Photo: Chris857, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Norwegian miners brought skiing to the iron range in the late 1800s. Ishpeming had steep hills and long winters, and ski jumping caught on fast.
The Ishpeming Ski Club was founded in 1887 and is one of the oldest ski clubs in the country.
Carl Tellefsen
Carl Tellefsen was a Norwegian immigrant and leader of the Ishpeming club. In 1905 he and others called a meeting of ski clubs in Ishpeming. Out of it came the National Ski Association, which later became U.S. Ski and Snowboard. Tellefsen was its first president.
The association set rules for competitions and organized national championships.
Suicide Hill
Ishpeming’s jumps, especially the one known as Suicide Hill in Negaunee Township, have hosted competitions for decades. Jumpers from around the world have flown off them.
The Hall of Fame
Because the national group was founded in Ishpeming, the town became home to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, now the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. Its building on U.S. 41 honors athletes, coaches and builders of the sport.
For a small mining town, it is a big claim to fame, and it started with a few Norwegian immigrants and their skis.
