Holmenkollen Ski Jumping
With more than a century of skiing tradition, Norway's Holmenkollen national ski jump arena is a famous landmark in the international history of winter sports

Holmenkolldagen: Norway's second National Day

As early as in 1866 ski jumping competitions were already organized in downtown Christiania, Oslo. To secure good snow conditions, the competition moved to a nearby hill called Holmenkollen, where the first jumps at the "Holmenkollrennet" took place on 31st January 1892 with well over 10.000 spectators present.

Since then, the world's skiing elite meets at Holmenkollen every year, and the 50,000 spectators turn it into an annual celebration. Holmenkollen has held the World Championships in 1930, 1952, 1966 and 1982, and the Winter Olympic Games in 1952, when 101,400 people paid to watch the jumping and another 40,000 packed the viewpoint of the Gratishaug Hill. An Olympic spectator record!

Many say that the annual jump competition, the "Holmenkolldagen" is the second National Day in Norway. Indeed, the Norwegian Royal Family are always present and the thousands of enthusiastic Norwegian and international sport lovers make sure that there is a great atmosphere!


More than a century of skiing tradition

Originally, the Holmenkollen ski jump was made from tree branches and sprigs that had been covered by snow, and the longest jump was 21,5 meters. Since then, the jump has been rebuilt over 15 times in total. Today, the longest jump is 110.5 meters.

When you talk about ski jumping, you are talking about Holmenkollen. For the Norwegians, Holmenkollen has been the centre of Norwegian ski sport for the last 100 years. For the rest of the world, Holmenkollen is an international symbol of the sport of ski jumping, and skiing in general.

Behind this century of skiing tradition stays the Skiforeningen, the Norwegian Association for the Promotion of Skiing and the thousands of volunteers that make possible the organization of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival. The Skiforeningen has 50,000 members, of which 2,000 turn up every year and proudly work as unpaid volunteers for the Holmenkollen Ski Festival.


Norway's most visited tourist Attraction

Tourists from every corner of the world flock to Holmenkollen, which with more than a million visitors every year is Norway's most-visited tourist facility. It is an arena for everyone, all year round. No other sporting arena has like Holmenkollen succeeded in uniting elite sport, mass-participation sport and culture.

Winter is naturally high season at Holmenkollen, when the arena is dominated by ski-jumping, cross-country skiing, ski orienteering, dog-driving, parallel slalom, winter games for the deaf and the Holmenkollen Ski Festival. The latter involves everything from the World Cup to the Children's Holmenkollen Day and the long-distance race the Holmenkollen March.

But Holmenkollen is also a summer atraction and people come here for every kind of outdoor recreation: swimming, cross-country running, marathon, orienteering, cycle races, motocross, fishing contests, summer ski jumping and freestyle, dog and horse shows. In addition, Holmenkollen is the scene of a number of cultural events, of which the best-known is the Summer Concert, broadcast to several countries.


The Ski Museum in Holmenkollen

The Ski Museum in Holmenkollen, founded in 1923, is the world's oldest museum specialising in skis and the history of skiing. It illustrates 4000 years of skiing history with rock carvings, skis from the time of the Vikings, and skis from various parts of Norway that show local handicraft skills and traditions. Modern racing and cross-country skis used by athletes throughout the last century are also on display. The polar equipment used in the historic expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen show the great contrast to the equipment used by today's expeditions.

The Norwegian Royal Family has always been genuinely interested in the sport of skiing in general, and in Holmenkollen especially. A separate display includes skis used by the late King Olav V as a child and other skiing equipment used by the Royal Family. Historic glimpses from the Winter Olympics at Lillehammer in 1994 and in Oslo in 1952 can be seen, as well as many other exciting aspects of skiing history.

Finally, just for the view, you can visit the famous Holmenkollen's ski jump tower, 60 meters above the ground and 417 meters above the sea level, from which you can experience a breathtaking view of Oslo and the fjord below. Here you may imagine how would you feel if a crowd of over 50,000 were watching you before you would try to jump up to 100 meters with your skis...

Do you want to know more about Holmenkollen? Skiforeningen, The Association for the Promotion of Skiing, caretakers of the Ski Museum and organisers of the Holmenkollen Skifestival. FIS - International Ski Federation, organiser of the Skiing World Cup and winter sports competitions. Visit the FIS website for news, calendar, and official results on cross country, ski jumping, Nordic combined and other winter sports competitions. Traveling to Norway? - Nordic Directory > Tourism - Tourist information, brochures and tourist literature. - Scandinavica.com > Travel - book your flights and accommodation here. - The Scandinavian Shop > Travel - Norway - tourist guides, where to go, what to do, maps and language manuals.