The first land concession for a ski facility on Mount Parnassus was granted in 1968 to the French conglomerate Pechiney, which was exploiting the area’s bauxite to produce aluminium. Its production plant was located in Aspra Spitia near Distomo in Boeotia. In 1969, the company installed a ski lift at Fterolakka site to serve the first skiers on Parnassus -French and Greek employees of Pechiney, as well as Athenians ski enthusiasts. In 1976, PM Konstantinos Karamanlis inaugurated the private ski centre of the Athenian Ski Friends Club, at the Gerontovrachos site, which had been operating under limited conditions since 1974. In the area had already been operating a mountain shelter since 1931, founded by the Hellenic Mountaineering Association (ΕΟΣ) (2nd photo). Following this, the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO), with Tzannis Tzannetakis (1927-2010) as its Secretary General, began the development of winter tourism in Greece. Construction of the Fterolakka Ski Centre –the first GNTO-operated ski facility on Mount Parnassus– began in 1975 and was completed in 1976. Designed and supervised by GNTO engineers in collaboration with Pomagalski SA, a French company specialising in cable-driven lift systems, the project included a reception building at an altitude of 1,740 meters, the formation of ski slopes, the installation of a lift to the peaks, and the widening of the road from Arachova. The Fterolakka Centre was officially inaugurated on January 16, 1977. In the black-and-white photo, PM Karamanlis is pictured with Tzannetakis on the day of the opening.