Hjalmar Petterson Hvam (16 November 1902 – March 30, 1996) was a competitive Norwegian- American Nordic skier and inventor of the first safety

ski binding A ski binding is a device that connects a ski boot to the ski. Before the 1933 invention of Ski lift, ski lifts, skiers went uphill and down and cross-country on the same gear. As ski lifts became more prevalent, skis—and their bindings—became ...

Early life

Hvam was born in Kongsberg, Norway where he excelled at skiing as a youth, winning a

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

contest at the age of 12. He emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1923 before moving to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, U.S. in 1927.

Early Career and Competition

In Oregon, Hvam co-founded the

Cascade Ski Club Cascade, or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science * Air shower (physics), a cascade (particle shower) of subatomic particles and ionized nuclei **Particle shower, a cascade of secondary particles produced as the result of a high-e ...

in 1928 and soon established himself as a strong skiing competitor. On April 26, 1931, Hvam and two fellow members of the Cascade Ski Club, Arne Stene and André Roch, became the first to descend on skis from the summit of

Mount Hood Mount Hood, also known as Wy'east, is an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range and is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast and rests in the Pacific N ...

. In 1932, he won the first U.S.

nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics in ...

championship held at Lake Tahoe, California, taking first in jumping and cross-country racing. Though originally a Nordic skier, Hvam soon became a competitive

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

as well, winning both runs of his very first slalom race at the 1933 Oregon state championships on borrowed skis. He continued to race competitively throughout the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

in the early 1930s, winning event at

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

and all four disciplines (ski jumping, cross-country, slalom, and downhill) on Mount Baker in 1936. He qualified for the 1936 U.S. Olympic team, but as a Norwegian citizen, could not compete, and did not want to compete in

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1936, Hvam was the first winner of the nation's oldest ski race, the Golden Rose Ski Classic at

Timberline Lodge ski area Timberline Lodge ski area is the ski and snowboarding area of Timberline Lodge, a National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is one of a few ski areas in the United States with most of the skiable terrain below the main lodge. ...

, and repeated his victory in 1937.

Saf-Ski bindings

While celebrating his 1937 repeat victory in the Golden Rose, Hvam, like many skiers of his era, broke his leg. Hvam, who had been trained as a mechanical draftsman, had been working for years on a design that would reliably release a ski boot in a fall, but remain in place for normal skiing maneuvers. While laid up in the hospital, he had an inspiration for a new design, which became the Saf-Ski, the world's first ski safety bindings. The bindings made it to Europe for use by the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division (military), division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, the design caught on and became popular around the world into the 1960s. Hvam sold and rented thousands of pairs until the early 1970s, when insurance premiums for sale of the bindings became too expensive and the Saf-Ski disappeared from the market.

Later years

Hvam coached the U.S. Nordic combined teams at the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, were a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Discussions about Oslo hosting ...

in his native Norway, where he found he could still outjump the athletes he coached. He continued to operate ski shops in Portland and on Mount Hood until he retired in 1962. He continued to ski recreationally into his mid-80s. He was inducted into the United States National Ski Hall of Fame in 1967, the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1992, and is a member of the Northwest Ski Hall of Fame and the U.S. Ski Business Hall of Fame. Hvam suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at his Beaverton home and died on March 30, 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hvam, Hjalmar American male Nordic combined skiers Norwegian male Nordic combined skiers Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon 1902 births 1996 deaths Skiers from Kongsberg Sportspeople from Beaverton, Oregon Norwegian emigrants to Canada Norwegian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American inventors 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen