche deaths?

Slab avalanches: a stiff layer breaks free over a weak one all at once, while loose-snow slides start at a point and usually stay small.

Which device do backcountry skiers keep switched on so partners can find them if buried?

Avalanche transceiver: if someone is buried, the others switch theirs from transmit to receive and home in on the pulsed 457 kHz signal.

Which Alpine village lost 31 people to an avalanche in a zone hazard maps had marked as safe?

Galtür: about 50 helicopters from five countries then airlifted thousands of stranded holidaymakers out of the snowbound valley.

Steve McKinney became the first speed skier to break 200 km/h at which Chilean resort?

Portillo: a climbing fall had once broken McKinney's back, yet he still went to Italy's speed-skiing races and skied there in a body cast.

Speed skiing's only Olympic appearance, as a demonstration sport, was on a course at which resort?

Les Arcs: tragedy struck off the course there, when Swiss racer Nicolas Bochatay was killed hitting a snow groomer on the morning of the final.