More than a century after Carl Howelsen first arrived in Steamboat Springs, his legacy lives on through the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, Howelsen Hill and the town’s remarkable record of producing Olympians.

Now, with a recent donation of a rare photograph album to the Tread of Pioneers Museum, we gain a more personal glimpse into the life and impact of the man who brought skiing and ski jumping to Steamboat Springs and Colorado.

“For decades, the museum has owned historic photographs of Carl Howelsen skiing, jumping, and skijoring, mostly in Steamboat Springs,” said Katie Adams, curator. “These newly discovered images in this album broaden that view, capturing Howelsen spending time with children and family in his home country of Norway following his years in Colorado.”

“We receive valuable donations each year,” Adams said. “But it is rare to receive something of this level of significance connected with someone as instrumental as Howelsen.”

Carl Howelsen, born Karl Frithjof Hovelsen in 1877 in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, was already an accomplished skier by the time he immigrated to the United States in 1905.

A champion ski jumper and Nordic skier, he twice conquered the grueling 50-kilometer Nordic combined race, the Holmenkollen, before the age of 25. While his early years in the U.S. were spent working as a stone mason and performing as a ski jumper with the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Howelsen longed for real mountains — and real snow.

Howelsen made his way to the Colorado Rockies in 1910. By 1915, after his arrival in Steamboat Springs, he constructed a permanent ski jumping hill — later named Howelsen Hill in his honor — and sparked a movement that would forever change the trajectory of the town.

The newly received photo album shows Howelsen enjoying backcountry ski adventures around Routt County. He was oftent joined by close friends and fellow Norwegian jumpers including famous skiers Hans Hansen, Lars and Anders Haugen, and Ragnar Omtvedt. The images also feature early local ski enthusiast Marjorie Perry, who is widely credited with helping bring Howelsen to Steamboat Springs in 1913 after she witnessed him jumping in Hot Sulphur Springs.

In 1921, Howelsen returned to Norway to celebrate his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. This is where he met his wife Anna Skarstroem, a warm-hearted woman known for her cooking and community spirit. They married in 1922 and had their only child, Leif, the following year.

Though Howelsen never returned to Steamboat Springs, he stayed connected with the friends he made there and followed the town’s skiing successes with pride. In Norway, he built two ski jumps for the local ski club in Hoeybraten and mentored young athletes for decades. He also worked as a respected stone mason well into his 70s. His devotion to the sport and his community never wavered.

In a touching full-circle moment, Howelsen was greeted by a large group of Steamboat Springs and Colorado athletes and fans during the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. He died three years later, in 1955.

By drawing on historical records — including original letters and photographs preserved at the Tread of Pioneers Museum — and insights from his son Leif Hovelsen’s book “The Flying Norseman,” we can more fully understand and interpret Carl Howelsen’s life and legacy.

*Author’s note: “The Flying Norseman” is for sale at the Tread of Pioneers Museum Store, and photos from the album are featured on the museum’s Facebook page and website.