Pioneer Female Skier, Opera Singer. Eva Helene Sars, a promising mezzo-soprano opera singer and pioneer of women's skiing, was the wife of 1922 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Fridtjof Nansen. In 1881 she had her debut performance as an operatic singer at the Musikforeningen, a forerunner of the Oslo Philharmonic before touring. Her last public concert was in December of 1899, yet she enjoyed performing for informal gatherings in her home for some years. At Easter in 1892, she became the first woman to cross the Hardangervidda mountain plateau in Norway on skis. She wore ski attire that was designed by her husband, which was met with criticism for having a knee-length skirt. She also campaigned for the right for women to participate in winter sports on equal terms with men. She was a daughter of a priest and professor of zoology Michael Sars and his wife Maren. Her engagement was announced on August 11, 1889, and the next month the couple was married on September 6th. The bride was 31. Her husband had pet names for her, "Eva Padde" and "Eva Frog." Before her husband's long explorations to the North Pole, the couple's eldest daughter Liv was born. Upon his return, two more children were born, Kåre in 1897 and Irmelin in 1900. At this point, her husband built her a three-story mansion, Polhogda. She moved to their stately home shortly before the birth of a son Odd in 1901. Later in 1903, she gave birth to her final child, Asmund, in 1903. She died on December 9, 1907, of pneumonia shortly before her 49th birthday, leaving her husband with five young children. Her husband, as Norway's first Minister in London, was in England when she became critically ill and was unable to return home before her death. With her widower husband's long periods away from home traveling, her children had surrogate parents. Sigrun Munthe, a lifelong friend, became Fridtjof Nansens' second wife in 1919. According to Anneli Skaar's 2020 article, "The Good Birc,h, Eva Nansen's remains were cremated but the location of the ashes has been lost through the years, yet most assume they were eventually buried in an unmarked grave at Polhogda near her husband's grave. Her son Odd, a well-respected architect, is credited with being a co-founder of UNICEF, and like his father, giving humanitarian efforts, especially to the Jewish displaced population after World War II.