Hart Ski History

A Revolution in the Ski Industry that Began on the Minnesota Prairie

In 1943, Hartvig “Hart” Holmberg opened a carpentry shop in St. Paul, MN Specializing in designing and manufacturing customized cribbage boards, chess sets and wood or metal card games, word of Hartvig’s ability to create fine crafted goods quickly spread. Soon, the shop began to take on custom jobs using a variety of commercial manufacturing techniques, primarily custom painting and sheet metal work. This work led to fabricating runners for Ski-Doo snowmobiles.

Hartvig's brother Harry, worked as a ski engineer and designer for Gregg skis in St. Paul. Knowing that the addition of a seamless metal edge would revolutionize ski design, Harry called upon Hartvig’s manufacturing skills and together they began working on a prototype. After three years of creating and refining, Hartvig, Harry and friend Ed Bjork were ready. And, in 1955 the first "Hart" metal-edged ski was introduced.

Much to the surprise of Hart Ski founders, Head Ski Company also was developing metal ski technology. In fact, the two companies launched their new skis at the same time. Ongoing court litigation between the two companies continued for years. The case was later settled when both companies agreed that neither was the “winner.”

By the mid-1960’s Hart Skis dominated the ski market with an overwhelming U.S. market share and global brand recognition. At its peak in the late 1960’s, Hart shipped 144,000 pairs of skis per year—achieving revenues in the tens of millions. It also was during the 1960’s that freestyle skiing became a global phenomenon.

Born to be Free

Hart Freesyle

The evolution of freestyle skiing can be traced to 1907 when the first ski flip was recorded. By the 1950s, high-profile Olympic skiers like Stein Erickson, were performing front and back aerial somersaults during professional ski shows in Vermont and Colorado.

In 1965, Austrian gymnast Herman Goellner surpassed the single somersaults achieved by Erickson by performing the first double, triple and mobius (full-twisting) flips. Ski enthusiasts in Vermont were the first to witness the feats of Goellner and Tom Leroy, who performed simultaneous inverted aerials to the astonishment of large ski-show crowds.

In 1965, Swiss racer Art Furrer appeared on the U.S. ski scene. Claiming that increased agility through acrobatics on skis, could improve ski performance, Furrer thrilled crowds. His stunts included “the butterfly,” “the Charleston” and a crossed-ski turn called the “javelin.” Furrer’s relationship with Hart Skis and his early appearance in ski press photos performing stunts made him “the face” of the 1960s freestyle movement.

Hart Skis was honored that Furrer chose to perform his stunts on the Hart Javelin.
Produced in 1966, the Javelin was one of the first skis in metal and fiberglass. It soon became the standard for freestyle skiers everywhere. Acrobatics were key to the success of the first extreme skiing movies, produced for Hart, by Summit Films.These early films included, “The Incredible Ski,” “The Moebius Flip” and perhaps the most popular ever, “Ski the Outer Limits.”

Freestyle skiing was officially recognized in 1979 by the International Ski Federation and was introduced at the Olympics as a demonstration event at the 1988 Calgary Games. Mogul skiing became part of the official program for the Albertville Games in 1992— and aerials were added in 1994 during the Lillehammer Games.

From the beginning, Hart skis were there— and they continue to be central to the freestyle ski movement.