Morgedal - Cradle of Skiing

Morgedal is internationally recognized as the birthplace of modern skiing. Sondre Norheim, born at the small cotter's farm Øverbø in 1825, revolutionized the sport by designing shorter skis with curved sides that allowed turns and by inventing stiff heel bindings that gave skiers far greater control. His innovations produced the Telemark turn and the Telemark landing, techniques still practiced worldwide. In 1868 Norheim traveled to Christiania and won the first national skiing competition, beating younger competitors by a wide margin. His success made skiing a national sensation and helped transform it from rural transport into organized sport. The Olympic flame has been lit in Morgedal three times: for the 1952 Oslo Games, the 1960 Squaw Valley Games and the 1994 Lillehammer Games. The Øverbø farmstead where Norheim grew up is open to visitors and houses a museum on skiing heritage, set in the rolling Telemark landscape where he first tested his innovations.