«Once upon a time…» That is how many stories begin. Such an opening can also be used for a tale about the history of ski jumping in Sirdal—a history that is inextricably linked to Sirdal Skilag and the legend Johan Forsberg.
From the history book of Sirdal Ski Club, I have retrieved the following: «On the initiative of dentist Johan Forsberg, a meeting was held at Sinnes on 5 November 1939, with the purpose of founding a ski club in Sirdal. Following a briefing by Forsberg, the proposal to establish Sirdal Ski Club was adopted.
All those present signed up as members, and a board was elected with these members:
Rasman Haugen
Hans Tjørhom
Sven Haugen
Peder Ousdal
Nils Tjørhom
The board meeting elected Hans Tjørhom as chairman of Sirdal ski club.»
On the 9th of December, Sirdal ski club began its history at an open meeting in the youth hall at Omlid. To this meeting came local residents from Ådneram in the north to Tonstad in the south. The venue was packed to capacity. Many could not get in. Also present was the then mayor of Øvre Sirdal, farmer Torkel Nesset. The newspaper Stavangeren wrote in a report from the meeting:
«The large gathering listened with interest to the lecture by dentist Forsberg on the sport of skiing. The Ski Association's new instructional film on ski jumping and cross-country skiing was shown...»
Then came the war. Then all organised skiing stopped for five years. Also for the 57 members of the newly started Sirdal ski club.
However, it must be mentioned: Ski jumping took place – even during the war. A ski jump in Haugen, Stor Åmlid, became a gathering place for young ski jumpers. Much like «Jøssingkollen» in Nordmarka in Oslo, the ski jump in Haugen was used extensively during the war years.
The biggest project in the history of Sirdal ski club's ski jumping was the construction of Dalebakken at Ukvilstøl. A «monster hill» by the standards of the time. Voluntary work of the highest calibre by young and old people from Sirdal. By nature, Dalebakken had a perfect profile from the knoll and the outrun downwards. But the approach, the inrun, and the take-off had to be made of logs!
When the pictures of Dalebakken ski jump were posted on the FB platform: Forum for ski jumping history in 2020 – the administrator's first reaction to the pictures was:
«Good grief! Did anyone actually dare to ski down here? It was bound to be an absolute death trap!»
Throughout the latter part of the 1940s, and in the period 1950–1957, Dalebakken was Sirdal ski club's greatest achievement. Young men packed down the inrun and approach and prepared the hill – to literally fly out over the magnificent landscape of Ukvilstøl.
The 1950s was the proud era of Sirdal Ski Club's ski-jumping youth. The term «the S's» was coined then: the picture of the brave men during the jump in Dalebakken is unique for illustrating the period: Sven Tjørhom, Sven Stølsro, Sven Haugen, Tom Neset, Øyvind Tjørhom, Lars Haugen and Olav Tjørhom.
Kjell Magne has written about his first jump in Dalebakken:
«Dalebakken had a ski jump that was said to be 8-9 metres high, with a dip between the takeoff and the landing hill. This dip had to be jumped over – in order to land on the hill itself. To «collide with the knuckle» was, to put it mildly, hazardous to your health. One Sunday in glorious weather we were in place at Dalebakken, which I thought looked both inviting and pleasant. A bit further up the hillside stood a chap I knew: Sven J. Tjørhom. I know that he was standing waiting for me. «You look a bit pale,» said Sven. «If you want to jump today, I'll give you some good advice: You need plenty of speed. Go to the top of the inrun. You don't need to put much effort into the takeoff. Just straighten up and lean forward – then this will go just fine! Then you'll fly over the knuckle – and land on the landing slope itself...»
A few final words about Sven and Øyvind Tjørhom: «I feel gratitude towards these pioneers. They felt a sense of responsibility towards the young lad. They wouldn't let me launch off without wise and good advice. They were eminent ski jumpers in Sirdal. They became the connecting link between the older generation and Trygve Myhre and myself. The new generation. There are quite a few Saturdays that Øyvind, Trygve and I have spent together in Dalebakken – and later in Ålsheia at Sinnes», Kjell Magne recounts.
Øyvind Tjørhom won the Easter ski jumping competitions in 1955 and 1956. Sven Tjørhom won the last ski jumping competition held in Dalebakken in 1957. Then the ski jumping history in the «monster hill» was over. From 1958, Ålsheia at Sinnes was the new arena in the history of the Easter competitions in Sirdal.
On 1 December this year, I got to meet Trygve Myhre in his home at Tonstad. Trygve is ski-jumping history's living witness today. Trygve Myhre was active both in Dalebakken, but above all in Ålsheia, Sirdal Ski Club's new magnificent facility which was put into use for the Easter ski race in 1958. The power jumper from Sinnes won the ski-jumping competitions in Ålsheia in the period from 1958 to 1962.
In Halvor Sivertsen's history book about «The Easter ski jumping competitions in Sirdal», Trygve Myhre's victory in 1961 is specially highlighted: After a magnificent flight, Trygve landed 7.5 metres past the K-point and set a hill record of 57.5 metres. This record was never beaten in the 50-metre hill. In the years 1963 and 1964, it was the brothers Arne and Knut Sinnes who dominated the special ski jumping in the Easter competitions. Trygve Myhre won the ski jumping competition in Ålsheia again in 1966 and 1967.
- What I remember best from Ålsheia is not my victories, Trygve recounts. - In the winter of 1963, Knut Sinnes and I decided that we had to try our hand in the 70-metre hill in Ålsheia. We were going to travel to Voss to take part in a competition in Bavallen. At that time, Western Norway's largest ski-jumping hill with a hill record of 103.5 metres set by Kjell Kopstad in 1957.
– It was glorious winter weather that day and we climbed far up past the «piss-stone» which was the landmark in the upper run.
– This was in the afternoon, and only after a few metres on the road down towards the jump did I notice the speed..
– It had frozen over, and the sun had gone down. It went terribly fast downwards....
– I thought: I’ll chuck myself in. But, it was too late.
– Then I'll bloody kill myself…!
– The hover went sky-high. I'm going to land flat!
That is not how it turned out – but Trygve will never forget the flight:
– Knut had looked at me, and pulled himself further down into the sleeping bag.
– It went well for Knut too… It became a memory for life!
Trygve Myhre made his last ski jump in Ålsheia in 1969. Then he became an active biathlete. That could also make a good story. But not here…
Sirdal's ski jumping history ends with Gunnar Åmlid. The last winner of the Easter ski jumping competitions in Ålsheia was the local Sirdal man Gunnar Åmlid in 1971. Gunnar won for the first time in 1968 and has two victories to his name. From the 1970s onwards, alpine skiing definitively took over the venues in Ålsheia. The visual reminder that there once were ski jumping hills in Sirdal is the tow-path for the Ålsheia ski lifts. The alpine skiers are pulled upwards in the outruns of the 50- and 70-metre hills.
In reverence to the history of ski jumping: Helge Th. Tonstad
Rasman Haugen
Hans Tjørhom
Sven Haugen
Peder Ousdal
Nils Tjørhom
The board meeting elected Hans Tjørhom as chairman of Sirdal ski club.»
«The large gathering listened with interest to the lecture by dentist Forsberg on the sport of skiing. The Ski Association's new instructional film on ski jumping and cross-country skiing was shown...»
Then came the war. Then all organised skiing stopped for five years. Also for the 57 members of the newly started Sirdal ski club.
However, it must be mentioned: Ski jumping took place – even during the war. A ski jump in Haugen, Stor Åmlid, became a gathering place for young ski jumpers. Much like «Jøssingkollen» in Nordmarka in Oslo, the ski jump in Haugen was used extensively during the war years.
The biggest project in the history of Sirdal ski club's ski jumping was the construction of Dalebakken at Ukvilstøl. A «monster hill» by the standards of the time. Voluntary work of the highest calibre by young and old people from Sirdal. By nature, Dalebakken had a perfect profile from the knoll and the outrun downwards. But the approach, the inrun, and the take-off had to be made of logs!
When the pictures of Dalebakken ski jump were posted on the FB platform: Forum for ski jumping history in 2020 – the administrator's first reaction to the pictures was:
«Good grief! Did anyone actually dare to ski down here? It was bound to be an absolute death trap!»
Throughout the latter part of the 1940s, and in the period 1950–1957, Dalebakken was Sirdal ski club's greatest achievement. Young men packed down the inrun and approach and prepared the hill – to literally fly out over the magnificent landscape of Ukvilstøl.
«Dalebakken had a ski jump that was said to be 8-9 metres high, with a dip between the takeoff and the landing hill. This dip had to be jumped over – in order to land on the hill itself. To «collide with the knuckle» was, to put it mildly, hazardous to your health. One Sunday in glorious weather we were in place at Dalebakken, which I thought looked both inviting and pleasant. A bit further up the hillside stood a chap I knew: Sven J. Tjørhom. I know that he was standing waiting for me. «You look a bit pale,» said Sven. «If you want to jump today, I'll give you some good advice: You need plenty of speed. Go to the top of the inrun. You don't need to put much effort into the takeoff. Just straighten up and lean forward – then this will go just fine! Then you'll fly over the knuckle – and land on the landing slope itself...»
In Halvor Sivertsen's history book about «The Easter ski jumping competitions in Sirdal», Trygve Myhre's victory in 1961 is specially highlighted: After a magnificent flight, Trygve landed 7.5 metres past the K-point and set a hill record of 57.5 metres. This record was never beaten in the 50-metre hill. In the years 1963 and 1964, it was the brothers Arne and Knut Sinnes who dominated the special ski jumping in the Easter competitions. Trygve Myhre won the ski jumping competition in Ålsheia again in 1966 and 1967.
- What I remember best from Ålsheia is not my victories, Trygve recounts. - In the winter of 1963, Knut Sinnes and I decided that we had to try our hand in the 70-metre hill in Ålsheia. We were going to travel to Voss to take part in a competition in Bavallen. At that time, Western Norway's largest ski-jumping hill with a hill record of 103.5 metres set by Kjell Kopstad in 1957.
– It was glorious winter weather that day and we climbed far up past the «piss-stone» which was the landmark in the upper run.
– This was in the afternoon, and only after a few metres on the road down towards the jump did I notice the speed..
– It had frozen over, and the sun had gone down. It went terribly fast downwards....
– I thought: I’ll chuck myself in. But, it was too late.
– Then I'll bloody kill myself…!
– The hover went sky-high. I'm going to land flat!
That is not how it turned out – but Trygve will never forget the flight:
– Knut had looked at me, and pulled himself further down into the sleeping bag.
– It went well for Knut too… It became a memory for life!
Trygve Myhre made his last ski jump in Ålsheia in 1969. Then he became an active biathlete. That could also make a good story. But not here…