Interesting Stuff Behind the Headlines
90, 120 Meter Ski Jumps in the Midwest Iron Mountain, MI has a K120, Westby, WI (near La Crosse) a K108. There's a K90 in
Ishpeming, MI, and a K88 in Eau Claire, WI.
The best jump ers on "normal" hills will fly around 90-100 meters (295-328 feet). On "large"
hills, flights will often measure 120-140 meters (394-459 feet). Simon Ammann's longest
flight was 133 meters on the "large" hill at the 2002 Olympics. The record on the jump at
Iron Mountain is exactly 140 meters. It was set in 1996 by Masahiko Harada, the star of
Japan's 1998 Olympic Team, and tied by Finland's Kalle Keituri in 2002. This record has
since been broken, but I am not sure of the exact distance ... HELP! The jumps mentioned
above are all six hours or less from Chicago and the Twin Cities. Following the 2002
tournament at Iron Mountain, Bob (Link) Wicklund sent us a colorful and personal account
of this outstanding tournament, with a few memories of tournaments long ago as well. Click
"Link's Link" for an enjoyable read.
Our "Related Links" page has links to sites for some of these jumps and their affiliated clubs.
There are also links on our "Regional Jumping Clubs page.
Flying Females - Featured Forerunners 2007 Note: This article was written in 2003 ... we've left it as written,
but would like to note that there's now an official international women's series, the
Ladies' Continental Cup, and American and Canadian women have done VERY well
over the first three years of its existence. The IOC still refuses to admit women
to the Olympics for 2010, which is a blow to the chance to get great visibility for
our sport in North America. But ... the US Ski Team's jumping squad is now made up
of SIX young women, so progress is being made.
In late February 2003, the American women made a very impressive showing in the FIS Ladies'
Grand Prix, a series of five European meets. In the four individual meets, they took three
of the top ten places twice, two of the top ten places in the other two meets, and won the
team competition!
The best female jumpers are recording eye-popping distances and points totals.
Lindsey Van, from Park City, has flown as far as 126 meters on the larger Olympic
jump in her home town. Jessica Jerome and Karla Keck are among other outstanding
American women. We have it on pretty good authority that Jessica flew 91 meters
on a trial ride prior to the start of the Nordic Combined jumping event on the
90 meter hill in 2002. That distance would have put her close to the top third in
the official competition! The longest recorded flight by a woman was a training
flight at Kulm, Austria in 2003 by Austria's Daniela Iraschko ... she flew 200 meters!
Questions Ski Jumpers Get Asked ...
How far do they fly? How well do they fly? Little kids may got a distance of
eight, ten, or even twenty feet on a very small jump, not much "bigger than a breadbox."
Their technique isn't that good ... yet.
How far might they fly some day? The world's longest flight on skis
is well over twice the length of a football field, including end zones.
The biggest question of all may be "Why do they do it?" Bob Dylan said "the answer is
blowin' in the wind." Ski jumpers say it's "flyin' in the wind." Ask the little kids ...
they'll just tell you it's fun! Hard to find a better reason for doing anything.
A final question that sometimes gets asked is about the scoring in points ... people often
wonder why it's not just scored on distance. Click the following link to learn a bit about
how technique and distance are combined in scoring a ski jumping
meet.
Check our "Regional Jumping Clubs" page for information on ski jumping
clubs throughout the US and Canada. All clubs have beginners' programs!
The Original Air Bus!
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No need to go east or west to see fabulous flights!
There are some very large jumps in the midwest. How big? For perspective, there are three
Olympic jumping facilities in North America (Lake Placid, Calgary, and Salt Lake City).
Each of these has a "normal" hill (about 90 meters, or K90) and a "large" hill
(about 120 meters, or K120). There are jumps of that size right here in the midwest!
Women's ski jumping growing in U.S. and internationally
Although there's not yet a women's ski jumping event at the Olympics, the growth of
the sport over the last ten years has been spectacular. Some of the forerunners
(trial riders prior to competition) at each of the 2002 Olympic events were women.
U.S. News and World Report had a feature on women's ski jumping in their January 21,
2002 issue. Written by Nell Boyce, it's still available in their
archives.
One of its central questions was why this is the only Winter Olympics sport that has
no event for female competitors. We wonder that, too! We also suggest that you visit
FrauenSkiSpringen,
an interesting German site. It's easy to navigate, has lots of photos.
You can use "Language Tools" on www.Google.com to translate web pages.
"First is "guts" ... second is "how high?"
Probably the next most common question, after the question about "guts," is
"How high do they jump?" We patiently explain that there's no part of ski jumping
in which height is relevant to anything, or even measured. It's all about distance and
technique. Too much camera coverage is from angles that make the jumpers appear to be
higher off the ground than they are. There's also too much reliance on telephoto, which
distorts distance, and makes the landing hills look steeper than they are. Here's a
cool photo of German star Dieter Thoma on a large hill
in Willingen, Germany. His flight path will follow the curvature of the hill.
This vehicle at right played an interesting role in U.S.
ski jumping history. Click the picture for a larger image. It's an old rear-engine
bus, with the front cut out, and screen replacing the bodywork at the rear. Instead of
moving the wind through the tunnel, this tunnel was driven to create the wind!
A jumper was suspended in the air stream by a molded torso support, which was connected
to electronic equipment that continuously monitored the lift generated by the skier's
body position. Jim Denney, Sr and Jon Denney were the builders of this wild and wonderful
contraption, and Bob Mittelstadt, Jon's father-in-law, built and operated the monitoring
equipment.
Jan Stenerud, Hall of Fame place kicker for the Chiefs, Packers,
and Vikings, attended the University of Montana on a skiing scholarship.
He was a Norwegian ski jumper, and at that time jumping was one of the regular
disciplines in college skiing. He tried kicking out of curiosity his junior
year, and wound up as the only pure kicker enshrined in Pro Football Hall
of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Read more!
Steve Mariucci, former head coach of the Detroit Lions and San Francisco
49ers, more recently a TV commentator, was a pretty good jumper as a kid. He grew up
in Iron Mountain, Michigan, home of the Pine Mountain 120 meter ski jump, and participated
in the sport until his teens.
Jack Morris, former Twins and Tigers pitcher who grew up in St Paul,
did some ski jumping as a youngster. We've heard him mention it on the air as a
sportscaster, heard him speak about it publicly, and have spoken with him about it.
He's candid about ski jumping having helped him develop the leg strength and mental
toughness for which he was noted ... he'll likely be in the Major League Baseball
Hall of Fame some day.
Ted Kennedy, while campaigning for his brother's bid for the 1960
presidential nomination, a young Ted Kennedy took to the air on a 40 meter jump at
a Blackhawk Ski Club tournament in Madison, WI. According to an eyewitness,
Bob Keck, he didn't fly far, but he didn't fall (he was an experienced downhill skier,
but hadn't jumped before ... and hasn't since). There was a picture in Life Magazine.
Bob Dole, although not a jumper himself, served in the Tenth Mountain
Division (ski troops) during WWII. One of his friends and fellow soldiers,
Torger Tokle,
was killed in battle on March 3, 1945 at Monte Terracia, Italy. Tokle, a Norwegian
native, was a dominant ski jumper prior to his joining the service. Dole suffered
severe shrapnel wounds to his right arm, but recovered to become a senior U.S. senator
and presidential candidate.
Evel Knievel, long before he made himself a household name with
outrageous motorcycle jumps and frequent fractures, was a good competitive ski
jumper, winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A title in 1957.
There were several summer tournaments held in Chicago's
Soldier Field,
using shaved ice to cover the inrun and landing! The first one was
held in 1939, and your webmaster remembers one in 1954. It was also
done at least once in the
Los Angeles Coliseum, and preliminary information says
Ishpeming's Coy Hill may have been the first to fly from that jump.
Check our Photo Gallery and Ski Jumping History
pages for pictures of these jumps.
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