SK Ull

The sporting facilities belonging the club were located in Vestre Aker, with the ski jumping hill Ullbakken near Frognerseteren being opened in 1884.

Members of SK Ull were later instrumental in moving this prestigious contest to the hill Holmenkollbakken.

[3] 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.

[1][4] 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.

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.

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".

[4][7] 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.

[1] The knowledge of the area spurred Fritz R. Huitfeldt to pinpoint the location of the new hill, together with Hans Krag.

[1][4] This social club was exclusive by nature, with a clause in the by-laws that the membership could not surpass forty.

Forty-four of the sixty members admitted into the club up to the opening of Ydale belonged to one of four prestigious professions: physician, military officer, jurist or engineer.

[11] After finishing their active careers, some of Ull's members entered the ranks of sports officials and administrators.

Several members had already held positions in the older organization Association for the Promotion of Skiing, founded three weeks before Ull, in 1883.

[1][4] During the first years of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Ull continued to host private parties.