Hart Ski History Timeline

55 Years of Hart - An American Tradition

1955: Hartvig, his brother Harry, and friend Ed Bjork begin producing metal-edged skis. Harry, a ski design engineer for Gregg Skis, knew that seamless metal edges, or "metal skis" were the next innovation in ski construction. With Hartvig's manufacturing techniques and Harry's ski designs—Hart Skis were born.

1960s: Hart Skis dominates the U.S. ski market. At its peak in 1967, the company achieved global brand status with 40% market share, 144,000 pairs of skis shipped and revenue approaching $14 million.

1966: Hart Skis produces the Javelin, one of the first metal and fiberglass skis.

1968: Hart Skis commissions medal winning films including “Ski the Outer Limits,” “The Incredible Ski” and “Moebius Flip” produced by Summit Films, launching the careers of several notable historical sports film industry players.

1971: With skis crafted by Hart, Olympic medalist Billy Kidd wins the World-Wide Championship Professional competition. Hart also is endorsed by other 70’s ski stars like Suzie Chaffee and Hank Kashiwa.

1980s: Throughout the 1980’s Hart Skis is a dominating force in Freestyle competitions.

1984: Hart introduces another ski first—the “Comp”— a design that offers great performance, lightness, and versatility. This is the first ski to be crafted with wood okume and honeycomb structure in aluminum.

1991: The Hart Comp SL, a construction torsion box with honeycomb in aluminum is born. This I Internal Absorption Shock (IAS System) guarantees optimal stability at elevated speeds.

1994: Nine of the 12 athletes on the American ski team at the1994 Olympic Games in Lillihammer, Norway use Freestyle skis by Hart. The team brought home two medals including a silver and a gold.

1994: Liz McIntrye wins the silver medal at the 1994 Olympics on Hart’s F17 skis.

1995: Hart athletes dominate the World of Freestyle in Clusaz, France winning six medals—four of which were gold.

1996: Liz McIntrye, a U.S. Olympic skier, wears Hart's F17 skis to win the World Freestyle Mogul Championship .

1998: Nannan Xu, the first Chinese woman to win an Olympic winter medal, wins a sliver, wearing Hart skis at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Today: Bill Holmberg, grandson of Hartvig Holmberg together with the all the Hart Ski Corporation staff continues the tradition of quality and performance.