The first newspaper articles about skiing and skiing demonstrations in Croatia appeared during the 1890s and are attributed to Franjo Bučar. After returning from his studies in Sweden, where he got acquainted with (Nordic) skiing, Bučar included skiing lessons in the two-year physical education teacher training program titled Gymnastics Teacher Course held from 1894 to 1896. Course participants learned skiing during the winter months in Zagreb (in parks Cmrok and Tuškanac) and citizens were invited to watch their skiing demonstrations. At Bučar’s encouragement, the First Croatian Ice Skating Society founded a ski section in 1894 as one of the first ski organizations in Croatia. After the initial rise, skiing activities soon ceased.
In the area around the city of Rijeka, skiing appeared during the 1880s and 1890s, when the Austrian architect Ferdinand Brodbeck brought the first skis. In 1885, he founded the CAF – Club Alpino Fiumano sports society, which fostered hiking and skiing, and in 1897, they organized the first cross-country skiing competition on the slopes of Mt Učka. CAF members were mostly Italians and the club had a limited impact on the further development of skiing in Croatia.
HAŠK members gave impetus to the further development of skiing in 1909, when they founded a skiing section that also fostered sledging and expanded skiing activities to the Gorski Kotar region. HAŠK members organized the first cross-country skiing competitions on Mt Sljeme, held several ski courses, and in 1914, the first Croatian Cross-Country Championship in Mrkopalj (Gorski Kotar).
After the First World War, the first ski club in Croatia, Zagreb Ski Club, was founded, as were several ski sections within other clubs later on. Zagreb skiers Dušan Zinaja and Miroslav Pandaković appeared at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924. The first slalom competition was held on Mt Plješivica in 1929 and the first downhill competition on Mt Sljeme three years later. Ski jumping hills were built in Mrkopalj, on Mt Medvednica and in Skrad in the mid-1930s. After the Second World War, quite a few clubs were founded (for example Goranka in Ravna Gora, Končar, Medveščak and Mladost in Zagreb, Platak and Rijeka in Rijeka, Samobor and others). The first ski organization was the Zagreb Winter Sports Sub-Association founded in 1922. Then the Croatian Ski Federation was founded in 1939 and the Ski Federation of Croatia in 1948, which changed its name back to the Croatian Ski Federation. It has been a member of the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1992.
Nada Birko Kustec and Blaženka Vodenlić stand out for their results in cross-country skiing at national championships and appearances at the Olympic Winter Games in the mid-20th century.
The 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville were the first time that Croatian athletes appeared independently under the Croatian flag. Skier Vedran Pavlek appeared in alpine skiing events and Siniša Vuković in cross-country skiing. Morena Makar made her Olympic debut for Croatia in snowboarding at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
The greatest successes in the history of Croatian skiing were achieved by siblings Janica and Ivica Kostelić, who won 10 Olympic medals between them, 4 of which were gold (Janica Kostelić at Salt Lake City 2002 and Turin 2006) and by Jakov Fak, who won one bronze medal. At the world skiing championships, Croatian skiers won 9 medals, 6 of which were gold (5 won by Janica Kostelić and 1 by Ivica Kostelić).
The Snow Queen Trophy was a women’s World Ski Cup slalom race held on Mt Sljeme from 2005 to 2022. From 2008 to 2022 it included a men’s race as well.