Jumping Journal: April 13, 2007

Yes, Friday the 13th, Part 2007 - Jason and the Jumping Skis.  LOL!!! Couldn't you just imagine a movie like that.

 

This calls for a look back before a look at the present.

 

April 2001: The season at Storrs Hill had finished, what seemed like it was very early given the tremendous amount of snow that was still on the ground from the two major storms that had passed through in early February and early March.  I had naturally fallen snow in my backyard that was still 2-3 feet deep at the end of March.  I also had places in my yard where I had shoveled the snow, to get it out of the way, that was 6-8 feet tall.  In fact a good chunk of the higher part of the yard had piles that tall.  I decided it may be over for Storrs Hill but it isn't over for me. 

 

I have had this challenge for myself that whenever I get into something, like whitewater kayaking or snow skiing, that I will do on three separate days of the year, New Years Day, Leap Day(quite hard since it only comes once ever four years), and my birthday(April 7th).  Well I knew with 2001 being my first winter jumping that I wouldn't be able to jump on Leap Day, and since I didn't start jumping until mid January I rather easily missed New Years Day.  I still had my birthday though I could get out of the way that first winter.  With all the snow I had in my yard, why not create a small jump and jump it.

 

I started jumping on the jump within a week after the End of the Season party at Storrs Hill.  I managed to get a few jumps in on my birthday and kept on jumping the small jump clear up until the 16th or 17th of April before I finally got tired of tossing snow in down at the bottom of the transition on the landing hill.  To this date April 13th, 2007, this still is the latest that I have ever jumped on a hill that is 100% covered with snow.

 

April 2003: The Lunatic Fringe group around Storrs Hill was starting to get a name for themselves and with a snow storm that came around the 4th of April we got the 25 meter jump ready to be jumped and spent the 5th, 6th and 8th out jumping on the 25 on a 100% covered hill.  Through yesterday this was the latest that snow had ever been jumped at Storrs Hill, at least that anyone still around can remember.  Yes, as you notice, once again I missed jumping all snow on my birthday.

 

April 2006: Yes, I finally jumped the 25 during transition season on my birthday but it wasn't under COMPLETE snow coverage.  About the only snow left was down in the transition on the landing hill.

 

That leads to April 2007, THE BIG ONE:

While the plans had been to take this late starting season and jump the 50 on April 1st, Mother Nature had other plan.  The inrun ended up being almost down to nothing by the time April Fool's Day arrived.  Well...it was thought another April had escaped our attempt to jump the 50 in April...or so we thought.

 

April 4th, yes you remember that date mentioned above from 2003.  Yes, April 4th 2007 arrived and with it a snow storm dumped 6-12 inches of snow around the area.  Being a spring storm it was the nice, heavy, wet snow that you just about only see around these parts in the latter parts of spring.  Everyone was busy getting ready for Easter Weekend so no jumping happened last weekend.

 

The strange that did occur was that the temperatures really never rebounded very much.  In fact, there has only been one day in the past 9-10 days that I haven't seen some snow flurry or snow fall action taking place here at my house.  The average high for this time of the year is 52 degrees and the average overnight low is 32.  Yes 32, the point where snow starts to melt.  The highs over the past week with the exception of Wednesday has barely made it above freezing.

 

We thought about jumping on Monday but by the time Monday came around the wet snow on the inrun had packed itself down to the point where there wasn't enough left to be jumped.  The landing hill was still in good shape and the outrun, with a little grooming, would have been ready to go.  Without the inrun we were left still holding on for the next snow storm.

 

Yesterday:  The forecast since the snow storm last week had been for the potential for another snow storm yesterday.  The problem was not knowing how it would track, mostly would the separate low pressure develop off the mid Atlantic seaboard and keep New England cold, err snowy, or would we have warmer temps and rain, like was being seen across the midwest.  The low pressure system developed and with it the snow came.  Once again we ended up with 4-6 inches of the wet, heavy snow around the area.

 

Oh yeah, they are now suggesting potentially a bigger storm coming up the coast Sunday night into Monday and Tueday.  Once again it all depends on the track of this next storm as to whether we will see more snow or get a rain storm out of it.  But they make it sound like we will see far more precipitation out of it.

 

Day 47.  A new Storrs Hill record, BY FAR!!!  Month 116 in a row at Storrs Hill, err month 76 in a row for me.  It doesn't seem possible to even be able to think of jumping a real ski jump this late in the season, yet alone jump a 50 meter jump.  If I were to be living somewhere like northern Scandanavia or somewhere really far north than I might be able to concieve the idea of jumping on all snow this late in the season, maybe even doing it on a regular basis, but not in Lebanon, New Hampshire...it's just WAY too far south.

 

I got the email from Dan about 1:15 saying that he had just returned from the hill and that it was ready to be jumped.  We would be meeting at 3:30 and to expect it to be slow.  I headed on up to the hill and saw that low and behold the jump was ready for some jumping action.  The inrun may not have as much snow on it as it does during mid winter but it was completely covered and very safe to jump.  The landing hill was looking in good condition, it faces north so it takes a while for it melt off.  The outrun did look like it had some tree branches that had come down that wouldn't take much to move out of the way, otherwise it looked to be in quite ride/jumpable shape.

 

I waxed the skis as I did have a couple of worries that I didn't know how they would pan out.  I was a little worried about how soft the landing hill might be, I shouldn't have been(it faces north!!!)  I was also a little worried about how hard it was going to be to stop in the outrun.  This was a valid concern.  Would the snow conditions do like it did back in 2003 and make for very quick stopping without trying to stop.  Back in 2003 on the last day, April 8th, that we jumped one of the jumpers said the snow conditions in the outrun was like trying to stop on mash potatoes.  Mash potatoes was pretty much the consistency of the snow.  If those kinds of conditions were to exist on the 50 it might make stopping a little on the dangerous side.  Fortunately, this was found to not be that much of a factor, the stopping was quicker than normal but not so quick that it caused any problems, at least as long as you avoid the spots where the snow had really been melting and was making for VERY soft snow.  I was also concerned by the possibility of sticky conditions, hence why I decided to rub wax on the skis before jumping.

 

After Dan showed up we suited up and headed on up the jump for the first time ever jumping the 50, at least in known memory, in April.

 

We both were planning on riding the landing hill first a couple of times to try to help further pack down the landing hill.  Dan did ski pack earlier in the day after packing down the inrun, by skiing down it would help to make it even more packed down and safer.

 

I took off down the landing hill first.  It seemed fine.  I got through the transition and onto the bridge over the brook.  Still everything seemed fine.  I started up the other side of the bridge and I noticed the color of the snow and knew that I was about to hit really soft, wet snow.  I didn't manage to brace well enough and end up doing a nice head first slide that any baseball coach would love.  Granted they would really love it right now since all the baseball fields around here are covered in snow and their isn't anybody playing baseball at the present time, LOL!!!

 

Dan rode down the landing hill, bringing with him the rake.  We did a little packing and moving some loose snow onto the wet area.  Everything looked like it should be doable.

 

We walked back up and took yet another landing hill and found everything to be much better than it was before.  Heck I couldn't even make it all the way to the end of the outrun, the snow was stopping before I could get there.

 

We walked back up and after a little bit of inrun work, trying to get rid of a potential kicker on the takeoff, Dan decided to be the first one to jump on the 50 in April.  This was going to be the first time I believe either one of us has ever jumped the 50 without a cut track on it.  I've jumped the K48 in Lake Placid without a cut track but never the 50 in Lebanon.  It has been a long time since the 50 has been jumped without having a track laid down before it was jumped.

 

Dan's jump goes smooth.  I did notice that right after he landed that he got "bounced".  It was like there was a bit of a bump right around where he landed.  It didn't look like much, looking at the landing hill, but watching him jump I did notice him get a "second jump".

 

I headed up for my first jump.  I was having no trouble remembering what I had did on my two most recent jumps.  I had been checking out a concept that I read about on the internet.  It was a simple concept of avoid "toxic vocabulary".  The concept was all about watching the words you say to yourself/anyone you speak to.  Your words make your reality and can make their reality as well.  The article I saw on the net talked about the guy who wrote the article, as a kid he was always hanging around in trees.  Him and one of his friends was up a tree one day when a wind gust came up.  His father told him to hold on tight and the other child's parent told the kid not to fall.  Well, the author held on tight, while the other kid ended up falling out of the tree.

 

The statement made by each parent made the difference for the kid.  The direct, easy to understand, positive statement made by the first parent gave the kid's mind the ability to follow what the parent wanted the child to do.  The second parent left the kid questioning how to handle the concept of "don't fall".  How was the child suppose to keep from falling.

 

The last time I jumped I decided on the last two jumps to give avoiding toxic vocabulary a shot and it worked QUITE WELL.  I decided I was going to continue the process today.

 

I decided given the factors combined together into one that the smartest thing to do today was just to have a safe jump.  I just found myself saying at the top of the jump, "I will have a safe jump".  I decided to not focus on anything else and just make the last jumps of winter of 2007 nice and safe jumps with good lands and smooth rides until I stopped at the end of the outrun.

 

The first jump went just that way.  I did hit the same bump that Dan hit and I didn't notice as much of an effect as I thought I would notice.  It was short, too say the least, only around 25 meters, if that long. I felt very comfortable given the lack of a track on the inrun and the fact that my mind was and still is(as I type this out) having a VERY HARD time believing that I did jump the 50 today.

 

I rode the landing hill and made it through the outrun without any problems.  I got back to the stairs and headed on up for jump two.

 

Dan's second jump went better than his first.  My second jump also was better than my first.  Again I was just telling myself "I will have a safe jump".  I wasn't about to even think of working on any technique correction or anything like that. It's too late in the season for that, it's just time now for having CRAZY fun in April and doing it safely.

 

The third jump was little better yet.  The fourth jump wasn't quite as good but it was still a very solid jump.  The fifth jump was also a good solid jump.  Dan ended up with the last jump off the 50 for the day and he had his best jump of the day on his last jump.

 

Each of us ended up taking five jumps on a day where the high temperature was MAYBE into the lower 40's.  Right now we are both looking forward to extending the Storrs Hill record on moer day and we plan on jumping tomorrow morning before it get too terribly warm out.

 

Looking into the future is questionable right now.  It will depend on the track of the next coming storm as to what kind of precipitation we end up getting.  It sounds like it could be another rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow mix.

 

All in all today was a day that I will have to try to believe really happened for quite a few years to come.  This whole winter has been one where Mother Nature has played crazy tricks on us.  This is just one more of those darn dirty tricks that she has been playing on New England ski jumpers.

 

Crash