Myth #1(Mother Nature killed the sport of ski jumping) Debunked

Myth #2(NCAA killed the sport of ski jumping) Debunked Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Myth #3(The US doesn't have the talent) Debunked Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Mind Of A Ski Jumper Part 1, 2, 3, 4

The Ultimate Coach - Ski Jump Training Device

Jumping Season Digest: (see bottom of this page)

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Jumping Journal: January 20, 2008

Winter makes it's comeback.  Okay, so it wasn't anything like January 18, 2003, but it still was a lot different than the past few weeks today.
 
Oh year, January 18, 2003...the jump meet that Saturday in Hanover, New Hampshire was the most unforgettable jump meet I'll have jump in.  The evening before the meet I practiced at Hanover under a full moon and the temperature was hanging around zero.  I woke up that Saturday morning and the temperature was -20 Fahrenheit.  I saw -25 on the drive up to Hanover.  That is the coldest I have ever seen in my life.  Strangely enough, the only way to stay warm that day was to keep jumping.  The second you stopped jumping/climbing stairs to take your next jump, you froze your butt off.  I quickly learnt that day the number one advantage of ski jumping over alpine skiing.  In ski jumping you can stay warm as long as you keep keep skiing, err jumping.
 
Last night as I went to bed the temperature was still in the mid 20s.  The forecast was for a cold front to move through and bring in much colder weather.  Highs today were only suppose to be in the upper teens to lower twenties.
 
I woke up this morning to find a light dusting of snow had fallen over night, just enough to cover shoveled surfaces with a thin layer of fresh snow.  As I left for Lebanon I noticed the skies were starting to clear out and I knew the cold front must have just passed through.  Sure enough I saw 9 degrees on the way up to Lebanon this morning.
 
I stopped by Storrs Hill to pick up my equipment.  Storrs Hill and Oak Hill, the Hanover site, are on opposite side of the interstate and only about six to seven miles apart.  I figured I might as well just leave my equipment at the hill last night and pick it up this morning.  It wouldn't add much to the trip.  After grabbing the equipment, I took the ten minute hop on up into Hanover and walked on back to the warming hut that was dedicated on that might warm day of January 18, 2003.  It will always be easy to figure out when that cold day occured.  Their is plaque right by the entrance that tells when the warming hut was dedicated and it was the same day as the coldest jump meet/coldest day I've ever seen in my life.
 
I quickly suited up and headed on out to the jump.  Last year I ended up falling on a couple of the jumps due to a bad bump that was right about where the fall line normally is.  From what I have been told there is a spring that goes under the outrun right there and I guess it must cause the ground to swell during the winter months and if there isn't enough snow than the bump is there.  I didn't remember it from past years but I do remember it from last year, BIG TIME!  I watched one or two jumps ride the landing hill and it seemed by watching that the bump wasn't there.
 
I walked on up the jump.  I would end up being the first person off it for the day.  The track was essentially perfect.  I haven't seen that nice of a track in a long time.  I thought the track on the 50 had been real nice the past week or so, but Hanover was even better today.  It was straight as an arrow and not bumpy by any means.  As I was putting on my skis, former Olympian Joe Holland, a Hanover, NH/Norwich, Vermont native and one of judges for the day said don't be surprised if it is a little slow for the first jump or so.  I kinda was expecting that even though it didn't appear the Lebanon/Hanover area had gotten any of the snow I saw at my house.
 
What I found instead is that I have spent WAY, WAY, WAY too much time jumping on the K50 in Lebanon over the past several years.  I was looking down the inrun saying to myself and to Joe, where's the rest of the inrun. I knew it was going to be since half the inrun was missing, LOL!!!
 
I headed on down the inrun and jump, hesistantly, at the takeoff.  The jump was one of the shortest jumps I've had off the K32 in Hanover in a few years.  I was hesistant.  I think most of it was my mind still remembering the conditions from last year...the bump on the outrun.  It did turn out their was a couple of bumps on the landing hill but nothing that was a problem for anyone during the day.  I would say the first jump was probably only 20 meters at the best.
 
I walked back up for the second jump and now I knew what the conditions were like.  Flat out it was the best conditions I have ever skied on at Oak Hill. Period.  I've seen better all around conditions elsewhere on numerous occasions but never anything that good at Oak Hill.  Tom Dodds deserves to be commended for bring the hill together the way he did.  I guess he spent from 8AM to around 6PM yesterday working on it.  Admittedly, it woud have been nice to have seen him out jumping at the meet yesterday in Lebanon but to have that nice of conditions for today was worth missing him jumping yesterday.
 
The second jump was much better except for the fact I didn't cock my ankle whatsoever.  I was getting down more toward 25 meters where I would spend the rest of the day.  I had hoped to get down into the 27-30 meter range.  I believe I did see a 27 meter jump at Hanover last year during the longest standing jump.
 
On the third jump I settled into more of a consistent pattern of jumping,...what else is knew.  During the remainder of practice I took three more jumps and each one was once again getting down aroudn 25-26 meters.  I just didn't seem to have much power at the takeoff and I wasn't putting in a V either today at all.
 
After the competition was over on the K10 and K18 the competition moved to the K32 and I was the first to jump, being a forejumper once again.  I took my first jump and I figured I had landed around 25-26 meters.  As I was walking back up Cannonball told me that the markers had screwed me out of 1-1.5 meters.  I asked him where they said I had landed and he said they marked me at 25.5 meters.  I told him that I figured I was between 25-26 meters.  I guess I do manage to mark myself pretty decently when I'm jumping on a hill that is nicely marked.  He also made mention that I should try to get more shin angle on the inrun.  I knew my only problem was keeping from dropping the butt on the inrun at the same time and then having trouble getting up out of the inrun position when I got to the takeoff.
 
On the second jump I decided to to go for moe shin angle and I was still trying to see if I could keep the butt up enough so I could get a quick response at the takeoff instead of either having to jump late or start much sooner with less power to allow me to get out of my inrun position.  It didn't work the best but I still did manage to get down into the 25 meter area once again.  I didn't hear how far it was for sure but it looked like it was in the 25 meter range.  The fun part was after coming to a stop at the end of the outrun I turned around, not quite quick enough and ended up getting my skis entangled in some saplings along the edge of the outrun.  It was 'fun' trying to get them back onto the outrun without having to take the skis off.
 
The third and final jump of the competition I did manage to raise the butt better and still kept the shin angle.  I think I did jump late though and once again settled on back to the ground at 25 meters.
 
I stuck around for the awards ceremony and headed back to drop off the equipment at Storrs Hill before making a quick shopping trip to pick up some supplies to try to once again redo the front throw screw mounting holes on the skis.  After the trouble I had Friday evening and a little bit yesterday I decided to try something different.  Mark Breen had made mention what he did when it came to troublesome holes and I decided to follow his idea and drill out a hole and put in a piece of a wooden dowel rod and then screw into it.  This afternoon I glued in the wooden dowel rod and will wait until tomorrow to mount the front throw.  Hopefully this time it will take care of the problem...PERMANTENTLY.  Boy has it gotten to be one annoying problem.
 
Time shall tell.
 
Crash
Winter 2010
DateLeb 25Plymouth 25Leb 50And 38
Dec 121
Jan 056
Jan 063
Feb 024
Feb 032
Feb 046
Feb 073
Mar 063
Totals133102