Nansen Ski Club

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Fridtjof Nansen meeting with members of his namesake ski club, the Nansen Ski Club, in Berlin, New Hampshire, in the 1920s. Club president at the time, Alf Halverson, can be seen on the far right.

The Nansen Ski Club is the oldest continuously-operating skiing club in North America.[1] It 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] The club later changed its name to Nansen Ski Club, in honor of Fridtjof Nansen.

The Nansen Ski Jump in Milan, New Hampshire

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 still remains to this day.

References

  1. ↑ Paul “Poof” Tardiff. "Once Upon a Berlin Time pg. 4-5". Retrieved April 20, 2012. 
  2. ↑ "History of the Nansen Ski Club". Retrieved December 9, 2011. 

External links

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