“The Eriksen family lived near Holmenkollen. Marius Eriksen had a renowned sporting goods store in Oslo and was a close family friend of Willy Bogner from Germany. Erikson was the first in Norway to sell special slalom skis in the famous shop in Oslo in 1934. His wife, Bitten, contributed a great deal to the development of the Alpine skiing in Norway in the following years and their sons, Stein and Marius, were both among the world’s best slalom skiers. The so-called “Marius-sweater” – the ski sweater of all Norwegians – is named after Marius Jr., who was four years younger than me.” Hannemor also knew the earlier mentioned Dagfinn Carlsen (born 1898), who lived at Besserud. As a ski jumper he had won competitions in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, was on the board of Österreichischer Winter Sport Club 1926–28 and was a member of Skiclub Engelberg. Dagfinn took the initiative for the authorising of ski instructors in 1934 and composed the first Norwegian Alpine ski rules in 1930 (together with Sigmund Ruud [SAS] and Nicolai Ramm Østgaard, President of FIS from 1934). Erik Horn, mentioned by Lunn as one of the pioneers, lived just down the road from Hannemor.
Birger Ruud was so famous as a jumper that few people know that he was a pioneer of Alpine skiing. The pictures show him winning the first Olympic downhil race in Garmisch in 1936. Later in the games he also won the jumping competition. Photos: Norsk Bergverksmuseum, Kongsberg
Pål S.C. Troye
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