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 04, 2009

Jumping Journal: January 04, 2009

Surprise, surprise, surprise.  What a beautiful day.
 
I guess today will teach me one thing.  Expected the unexpected.  Maybe I should say don't forget the obvious even though it seems like you should.
 
I woke up this morning planning on spending the day working on two separate projects I have going on around the house right now.  As I was catching a few things up on the computer I got an email from Dan.  He was wondering if I went to the jump session Cannonball had yesterday at Vermont Academy.  He also said he would be interested in taking some jumps on the K25 if I was up to it.  At first I was a little caught off guard by the email, more ways than one.  He had responded to an email I sent out last weekend about Cannonballs plans for jumping this past weekend and yesterday.  My mind got fuddled up by him responding to that message.  I wasn't even thinking he was talking about jumping today.  I replied back and said sure, thinking he was talking about jumping sometime mid-afternoon this week.  Then I woke up.
 
Until now, 4PM it has been one of the prettiest days I have seen in quite a long while, especially for a mid winter day.  Wall to wall sunshine with the temperature in the mid to upper 20s.  It's been one of those days you like to take advantage of.
 
Dan sent back an email and said he could be up to the hill and rake it out around noon.  I replied back and said, LET'S DO IT.  I would run two errands real quick like, since they was on the way up to Storrs Hill and then I would meet him up there.
 
I got up to the hill a little after noontime and it appeared Dan hadn't been there too much before me as he was starting to put on his crampons so he could go rake the hill.  I walked over to the jump inn and grabbed my equipment.  Turns out Todd, another adult jumper that started jumping last winter, came over to the hill(he lives across the street from the hill...lucky guy).  He went home and grabbed his equipment and joined us for a glorious day of jumping.
 
Dan said he didn't do anything with the inrun as he couldn't really find much of a track in it anyways.  I wasn't worried.  I walked up and after a little top of the inrun maintainance work I put on my skis.  Some snow had come up missing from the point where the flat part(house) of the inrun drops off to the steep part of the inrun.  It was down to plastic.  This normally wouldn't seem odd but given everything it did catch me a little off guard a few minutes later as I was about to go down the inrun for the first jump.
 
As I standing up top I look down, under the bright sunny skies, and notice the track is half missing.  Then I remember I had received 1.75 inches of snow yesterday.  Admittedly, in a few areas not far from here, a couple of miles, they barely received .5 inch of snow.  I came to realize that I may find myself having stick conditions on the inrun thanks to the snow.  Then I start to realize the strangeness of the missing snow at the top that I replaced a minute or two earlier.  It was all the way down to the plastic...no signs whatsoever of any snow on top of the plastic, not even a trace.  It still seems rather unusual.
 
I finally decided to be bold and daring and just plan on the inrun being sticky and go for it anyways.  I start down and find the inrun not to be sticky at all.  I guess the cold temperatures that came with the snow helped to keep the snow drier and less apt to be sticky.  I was a bit surprised, rather positively so.  The first jump went much better than I thought it would, thanks to the conditions being better than expected.
 
The second jump felt more comfortable and it seemed like I was in a much better position in the air than what I have been thus far this winter.
 
With each passing jump I got more and more relaxed into the jump.  By the fifth or sixth I had been having no problem with keeping the arms at the sides so I decided to start working on looking to where I wanted to land.  I haven't did this in quite a while.  I had thought about from the first day on snow but things had been so crazy I hadn't even bothered.  Right from the first get go I found myself looking to the bottom of the landing hill instead of looking between the skis.  It felt much more natural and unlike in the past when I did it, it seemed appealing, like something I should want to do.
 
On jump 10 I was up top and heard Dan talking to Todd and I heard him bring up a crash another adult had a few years ago. Having been around for the crash in question...I remember WAY too well, I knew who he was talking about and what he was talking about.  It got me to thinking "heck everything is going so good right now, might as well see if you can add in a telemark landing or not".  As I thought about it it only seemed logical given everything else that right now would be the perfect time, while the K50 is closed, to see if I can get myself to add the tele in once again.  I have did it in the past but never with any kind of consistancy.
 
Jump 10 I didn't bother with it but I did try to put one in on each of the three remaining jumps I took.  Other than the last jump it did seem like I was getting a bit of a tele added in.  Granted I'm not sure if it was a legitimate tele or a Hollywood tele but it did seem like there was a bit of separation in the skis.
 
All in all I ended up taking 13 jumps.  Several more than I initially planned.  I figured I would try to match the past two days and take nine jumps.  Once jump ten came around I figured I might as well make it an even dozen, but I wouldn't even consider going for the baker's dozen(13).  I guess I couldn't help myself and since Dan had walked back up I decided to walk back up as well.  Someone had to flag him, LOL!!!
 
Since I was wrong about not getting anymore jumping until next Saturday...maybe I should be smart and not take anymore guesses as to when the next time will be that I will get to jump again.  Dan is talking about a mid-afternoon sometime this week so I may end up jumping once or twice more before this coming weekend.
 
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