Starkad Ski Club

Last updated
The journal Starkad, 1899. Starkadavisen, 1899.jpg
The journal Starkad, 1899.

Starkad Ski Club was a ski club and literary society during the early days of skiing in Norway. It was established in 1897 by "three hopeful youths around 15 years old," friends George Wegner Paus, Thomas Schram, and Thoralf Ridder. [1] [2] The club had a dual purpose: it was both a ski club and a promoter of "spiritual sport." The club is particularly remembered for its elaborate journal, titled Starkad, which was published between 1898 and 1903. It featured reports, interviews, poems, plays, and drawings from the early days of skiing in Norway, often with a humorous touch and high quality. The journal is considered an important source for the early history of skiing in Norway. Starkad's history is chronicled in the book Vinterlivets rene glæder (The Joy of Winter Life), named after a 1901 poem by George Paus published in Starkad. [1] Several members became notable in Norwegian sports. George Paus was also known as a mountaineer. Thorvald Heyerdahl became "one of the most important Norwegian ski ambassadors abroad"; Oscar Hammerstad led the ski team at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924. [1]

Contents

History

Starkad Ski Club, 1914 Skiklubben Starkad.jpg
Starkad Ski Club, 1914

Starkad is "among the oldest ski clubs in the Oslo area and became part of a thriving ski community before 1900." [1] The club emerged at a time when skiing, and the concepts of "sport" and "club," were new in Norway. It never became large, but it had historical and cultural significance for the development of skiing. [1]

The founders were friends George Wegner Paus, Thomas Schram and Thoralf Ridder. Paus described the founding as follows:

On Sunday, November 14, 1897, three hopeful youths around 15 years old walked down the path from Øvre Frognersæter to Voksenkollen. The largest, Thoralf, distinguished himself by a strong rotundity in the posterior region; the second, Thomas, had large, round eyes and delightful chubby cheeks; the smallest, George, was a little fiery fellow with hands in his pockets and an upturned nose. They all chattered eagerly and gesticulated with arms and legs, discussing the great problem: the founding of a ski club

Vinterlivets rene glæder [1]

A few days after the founding, the club held a general assembly in the top floor of Paus's home at (Old) Nissen’s Girls’ School, and Alf Jørgensen, Bjarne Wold, Fredrik Parr, and Hans and Niels Hertzberg joined the association. George Paus was elected chairman and Thomas Schram vice chairman. The club was named "SIF." However, "some malicious individuals began to read the club's name backward [i.e. fis, meaning fart in Norwegian] and name the members accordingly," so the name was changed to Starkad, a somewhat ambiguous hero and poet from Norse mythology. In the fall of 1898, Robert Schirmer, Sigurd Orre, Thorvald Heyerdahl, Gunnar Frost, and Kristian Norby became members. Most of the members lived within 600 meters east of the Royal Palace. [1] Thorvald Heyerdahl played a significant role in bringing skiing and Norwegian ski techniques to Europe through his participation in European sports events, becoming "one of the most important Norwegian ski ambassadors abroad." [1] In 1900, the later well-known sports leader Oscar Hammerstad and lawyer brothers Enevold Falsen Schrøder and Johannes Schrøder joined; Hammerstad became secretary of the Norwegian Sports Federation, a colonel in the army, and led the ski team representing Norway at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924. Eilert Sundt was also part of the club's milieu. [1] George Wegner Paus's brother, surgeon Nikolai Nissen Paus, was also a member. In 1935, physician Lars Gram – both son-in-law of George Paus and nephew of Thomas Schram, two of the three founders – was admitted as a member. [3]

Starkad, 1902 Starkadavisen, 1902 - Starkad mottar guttene til hyttetomten.jpg
Starkad, 1902

Starkad was initially based at Grøttum in Sørkedalen. In 1903, the club purchased a plot at Risfjellkastet in Bærum and built its own cabin, Starkadhytta. [1] During World War II, Starkadhytta was used by Milorg, the anti-Nazi resistance movement. Under andre verdenskrig ble Starkadhytta brukt av Milorg. [4]

The journal Starkad (1898–1903)

The magazine or newspaper Starkad (or Starkadavisen) fills three volumes and was published between 1898 and 1903. The magazine, a type of literary journal, contained reports, interviews, poems, plays (often with members in the roles), and drawings from sports events in Norway and the continent, as well as the social life around the club and its members, often of a humorous or romantic nature. Many texts and especially drawings by later architect Thoralf Ridder were of high quality, and the newspaper is regarded as an important historical source from the early days of skiing. The editors were elected at the general meeting, and the newspaper was regularly published as a handwritten and illustrated report circulated among members. For the five-year anniversary in 1902, the club published a commemorative booklet, Veslefandens jubileumsskrift, written by George Paus. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Ski and Snowboard Federation</span> International sports governing body

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS, is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International Ski Federation until 26 May 2022 when the name was changed to include snowboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modum</span> Municipality in Buskerud, Norway

Modum is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vikersund. The municipality of Modum was established on 1 January 1838.

1924 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Smith-Johannsen</span> Norwegian skier (1875–1987)

Herman "Jackrabbit" Smith-Johannsen, was a Norwegian skier who was the oldest known living person for 22 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kai Holst</span> Norwegian resistance member

Kai Christian Middelthon Holst was a Norwegian seaman, fur farmer and resistance fighter during World War II. When the leadership of Milorg was torn up by the Gestapo in 1942, he acquired a leading role in the organisation and participated in re-establishing the central leadership of Milorg together with Jens Christian Hauge. Holst had to flee Norway in the autumn of 1943 and stayed in Sweden until the liberation of Norway in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolai Nissen Paus</span>

Nikolai Nissen Paus was a Norwegian surgeon, hospital director and humanitarian. He was the director of Vestfold Hospital from 1918 to 1947, building and decisively shaping the institution. He served as President of the Norwegian Red Cross, President of the Norwegian Florence Nightingale Committee and chaired several governmental committees. He led and took part in the Norwegian humanitarian effort in Finland during the Winter War as the head of the Norwegian Red Cross field hospital. He also served on the executive board of the Norwegian Medical Association. He received the Order of St. Olav for his "long-standing and distinguished humanitarian work" in 1948 and was described by Aftenposten as "one of the country's preeminent physicians" on his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snarøya</span> Village in Østlandet, Norway

Snarøya is a populated peninsula in the inner Oslofjord in Norway. It belongs to Bærum municipality in Akershus county. It is located south of the districts Lysaker, Lagåsen and Fornebu, and has 2,940 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workers Federation of Sports</span> Former Norwegian sporting organization

The Workers' Federation of Sports, often just called the AIF, was a sporting organization in Norway between 1924 and 1946. As of 1935, AIF had around 50,000 members. AIF published the magazine Arbeideridrett. Several Sweden-based sports organizations were members of the AIF sports union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westye Parr Egeberg</span> Norwegian military officer, businessperson and politician

Westye Parr Egeberg was a Norwegian military officer, businessperson and politician for the Conservative Party.

John Røen was a Norwegian cross-country skier. He competed in the 50 km at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SK Ull</span> Norwegian Nordic skiing club

Skiklubben Ull was a Norwegian Nordic skiing club based in Oslo. Founded in 1883, Skiklubben Ull attracted several skilled sportsmen who between 1883 and 1891 won six Ladies' Cups and one King's Cup in national skiing events. The sporting facilities belonging the club were located in Vestre Aker, with the ski jumping hill Ullbakken near Frognerseteren being opened in 1884. The prestigious Husebyrennet was staged there once. Members of SK Ull were later instrumental in moving this prestigious contest to the hill Holmenkollbakken.

Toralf Lyng was a Norwegian sports official.

Skiklubben Ondur was a Norwegian skiing club, based in Oslo but with its sporting facilities in Vestre Aker and Bærum. It was founded in 1891.

Skiklubben Fram was a Norwegian skiing club, based in Oslo but with its sporting facilities in Vestre Aker—and from 1902 to 1923 in Oppland. Fram was founded in 1889, and after a down period around 1900 it was refurbished as an exclusive gentlemen's social club in a skiing setting.

Carl Axel Løvenskiold was a Norwegian landowner and painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hassa Horn Jr.</span> Norwegian politician

Hans Thomas "Hassa" Horn was a Norwegian road engineer, industrialist, sports official and politician for the Conservative Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Wegner Paus</span>

George Wegner Paus, often known as George Paus, was a Norwegian lawyer, mountaineer, skiing pioneer, sailor, rower, poet, diplomat and business executive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodor Haagaas</span> Norwegian mathematician and private school owner

Theodor Christian Petersen Haagaas was a Norwegian mathematician, mathematics educator and private school owner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wegner (Norwegian family)</span>

Wegner is a Norwegian family whose members have been noted as business magnates, estate owners, timber merchants and lawyers. The Norwegian family is descended from the industrialist Benjamin Wegner and his wife Henriette Wegner, a member of the Berenberg banking dynasty of Hamburg. Born in Königsberg, Benjamin Wegner worked as a businessman in London and Berlin before moving to Norway in 1822 to become managing director and a co-owner of Blaafarveværket, that became Norway's largest mining company and largest industrial company overall under his leadership. He thus was one of the most important early industrial pioneers in the newly independent Norway and one of Norway's leading industrialists from the early to mid-19th century. He also owned Frogner Manor and was a major co-owner of Hassel Iron Works, the Juel, Wegner & Co. timber company and the large Hafslund manor and estate that included around 340,000 decares of forest. He also served as consul-general of the city-states of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henriette Pauss</span>

Anna Henriette "Jette" Pauss, née Anna Henriette Wegner, was a Norwegian teacher, editor, humanitarian and missionary leader and estate owner. With her husband Bernhard Pauss, she was a major figure in girls' education in Norway in the 19th and early 20th centuries. She served as headmistress of the country's preeminent educational institution for girls and women, Nissen's Girls' School, and was extensively involved in other schools and organizations. She was also editor of the journal Santalen and one of the key leaders of the Norwegian Santal Mission that ran schools, hospitals and social projects in India. She was the youngest daughter of mining magnate Benjamin Wegner and banking heir Henriette Wegner, and was one of the co-owners of Hafslund Manor with two of her siblings until 1894.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Jørgensen, Ivar (2012). Vinterlivets rene glæder : historien om skiklubben Starkad [The Joy of Winter Life: The History of the Starkad Ski Club]. ISBN   9788230320624.
  2. Starkadhytta. Skiforeningen.
  3. "Skiklubben 'Starkad'". Vest for byen. Asker og Bærum historielag. 1998. pp. 412–415. ISBN   8290095066.
  4. Kulturminnevandring over Ramsåsen til Skuibakken

Literature