page_title: SK Ull
section_title: The most active sporting period, 1883–1898
hierarchical_section_title: SK Ull / The most active sporting period, 1883–1898
caption_attribution_description: English: Skiers from Skiklubben Ull in Oslo, Norway
context_page_description: Skiklubben Ull was a Norwegian Nordic skiing club based in Oslo. Founded in 1883, Skiklubben Ull attracted several skilled sportsmen who between 1883 and 1891 won six Ladies' Cups and one King's Cup in national skiing events. The sporting facilities belonging the club were located in Vestre Aker, with the ski jumping hill Ullbakken near Frognerseteren being opened in 1884. The prestigious Husebyrennet was staged there once. Members of SK Ull were later instrumental in moving this prestigious contest to the hill Holmenkollbakken.
  Club members also held important positions in the general administration of skiing in Norway. The first Ull chairman Johan Bechholm was also the first secretary of the Association for the Promotion of Skiing; Karl Roll became the first chairman of the Norwegian Ski Federation, Hjalmar Krag became chairman in the Confederation of Sports and Fritz R. Huitfeldt was a pioneer in several respects.
  The club was founded by students and its membership later drew from the upper social strata.
context_section_description: Skiklubben Ull was founded on 29 January 1883, and named after the Norse deity Ullr. In Norse mythology, Ullr was a god for hunting and competition, superior with his skis and his bow. SK Ull has been credited as being the second-oldest skiing club in the world, after Christiania SK. The club founders were a group of university students who socialized in apartments in Wessels gate. The young men usually conversed about their studies or played card games, but they were also hobby cross-country skiers, and decided to take up skiing in a more organized form by starting a club. The term describing a club member was ullaner.
  The founding members were Thoralf Fabritius, Paul Lorck, Petter Dahl Thams, Andreas Bechholm, Johan Bechholm, Otto Dahl, Sigurd Gotaas and Michael Strøm Lie. New members were allowed every year until 1887, after which new members were usually admitted biannually, in 1889, 1891, 1893, 1895, 1896 and 1897. Notable members who joined the club shortly after the foundation include Fritz R. Huitfeldt, Henrik Florentz, Hans Grüner, Marius Grüner and Stefan Meidell. The first chairman was Johan Bechholm, followed by Sigurd Gotaas from 1885 and Fritz R. Huitfeldt from 1887 to 1891. The three honorary memberships proclaimed in the early period were Fritz R. Huitfeldt (1883), Hans Grüner (1884) and Axel Huitfeldt (1889).
  The club saw sporting success on the national level (international competitions were few or none) in its first years. Johan Bechholm finished eleventh and won the Ladies' Cup in Husebyrennet of 1883. In 1884 Ingvald M. Smith-Kielland, Sr. won the Ladies' Cup and Richard Blichfeldt won the King's Cup. Vilhelm Nicolaysen finished fourth and won the Ladies' Cup in 1886, Karl Roll won the Ladies' Cup in 1889, Vilhelm Heiberg in 1890 and Otto Orre in 1891.
  Ull maintained its own ski jumping hill, Ullbakken, near Frognerseteren in Vestre Aker. It was opened in 1884 with a festive ski jumping contest, attended by Prince Eugen of Norway and Sweden. Ullbakken was the site of Husebyrennet in 1890, when Kastellbakken was unusable. The dinner after this race was attended by Crown Prince Gustaf of Norway and Sweden. Karl Roll had an especially close relationship with the Swedish royal family, being a ski tutor for the princes while stationed in Stockholm between 1898 and 1904. After Norway abolished the personal union in 1905 and elected its own king, Roll immediately became an aide-de-camp for the new monarch.
  The club also staged the members-only contest Ullrennet. In the invitation for Ullrennet and the subsequent banquet in 1897, the members were asked to take their place at the table "according to rank, estate, age, dignity and skiing profess". SK Ull also became the second in Norway to raise its own skiing cabin, "Ydale" at Voksenkollen in 1893. This was named after Ýdalir, the mythological dwelling of the deity Ullr. Some of Ull's rival clubs were Christiania SK, Skuld, Fram and Ondur. Christiania, Skuld and Fram owned skiing cabins similar to that of Ull—they were collectively referred to as "cabin skiing clubs".
  Reportedly, it was SK Ull's forays into the district around Holmenkollen for sporting purposes that spurred the establishment of the new hill Holmenkollbakken in 1891. The knowledge of the area spurred Fritz R. Huitfeldt to pinpoint the location of the new hill, together with Hans Krag. This hill lay at a higher altitude than Kastellbakken, and thus had more favourable snow conditions. Holmenkollbakken quickly replaced Kastellbakken as the main hill in the district, and eventually became world-famous.
  SK Ull also saw some sporting success in the 1890s, although the last Ladies' Cup was taken in 1891. The club was joined by top skiers like Tobias Bernhoft and Jørgen Berg. In the late 1890s, however, as many members reached higher ages, SK Ull became more of a gentlemen's social club than an active skiing club. This social club was exclusive by nature, with a clause in the by-laws that the membership could not surpass forty. Actually the club never had more than thirty members, which was the case 
caption: Skiers from Ull in 1908.
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