The first land concession for the creation of a ski resort on Mount Parnassus was granted in 1968 to the French conglomerate Pechiney, which exploited the bauxite in the area and produced aluminium. Its production plant was located at Agios Nikolaos near Distomo, Boeotia (White Houses). In 1969, the company installed a ski lift at Fterolakka site to facilitate the first skiers sliding down the slopes of Parnassus -French and Greek employees of Pechiney and 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 poorly since 1974. Following this, the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO), with Tzannis Tzannetakis (1927-2010) as its Secretary General, became actively interested in the area and began the development of winter tourism in Greece. Since 1931, the area has been home to the Fterolakka Shelter of the Hellenic Mountaineering Association (Ε.Ο.Σ.), the second such shelter in Greece after the Zolotas Shelter on Mount Olympus (2nd photo).

Τhe construction of the Fterolakka Ski Centre, the first GNTO ski facility on Mount Parnassus, started in 1975 and was completed in 1976, when the facilities began operating. Designed and supervised by a technical team of GNTO engineers in collaboration with Pomagalski SA, a French company that manufactures cable-driven lift systems, the project included the construction of 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 from three to five meters. The latter was completed with the support of the national military reconstruction teams (MOMA). The Fterolakka Centre featured a restaurant, a bar, a large lounge, and a spacious terrace. It was officially inaugurated on January 16, 1977. In the black-and-white photo, PM Karamanlis is pictured with Tzannetakis, Secretary General of the GNTO, on the day of the opening.