Before the written record
No source read for this site gives one date for the first skis. The oldest finds and carvings are dated differently by different sources, so they are listed find by find, each with its source, on the oldest skis. In short:
| Date given | Find | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 6300 to 5000 BC | Skis from near Lake Sindor, Russia | Burov, per the ISHA timeline |
| 5100 BC (plus or minus 150), or 3343 to 2939 BC | Oldest ski in Norway, Vefsn and Drevja | ISHA timeline; Store norske leksikon (SNL) |
| 3623 to 3110 BC, or 2700 BC, or about 5,200 years | Kalvträsk ski, Sweden | SNL; Vaage per ISHA; tourism summaries |
| At least 4,000 years; 4000 BC | Rock carvings at Alta and Rødøy; at Bolommid | SNL; Flaten per ISHA |
| About 2500 BC, or about 4,500 years, or about 4500 BC | Hoting ski, Sweden | ISHA; Christian Science Monitor; Wikipedia (summary) |
| More than 10,000 years (not carbon-dated) | Altai painting, Xinjiang, as Chinese archaeologists date it; historians sceptical | New York Times (2017); Christian Science Monitor (2006) |
1206 to 1899
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1206 | Two skiers carry the infant Håkon Håkonsson to safety, the episode the Birkebeiner race commemorates | SNL |
| 1521 to 1522 | The Gustav Vasa episode later commemorated by the Vasaloppet (founded 1922) | ISHA timeline |
| 1539 and 1555 | Olaus Magnus's Carta Marina and his book with skiing woodcuts | ISHA timeline |
| 10 June 1825 | Sondre Norheim born at Morgedal, Telemark | SNL |
| 1861 | Trysil club, called Norway's first ski club | Vaage, per the ISHA timeline |
| 1866 or 1868 | Norheim shows the Telemark turn and the turn later named Christiania in Christiania (1866 per the ISHA timeline; 1868 per SNL and sondrenorheim.com) | ISHA; SNL; sondrenorheim.com |
| 1868 | Norheim wins the race at Iverslokka, Christiania | SNL |
| 1879 to 1891 | Husebyrennet, forerunner of the Holmenkollen races | SNL |
| 4 January 1883 | Skiforeningen founded | SNL |
| 1884 | Norheim emigrates to the United States | SNL |
| 1887 | Norden Ski Club founded at Ishpeming, Michigan | The Mining Journal |
| 1888 and 1890 | Nansen crosses Greenland on skis; his book follows | ISHA timeline |
| 1892 | First races on the Holmenkollbakken hill | SNL |
| 22 November 1893 | First Swiss ski club, Glarus | ISHA timeline |
| 1894 | Huitfeldt's toe-iron binding patented | ISHA timeline |
| 1896 or 1897 | Zdarsky's Lilienfeld technique book | ISHA timeline; Austria-Forum |
| 9 March 1897 | Norheim dies in North Dakota | SNL |
| 1899 | Avalanche on the Susten Pass kills two skiers (uncited, unconfirmed) | ISHA timeline |
1900 to 1939
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | The Christiania turn name dates from a set of rules drawn up this year; Ski-Club Arlberg founded | sondrenorheim.com; Olsson (ISHA magazine) |
| 1903 | St Anton trial races, including races for women | Olsson |
| 20 November 1904 | Swiss-Ski founded at Olten | Swissinfo |
| 21 February 1905 | National Ski Association founded at Ishpeming | The Mining Journal; ISHA timeline |
| 9 or 19 March 1905 | Zdarsky's gate race on the Muckenkogel | Austria-Forum (9th); Lower Austrian government (19th) |
| 1907 | Hannes Schneider begins teaching at St Anton | Olsson |
| 14 February 1908 (1906 per Smithsonian Magazine) | Winterhalder's ski lift at Schollach, Black Forest (Der Tagesspiegel dates the start of building to 1906 and the opening to 14 February 1908) | DPMA; Smithsonian Magazine; Der Tagesspiegel |
| 1908 | Norges Skiforbund formed on Skiforeningen's initiative | SNL |
| 18 February 1910 | First International Ski Congress, Christiania; International Ski Commission created | FIS |
| 1920 or 1921 | Schneider's ski school founded | Olsson (1920); ISHA timeline (1921) |
| 20 December 1920 | Canadian Amateur Ski Association incorporated (11 December 1920 and 1921 in other sources) | Alpine Canada; summaries |
| January 1922 | Lunn's slalom at Mürren (the month and the day rest on summaries and a holiday blog, unconfirmed) | Summaries |
| 25 January to 5 February 1924 | Chamonix winter sports week, later counted as the first Olympic Winter Games (recognised May 1925 per the COC, 6 May 1926 per Wikipedia) | Canadian Olympic Committee; Wikipedia (summary) |
| 30 January and 2 February 1924 | Thorleif Haug wins the 50 km and the 18 km | Olympedia |
| 2 February 1924 | FIS founded at Chamonix: 36 delegates, 14 countries; Ivar Holmquist first president | FIS |
| 1925 | First recognised FIS Nordic World Championships, Janské Lázně | Lang (ISHA magazine) |
| 1928 | First Arlberg-Kandahar, St Anton (31 March to 1 April per the ISHA timeline; 3 to 4 March per summaries) | ISHA timeline; summaries |
| 24 to 26 February 1930 | Oslo congress allows downhill and slalom races | FIS |
| 1930 to 1933 (disputed) | Foster's rope tow, Shawbridge, Quebec | QAHN; ISHA timeline; Vermont Historical Society |
| 1931 | First FIS alpine championships, Mürren, later declared World Championships (1937) | Lang |
| 18 or 28 January 1934 | Rope tow north of Woodstock, Vermont | Vermont Historical Society (1934); ISHA timeline (28th); Vermont Life per a summary (18th) |
| 23, 24 or 26 December 1934 | Constam's lift opens at Davos (test run 23rd and public opening 24th per DPMA) | DPMA; Swissinfo; museum record (summary) |
| Winter 1935 | IOC tells FIS that paid ski instructors may not compete at the Olympics | Olympedia |
| 7 to 9 February 1936 | First Olympic alpine events (combined, men and women), Garmisch-Partenkirchen; Austria and Switzerland enter no men's teams | Olympedia |
| December 1936 | First chairlifts open at Sun Valley, Idaho | Smithsonian Magazine |
| 1938 | National Ski Patrol founded by Minnie Dole; Canadian Ski Instructors' Alliance founded | Blumenfeld (ISHA magazine); ISHA timeline |
| 1939 | Hvam's release binding (Seattle per the ISHA timeline; Mount Hood injuries 1937 and 1938 per The Source); chairlift patent granted 28 March | ISHA timeline; The Source; Smithsonian Magazine |
1940 to 1989
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 15 November 1941 | 87th Mountain Infantry Battalion activated | US Army |
| 15 July 1943 | 10th Light Division (Alpine) activated; renamed the 10th Mountain Division in November 1944 | US Army |
| 18 to 25 February 1945 | Riva Ridge and Mount Belvedere | US Army |
| 1947 or 1948 | Beyl's first Look release binding (1947 per Look, a maker's claim; 1948 per the ISHA timeline) | Look; ISHA timeline |
| 1948 | St Moritz: separate Olympic downhill and slalom (summaries only); Gretchen Fraser's medals, the first Olympic ski medals for an American | Summaries; ISHA timeline |
| 1951 | Marc Hodler elected FIS president, serving until 1998 | Lang |
| 23 February 1952 | First Olympic women's cross-country event, 10 km, Oslo | Olympedia |
| 1961 | Professional Ski Instructors of America founded | ISHA timeline; PSIA-AASI |
| 1962 (1963 per the ISHA timeline) | National Ski Areas Association established; NSAA says it first developed its Responsibility Code this year (a 1966 date in secondary accounts rests on sources that could not be read) | NSAA |
| 1963 | Tom Sims builds a board for the snow in school woodshop | Santa Barbara Independent |
| 25 December 1965 | Sherman Poppen makes the Snurfer | ISHA |
| 16 to 21 May 1967 | Beirut congress: rules for circulation on skis distributed; World Alpine Ski Cup recognised | FIS |
| 1968 | Snurfer championships begin at Muskegon; NSAA trail symbols (Wikipedia and a resort trade-association blog only, unconfirmed) | ISHA; summaries |
| 1971 | Hot Dog Competition, New Hampshire | DiTrinco (ISHA magazine) |
| 3 to 13 February 1972 | Sapporo Games; Karl Schranz expelled | Olympedia |
| 1976 and 1977 | SIMS founded (1976); Burton Snowboards founded (1977) | Santa Barbara Independent; ISHA |
| 18 to 19 May 1979 | Nice congress recognises acrobatic skiing; helmets obligatory for ski jumpers | FIS |
| 1981 to 1983 | First snowboard contest (1981), national championship (1982), first World Championships and halfpipe contest (1983) | Summit Daily News |
| 13 February 1985 | 10th Mountain Division reactivated at Fort Drum | US Army |
1990 to 2030
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 (1989 or 1991 per Wikipedia) | International Snowboard Federation founded | WSF; Wikipedia (summary) |
| 6 to 12 June 1994 | Rio congress takes up snowboard as a FIS discipline | FIS |
| 8 February 1998 | First Olympic snowboard gold, Nagano; CAS case OG 98/002 later upholds the appeal (decision dated 21 February 1998 in the CAS database; earlier dates in a NORML report and The Canadian Encyclopedia) | The Canadian Encyclopedia; CAS |
| 2 to 8 June 2002 | Portorož congress revises the Rules of Conduct to cover snowboarding and carving | FIS |
| 10 August 2002 | World Snowboard Federation founded in Munich; the ISF closes the same year | WSF |
| 2006 | Snowboard cross joins the Olympics, Turin | The Canadian Encyclopedia |
| 20 February 2009 | First women's ski jumping World Championship, Liberec | The Park Record |
| 2010 | Helmet meta-analysis published in CMAJ | Russell, Christie and Hagel |
| April and July 2011 | IOC Executive Board adds ski halfpipe, women's ski jumping, slopestyle and snowboard parallel special slalom for Sochi 2014 | The Moscow Times; SA Government News Agency |
| 11 February 2014 | First Olympic women's ski jumping event, Sochi | MPR News |
| 2018 | Big air joins the Olympics, PyeongChang; Norges Skiforbund takes over the Holmenkollen races | The Canadian Encyclopedia; SNL |
| 2019 | FIS and WSF agreement | WSF |
| 27 February 2021 | First women's Nordic combined World Championship event, Oberstdorf | FIS |
| 26 May 2022 | FIS becomes the International Ski and Snowboard Federation in English | Wikipedia |
| 24 June 2022 | IOC Executive Board declines women's Nordic combined for 2026 | FIS |
| 12 October 2022 | Camp Hale - Continental Divide National Monument designated | The White House |
| 2023/24 season | US helmet use 90 percent | NSAA |
| 8 November 2024 | FIS Council: airbags mandatory in World Cup downhill and super-G from 2024/25 | FIS |
| February 2026 | Milano Cortina 2026: 57 FIS medal events, with alpine team combined, dual moguls and a women's large hill new | FIS |
| 7 July 2026 (reported) | 2030 programme: freeride added, Nordic combined removed (press report relaying the IOC, unconfirmed against the IOC page) | The Sports Examiner |
The stories behind these rows are on the History pages, listed on the History section page. Recent and upcoming competitions are in Events.
Sources
- Rolf Bryhn and Hans Jorgen Jorgensen, Ski, Store norske leksikon (last updated 25 November 2024)
- International Skiing History Association, Timeline (compiled 2005 to 2007, published by FIS in 2008; read 24 October 2026)
- Christian Science Monitor (15 March 2006)
- Kade Krichko, New York Times (19 April 2017), reposted by the MCLC Resource Center, Ohio State University
- Kjetil Steinsholt and Rolf Bryhn, Sondre Norheim, Store norske leksikon (last updated 22 February 2026)
- Anne-Gry Blikom and Eivind Molde, Sondre in the history of skiing, sondrenorheim.com (2024)
- Jorn Sundby and Rolf Bryhn, Holmenkollrennene, Store norske leksikon (last updated 26 November 2024)
- Rolf Bryhn and Jorn Sundby, Skiforeningen, Store norske leksikon (last updated 21 January 2026)
- Austria-Forum (AEIOU), Zdarsky, Mathias
- Lower Austrian state government, Nostalgieskirennen press release (12 March 2008)
- Helen Olsson, St. Anton: Cradle of Austrian Skiing, Skiing History, vol. 35 no. 3 (May to June 2023)
- Adelle Whitefoot, The Mining Journal, Marquette (6 January 2013)
- Swissinfo, Swiss skiing marks its centenary (25 October 2003)
- Alpine Canada, History (read 24 October 2026)
- German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), Inventions that made history: ski lift with T-bar
- Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine (2 February 2021)
- Isabel Stettin, Idee aus dem Schwarzwald: Wie der Skilift erfunden wurde, Der Tagesspiegel (18 January 2015; read 25 October 2026)
- FIS, Congress history, 1910 Christiania
- FIS, Congress history, 1924 Chamonix
- Canadian Olympic Committee, Chamonix 1924
- Wikipedia, 1924 Winter Olympics (secondary, seen as search summary only)
- Olympedia, Cross-country skiing, men's 50 km, 1924
- Patrick Lang, FIS at 100 Looks to the Future, Skiing History, vol. 36 no. 2 (March to April 2024)
- FIS, Congress history, 1930 Oslo (The birth of Alpine Skiing)
- Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network
- Vermont Historical Society, Early days of skiing, 1934
- Swissinfo, 90-year anniversary of the first T-bar ski lift (22 December 2024)
- Olympedia, Alpine skiing, men's combined, 1936
- Olympedia, Alpine skiing, women's combined, 1936
- Jeff Blumenfeld, Skiing History, vol. 36 no. 1 (January to February 2024)
- Bob Woodward, The Source, Bend (13 December 2010)
- US Army, Bootprints in History: Mountaineers take the Ridge (19 February 2015)
- Look, brand history (maker's claim)
- Olympedia, Cross-country skiing, women's 10 km, 1952
- NSAA, About us
- PSIA-AASI, About
- Jungfrau Region, Sir Arnold Lunn and the great gift from Norway (seen as search summary only)
- NSAA, Your Responsibility Code (2022), safety page
- Santa Barbara Independent, obituary: Thomas Tom Sims (2 October 2012)
- Skiing History, Lives: Sherman Poppen
- FIS, Congress history, 1967 Beirut
- Greg DiTrinco, Skiing History, vol. 36 no. 3 (May to June 2024)
- Olympedia, Sapporo 1972 edition page
- FIS, Congress history, 1979 Nice
- Lauren Moran, Summit Daily News (9 February 2012)
- World Snowboard Federation, Inside WSF: History
- Wikipedia, International Snowboard Federation (secondary, seen as search summary only)
- FIS, Congress history, 1994 Rio de Janeiro
- Adam Faithfull and Patricia G. Bailey, updated by Jeremy Freeborn, Snowboarding, The Canadian Encyclopedia (last edited 20 July 2018)
- Court of Arbitration for Sport, case-law record CAS ad hoc Division OG 98/002
- FIS, Congress history, June 2002 Portoroz
- The Park Record (20 February 2009)
- Kelly Russell, Josh Christie and Brent E. Hagel, CMAJ 2010;182(4):333-340
- The Moscow Times (6 April 2011)
- South African Government News Agency (5 July 2011)
- MPR News (11 February 2014)
- FIS, first women's Nordic combined World Championship event, Oberstdorf 2021
- FIS, IOC declines Nordic combined women (24 June 2022)
- Wikipedia, International Ski and Snowboard Federation (secondary)
- The White House, Camp Hale - Continental Divide National Monument fact sheet (12 October 2022, archived)
- NSAA, Helmet Safety (read 24 October 2026)
- FIS, Council: airbags mandatory for downhill and super-G athletes as of 2024/25 (8 November 2024)
- FIS, Daily countdown: Olympic dreams become reality (7 February 2026)
- The Sports Examiner, Alpes 2030 programme decision (7 July 2026)
- FIS, Congress history index
- Wikipedia, History of skiing (secondary, seen as search summary only)
- Visit Skelleftea, The Kalvtrask ski (seen as search summary only)
- Swedish Lapland, Ski in Swedish Lapland (seen as search summary only)
- Gatineau Valley Historical Society, Ottawa Ski Club history, chapter 13 (seen as search summary only)
- West Vancouver Archives (seen as search summary only)
- Snow-forecast.com, A century of slalom racing (seen as search summary only)
- Vermont Life 1983 retrospective, reproduced by NELSAP (seen as search summary only)
- Swiss Museum of Transport, collection record (seen as search summary only)
- IOC, St. Moritz 1948 (seen as search summary only)
- Wikipedia, Piste (secondary, seen as search summary only)
- Operator statement: resort trade-association blog on trail ratings (search-result summary only)
- NORML legal report (seen as search summary only)