Jumping Journal: December 16, 2006

I guess you can forget a lot about the jumps you take when you take so many of them.  Definitely a long, yet short, day of jumping.  The weather was well...unbelievable.  I haven't seen the K50 look so bad outside of March in all the years I've been jumping.  For the most part it is totally snow covered with the landing hill being measured in feet rather than inches.  The new profile, by wood but not by dirt, has snow piled up in some places two feet deep on the landing hill.  It makes snowing the landing hill take much longer but with the weather we have had over the past week has made for plenty of snow for jumping.  Admittedly, the outrun is down to dirt on the left hand side where you normally don't end up going anyways.  If I didn't know how much snow was actually on the landing hill I would swear that their is dirt showing through on the landing hill.  It looks down right dirty.  I've never seen that happen this time of the year.

 

On the local evening news tonight I heard that their is a major contrast between last year and this year, so far.  In December 2005 the average temperature was 24.1 degrees, 7/10 of a degree below the 30 year average.  So far this month the average temperature has been 33+ degrees, around 7 degrees above normal.

 

The low last night in Lebanon was 34 degrees, not good for snow making or for keeping snow around.  The temps today while we were out jumping were in the upper 40s.  I was surprised to see how well the hill was holding up.  The snow in the house had all melted off so we ended up starting from the first bar down for the morning session and then one of the kids took snow up in between session and it allowed us to start from house in the afternoon.

 

After filling in the sides of the inrun with snow first thing this morning we stretched and started jumping.  Things went pretty decent most of the morning.  It did seem in the morning session that I was having my better jumps first thing and then they started getting shorter.  I also found myself reacting on the jump right before the landing by waving my right hand/arm around.  It is strange as this has always been the scenario.  If I react on the jump, more often than not it is with the right side.  The only way I react with the left side is if I'm reacting with both arms.

 

During the morning session I took eight jumps before we stopped for lunch and to wait for the sun to get around the back side of the jump so it wouldn't be making the takeoff sticky.

 

The afternoon session started off pretty much the way the morning session ended.  The first four or five jumps I went from the first bar and then I moved up to the house for the rest of the session.  I do find I like going from a bar better.  It seems like more often than not that the snow in the house is slanted backwards making it more difficult to get started down.  When out on the bar its a little difficult, more like impossible, to slide backwards.

 

As the session went on and I continued working on things they started improving.  In the beginning I was getting the technique correct but, as normal, I just had no power behind the move at the takeoff.  I was actually starting to jump around the knee rather than just shoving the knees back.  Toward the end of the nine jump afternoon session I was finally doing a pretty decent job of driving through the heel and getting some more power at the takeoff.  I've had lack of power for as long as I can remember.

 

So far this winter it seems like I have been jumping out rather than up and out.  Toward the end of the session it seemed like I was jumping more toward a 45 degree angle.  Then again, all day long it seemed like my perception of what was really happening was off, more so than any other time in recent memory.

 

The other strange thing so far this winter has been the lack of one legged jumping.  Over the past several years it seems like I quite often end up having one ski dangling in the air while the other ankled cocked.  I have not noticed that so far this year.

 

The three days out so far this winter has been quite unusual.  It seems like I'm jumping at end of season level even though it is the beginning of the season.  Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.  Right now I'm hoping to have 100 jumps on the 50 before New Years Day.  Tomorrow should be another two jump session as well as both of the next two weekends.  Their stands a good chance that I may very well end December with 100 jumps on the 50.  TIme shall tell.  I am surprised that I was able to pull off 17 jumps today without getting down right tired.  Being out of shape from not having jumped/climbed steps every week all summer long does make for a nice surprise.  Maybe I'm in better shape than what I figured I would be right now.

 

Crash