I am perusing Setting First Tracks, a hundred year history of Madshus from 1906-2006, and the rise-fall-rebirth of the Norwegian ski industry. The photo is from the 1974 World Championships in Falun, and it is Norwegian Magne Myrmo winning the race on wooden skis … the last time that ever happened. Much of the decline in the Norwegian ski industry revolved around the Central European alpine ski companies - like Fischer - having longer experience making fiberglass skis.
I am reminded, that it was in 1974 when my lacrosse coach suggested I do more training on nordic skis - to save my knees - that I got my first pair of skis. These Bonna 1700 skis served me well, until I broke them on Mt. Washington in 1978, the year I was the Harvard Cabin caretaker in Huntington Ravine. As I was signed up for the Canadian Ski Marathon the next week, I hiked down, hitched to North Conway, and bought a pair of fiberglass Fischer skis. Of course, that was just the first of many changes the nordic world was going to endure in the next decade!
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