 | |
| Named after | Fridtjof Nansen |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Berlin Mills Ski Club, Berlin Falls Club, or North American Ski Club |
| Formation | 1872 |
| Founded at | Berlin, New Hampshire |
| Legal status | Operational |
| Location |
|
Key people | Peter Higbee, President |
| Website | skinansen |
The Nansen Ski Club is the oldest continuously-operating skiing club in North America. [1] Founded in Berlin, New Hampshire in 1872, the club took on its current name in the 1920s in honor of Norwegian explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen.
The club was founded in 1872 by Norwegian immigrants in Berlin, New Hampshire, under the name Berlin Mills Ski Club, Berlin Falls Club, or North American Ski Club (in Norwegian, Skiklubben Nordamerikansk). [2] In the early 1920s, the name was changed to Nansen Ski Club in honor of the explorer Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930). The club soon built a small ski jump in an area of town called Paine's Pastures. In 1936, the jump was too small and was falling into disrepair, and in 1937, with the help of the National Youth Administration, the new Nansen Ski Jump was constructed on the Berlin/Milan border. The "Big Nansen" was the tallest jump in the United States at that time, and in 1938 the first Olympic trials were held here. Although the ski jump closed in 1988, the club has continued. Restoration of the ski jump started in 2015, and led to a celebratory jump by Olympian Sarah Hendrickson in March 2017. [3]
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth he was a champion skier and ice skater. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis. He won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his Fram expedition of 1893–1896. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions and a key figure of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He led the first expedition to traverse the Northwest Passage by sea, from 1903 to 1906, and the first expedition to the South Pole in 1911. He led the first expedition proven to have reached the North Pole in a dirigible in 1926. He disappeared while taking part in a rescue mission for the airship Italia in 1928.
Berlin is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 10,051 at the 2010 census. As of July 1, 2019, the estimated population was 10,122. It includes the village of Cascade in the south part of the city. Located in New Hampshire's Great North Woods Region or "North Country", Berlin sits at the edge of the White Mountains, and the city's boundaries extend into the White Mountain National Forest. Berlin is home to the Berlin and Coos County Historical Society's Moffett House Museum & Genealogy Center, Service Credit Union Heritage Park, the Berlin Fish Hatchery, and the White Mountains Community College, member of the Community College System of New Hampshire.
Skiing, or traveling over snow on skis, has a history of at least eight millennia. The earliest archaeological examples of skis were found in Russia and date to 6000 BCE. Although modern skiing has evolved from beginnings in Scandinavia, 5000-year-old wall paintings suggest use of skis in the Xinjiang region of what is now China; however, this continues to be debated. Originally purely utilitarian, starting in the mid-1800s skiing became a popular recreational activity and sport, becoming practiced in snow-covered regions worldwide, and providing a market for the development of ski resorts and their related communities.
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen was a Norwegian polar explorer. He participated on the first and third Fram expeditions. He shipped out with the Fridtjof Nansen expedition in 1893–1896, and accompanied Nansen to notch a new Farthest North record near the North Pole. Johansen also participated in the expedition of Roald Amundsen to the South Pole in 1910–1912.
Fram ("Forward") is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. It was designed and built by the Scottish-Norwegian shipwright Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 Arctic expedition in which the plan was to freeze Fram into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole.
Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer.
The Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates are a class of frigates that are the main surface combatant units of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The ships are named after famous Norwegian explorers, with the lead ship of the class bearing the name of Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian scientist, explorer and humanitarian. Five ships were ordered from Spanish shipbuilder Bazan. The total projected cost for all five ships is 21 billion kr. As of November 2018, four are in active service and one has sunk and has been decommissioned.
The U.S. Ski Team, operated under the auspices of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah.
Holmenkollen Ski Museum is located at the base of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway.
Nansen Ski Jump, also known as The Big Nansen and The Sleeping Giant, is a ski jump located along Route 16 in Milan, New Hampshire. Built in 1936, it was the largest ski jump of its time. It is now within the Nansen Ski Jump State Historic Site, a New Hampshire state park, which also features a picnic area and boat launch on the Androscoggin River. Named for Norwegian explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen, the ski jump has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Odd Nansen was a Norwegian architect, author, and humanitarian. He is credited with being a co-founder of UNICEF and for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of Jews in the early years of World War II.
Nansen's Fram expedition of 1893–1896 was an attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean. In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers, Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of dogs and sledges and made for the pole. They did not reach it, but they achieved a record Farthest North latitude of 86°13.6′N before a long retreat over ice and water to reach safety in Franz Josef Land. Meanwhile, Fram continued to drift westward, finally emerging in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Eva Helene Nansen was a celebrated Norwegian mezzo-soprano singer. She was also a pioneer of women's skiing.
Hjalmar Welhaven was a Norwegian architect, palace manager, and sportsman.
Oluf Christian Dietrichson was a Norwegian explorer and military officer. He was a member of the Greenland expedition of 1888 led by Fridtjof Nansen, the first documented crossing of Greenland.
Sarah Catherine Hendrickson is an American retired ski jumper. She won the inaugural women's World Cup season in 2012, finished runner-up in 2013, and won an individual gold medal at the 2013 World Championships.
Selden J. Hannah was an intercollegiate, US F.I.S. and seniors ski champion who became one of the nation's most prolific ski-area architects. He was enshrined in the National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming, Michigan, in 1968. His legacy remains throughout New England and North America in more than 250 ski areas with which he was associated during his lifetime.
Nansen Crater is a crater in the Phaethontis quadrangle of Mars, located at 50.3°S latitude and 140.6°W longitude. It is 75 km in diameter. Its name refers to Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. Small channels are visible in one of the pictures below.