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Once upon a time, people from Budapest started using ’foot sleighs’
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The Hungarian ski culture is much more rooted in the past than you might think at first. Oktáv Hangay from Kolozsvár started skiing near the city’s slopes in the Winter of 1890. Although he was the first to try it out, it only took a few years for the ‘snow-skate’ to conquer Budapest for people to use it actively. Although a gentleman from Bergen, Ernst Jensen already performed his show about the ‘Norwegian slide’ in Budapest in 1837, it did not catch on at that time. The origins of the sport in Hungary can be related to adventurous people such as István Chernel or Oktáv Hangay.
The article we used as our source can be found at Szeretlekmegyarorszag.hu.
From Norway to Andrássy street
Chernel, who was an ornithologist and a hiking enthusiast travelled to Norway with his family during the Summer of 1891, to study the local birds at Tromső. This is where he saw skiers for the first time in his life. The sport where people gracefully slid downhill immediately appealed to him. In 1892, he returned to Hungary with a newly purchased pair of ‘Norwegian slides’, and he started practicing near Kőszeg. Until the end of the year, the sport has sprung up in Budapest as well, when Tibor Földváry and János Elrich started practicing on Gellért Hill. Although they were using the Swedish style, almost 2 meters long ‘snow-skate’. Elrich even slid through Andrássy street. He greatly helped the future of the sport with this deed.
In the same year, in 1892, the athletes at the Gymnastics Association of Buda received a few pairs of these so-called ‘slides’ at the time from Norway. They tried it at Sváb Hill, which became the center of Hungarian ski enthusiasts. Their equipment was the 2.35 meters long Norwegian Telemark skis, with which they quickly – within 6 seconds – slid down the 150 meters long ski course. Some even tried to slide without the ski poles. Although they were loudly celebrated, and they enticed some people to try out the sport as well, but it was not quite enough to really make it popular.
If you want to go skiing, this article will help you choose the perfect ski destination near Hungary.
