Q 01/05

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

A) Cleft wood

B) Snow runner

C) Long foot

D) Winter road

Answer · why

A) Cleft wood

Old Norse skiers said fara á skíðum, 'to travel on skis'. Finnish never borrowed the word at all, using its own suksi instead.

Q 02/05

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

A) Sailing

B) Weaving

C) Hunting

D) Warfare

Answer · why

C) Hunting

Procopius described the Sami around 550 CE as skrithiphinoi, roughly 'ski-running Finns'.

Q 03/05

Sondre Norheim, the 'father of Telemark skiing', later emigrated and is buried in which US state?

A) Minnesota

B) Wisconsin

C) Montana

D) North Dakota

Answer · why

D) North Dakota

He settled near Villard in McHenry County, where the flat prairie offered almost no downhill skiing; locals said he kept a pair of skis outside his do...

Q 04/05

In 1868 Norheim won the first national skiing competition held in which city?

A) Bergen

B) Lillehammer

C) Trondheim

D) Christiania

Answer · why

D) Christiania

Christiania was the old name of Oslo, and the 'christie' turn takes its name from the city.

Q 05/05

Telemark skiing is named after a region in which country?

A) Norway

B) Sweden

C) Finland

D) Austria

Answer · why

A) Norway

The style was reborn in the United States in 1971 after a group of skiers read Stein Eriksen's book Come Ski With Me.