Starkad Ski Club was a ski club and literary society during the early days of skiing in Norway. It was established in 1897 by "three hopeful youths around 15 years old," friends George Wegner Paus, Thomas Schram, and Thoralf Ridder.[1][2] The club had a dual purpose: it was both a ski club and a promoter of "spiritual sport." The club is particularly remembered for its elaborate journal, titled Starkad, which was published between 1898 and 1903. It featured reports, interviews, poems, plays, and drawings from the early days of skiing in Norway, often with a humorous touch and high quality. The journal is considered an important source for the early history of skiing in Norway. Starkad's history is chronicled in the book Vinterlivets rene glæder (The Joy of Winter Life), named after a 1901 poem by George Paus published in Starkad.[1] Several members became notable in Norwegian sports. George Paus was also known as a mountaineer. Thorvald Heyerdahl became "one of the most important Norwegian ski ambassadors abroad"; Oscar Hammerstad led the ski team at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924.[1]