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, March 23, 2008

Jumping Journal: March 22, 2008

Day 49.  Surrrrrprise, surrrrpise, surrrrrprise.  Is it really March 22nd???  Naaaah, someone must be playing with my calendar.  Amazing what a difference a week makes, err a year makes.
 
Oh yes, just like last year(I just went back and was reading some of my old posting from this time last year) Mother Nature is up to her dirty old tricks.  Admittedly, this time, like the rest of the winter, they have been extremely positive tricks.  Hopefully they will continue.
 
The storm front that looked like it would might very well end the jumping season on the K50 for this winter came on Wednesday.  I woke up Wednesday morning and head roughly 1/2 to 3/4 inch of sleet and snow on the ground.  It was suppose to start as snow then change to rain overnight Wednesday night.  It was supposed to rain hard Wednesday night into Thursday before changing back to snow.  Yes, spring is here.  Why does this sound a little like last year all over again.
 
Well...reality set in.  The snow continued very lightly off and on the rest of the day.  It didn't accumulate anything at all.  The lowest temperature seen all day, midnight to midnight on Wednesday was 32.  So far it wasn't looking favorable.
 
Thursday came and nothing happened.  Northern New York and Vermont were getting dumped on with snow, yet again this winter.  Down here in central New Hampshire we pretty much saw cloudy skies and had occasional snow showers that didn't add up to anything.  The temperature still remained above freezing all day Thursday, but never made it much higher than 38.
 
Friday came and so did the wind.  It went from partly cloudy to sunny and the high was 33 degrees before it dropped back down into the lower 20s overnight.  The wind never let up much all day.  It was pretty obvious, thanks to the rain not showing up on Thursday we survived the storm front and the K50 should be quite jumpable on Saturday at the end of the season party.
 
I got up to Storrs Hill this morning for the annual goodbye to winter.  Dan had tracolated the inrun on Thursday and I believe that really helped to make today what it was.  Upon arriving he went up and tracolated again while I went down to the outrun and did some raking before Cannonball shouted down that Jay was going to groom the landing hill/outrun for us.
 
We waited around for Jay to get the work done and Bill, Cannonball, Dan, Tara(Team Sticky Sticky Quack Quack) and I all suited up and made our way up the jump.  I knew with the icy conditions that it was going to be one major primo day for jumping, maybe one of the best of the season.  In hindsight I think it was the best day of the season...at least so far.  With the icy conditions and knowing the inrun was going to be quite fast I decided to do something radically different compared to the norm.  I decided to take a trip up the inrun.  Yeah, I decided I would jump from each of the bar starts plus house if it did have enough snow left.
 
I started out the session on the bottom bar.  I have never went from the bottom bar before.  This would be the first time.  I knew the inrun was quite fast so I figured I would easily jump 25-28 meters.  I was surprised to find the first jump taking me down to 30 meters.  Definitely a bit faster than what I thought the inrun was.
 
I walked back up for the second jump and decided to take one more from the bottom bar.  Why not???  It may take me years to ever jump from the bottom bar again, so I might as well make use of the fast condition while I have the chance  The second jump ends up going a meter or so further than the first one.  The only person jumping from the bottom bar was Tara.
 
I walked back up and this time I went from the second bar.  I was mostly just focusing on driving through the heel and not really working on anything else today.  I did manage 32 meters or so on the third jump.
 
The fourth jump I took from the third bar.  As could be expected I went down another meter or so further.  Before my fifth jump I watched Cannonball jump out of house.
 
The top has a little snow left but it isn't flat and it isn't complete coverage.  Actually the left hand down to the half way between the top bar and the second bar down has melted down to the boards.  It still is plenty wide enough for both tracks but it has pulled away from the sides nicely.  I think the track might be a few inches further to the right than what it normally is during the winter, and that might be why it track is fully intact right now.
 
I watched Cannonball go from house before my fifth jump and right at the top it looked like he was having a slight bit of trouble due to the unevenness of the snow at the top and his ski was trying to wobble on him as he was getting into the track as he went over the edge.  He made it fine and I knew my next jump would be from the house but I still had jump five to go and it was going to be from the top bar.
 
So far each of my jumps have been pretty decent and the timing had been mostly on time as well, nothing really late and nothing early.  Jump five was the same way and I ended up going around 35 meters.
 
I head on up top, its time to go from the only start location on the inrun that I hadn't went from today.  I see right away that the top is just as tricky and maybe even a little tricker than it was back on Tuesday. I get lined up with the track and see trying to keep the skis pointed straight is going to be fun.  The track not only is not flat in a front to back perspective but it also isn't flat in a side to side perspective and my right ski wants to slide out of the track sideways.  No, I'm still standing in house.
 
The sun was shining down brightly.  Not a cloud in the sky was to be found with the temperature hanging just below freezing and the wind blowing nicely every now and then making jumpers wait to get the clear signal.  I got the signal and headed on down the inrun, without much trouble up top at all.  I jumped at the takeoff, quite late and didn't put forth much of anything into the flight.  I knew with as late as I was that it wasn't going to be much of a jump.  I ended up landing in th 34-35 meter area, give or take a little.
 
Cannonball came down for his last jump of the day, jump 120 for the season.  I think that is the most jumps he has taken on the snow in as many years as I have known him.  Dan, Tara and I were still jumping.  I headed back up for the seventh jump of the day.  This time I was hoping to actually jump on time.  I knew if I did I would stand a real good chance at going to 40 meters.  On Cannonball's last jump he managed 43-44 meters.
 
I got the signal and headed down the inrun and had much better timing.  I did end up down around the 38-40 meter mark.  Something didn't seem right.  This is the late March, not mid-January.  The snow is suppose to be slow, if not sticky, this time of the year.  Yeah, like last year, Mother Nature is really having fun with us...or is that we're having fun thanks to Mother Nature.
 
Dan called it quits after his jump so that was leaving Tara and I as the last two remaining jumpers on the hill for the day.  Not knowing, for sure, if this would be the last day or not I decided I would fight to try to be the last person off the hill today just in case.  I have managed to be the last person to jump the K50 each of the last two years and I'll see if I can't pull it off again this year.
 
Tara takes what would be her last jump and I pull out the bar and go back up and stick my skis on.  I get the signal and head down the inrun for my last jump of the day.  I jump at the takeoff, pretty much nailing the timing down.  I get into a good flight position and ride it until I land down about 40-42 meters.  It was definitely one of the if not the longest jump of the winter, so far.  I was a little surprised by how nice it was.  I couldn't have ever hoped for a jump that good this late in the season.
 
We changed into regular clothes/ski clothes to walk back on over to the ski hill for skiing and pond skimming.  I debated for a little bit if I wanted to ski or not.  I finally decided I would.  I figured I might as well make use of the fantastic conditions after the crap for conditions I had last weekend during Mud Meet.
 
I had taken two runs and was heading back up for the third run of the day and I was thinking about trying something out that I have thought about for years now but I just have never been able to get myself to do it.  When I first started skiing a little over a decade ago one of the ski patrollers where I did most of my skiing at like to yodel going down the ski slope.  The only thing was when he did most of his yodelling he also only had one ski on.  He would leave the other ski at the top or the bottom.  I had played around with the idea, with both skis on, for the past several years during Mud Meet but I couldn't ever get myself to fully try out the idea in any kind of seriousness.  All of a sudden as I'm riding the poma lift up top for the third run of the day I see Tara coming down the slope with only one ski on, she is holding the other ski in her arms.  I haven't seen anyone 'one ski' in over a decade now.
 
I started playing around with the idea on the very same run.  I could get myself to turn inside turns with the right foot quite easily, and fairly easy on the left foot.  I couldn't figure out right away, the very same run, how to turn outside turns.  After another run or two I finally was starting to get the hang of the outside turns.  I still wasn't doing them the best but I was beginning to connect turns and I was only lightly touching the back of the raised ski to the snow occasionally.
 
After some lift problems got taken care of I decided the heck with it.  I was going to go for and ski with only one ski on.  I went for a quick 'refresher' or two.  Mostly I found myself wondering how hard of a time I was going to have getting up the lift with only one ski on.  I knew I was going to leave one ski at the bottom and go up with the other.  I knew I wouldn't be able to back out that way unless I just walked down.
 
Getting up the lift went pretty easy and I managed to make it through the narrow trail that runs from the lift to the main run without any real trouble, just a few laughs at some of the struggles.  I was a little surprised how much a difference the missing weight from the other ski made.  I noticed the difference at first quite a bit.  I started down the main run and finally got over the difference and wasn't doing too bad.  I did fall once or twice on the way down but I was going from one turn to the next without having to stop on several occasions.
 
I headed back up for another run and it went even better than the first one.  I was really surprised that I was even willing to try 'one-skiing' yet alone I was pulling it off.  I fell once about halfway down on the second run.  I took a break that I thought was the end of the day but as other people kept skiing I said the heck with it and decided I would see if I could pull off making a full run without falling.  I started down and things were going quite well until the flat stop about halfway down.  It bit me once again.  I ended up losing it, for some reason, at that point.  My luck ran out.  I just couldn't get my body to cooperate with me to save my soul.  I made my way on down the bottom and called it a day.
 
The nice thing about 'one-skiing' is it requires you to really pay attention to your feet.  Are you on the side of your foot, turning, are you on the whole of your foot, going straight...or what.  Last year I found ice skating is a nice way to working on maintaining the whole foot awareness.  This year I have added 'one-skiing' to the list as well.  It definitely does wonders for making you pay attention to what is going on.  I was on my favored foot which is supposedly the opposite as your favored hand.  I didn't really try it at all on the my left foot.  I guess I'll save that for next winter.
 
Unlike last year when the weather had already been in the 60's this year we have seen one day March 15th when the temperature has been in the 50's and only two days in the past week when the temperature has been in the 40's.  The conditions right now are the best they have been all winter.  The snow depth on the inrun isn't to grade but the track is VERY nice, and quite fast.  The forecast for Easter Sunday and Monday is sunny and 35 with low lows in the around 12.  Tuesday is suppose to start out sunny and turn cloudy with highs in the lowers 40s.  Wednesday is suppose to snow???rain??? highs in the lower 40s.  Thursday back to sunny and the low 40s.  Maybe in the upper 40s by next weekend.
 
The talk is of jumping both Tuesday and Thursday this week and things are looking quite possible for more jumping.  Other than the April jumping on the K50 last winter the latest the K50 has ever been jumped was last year on March 24th.  I think the third latest day for jumping the K50 is coming just around the corner.  I want at least one more day and another 10 jumps on the K50 and a total of 12 jumps this winter.  Who knows, maybe by the time Tuesday I'll have accomplished all my crazy, realistic goals for this winter.  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