Jumping Journal: February 24, 2009

Ice and snow...thye just gotta go.

 

Yeah...this has been the worst winter I've seen in a long time.  Definitely the worst winter I've had since I started ski jumping.  Talk about things that just don't want to cooperate worth a darn.  That's what this winter is all about.

 

After the jump meet last weekend Bill and I talked about the possibility of trying to jump on Monday.  Monday came and the word came down from Cannonball that we should try to get the inrun raked out on the K50 so we could cut a track on it on Tuesday evening.  Bill and I spent Monday evening pounding the ice on the inrun trying to get rid of the old track.  Granted we didn't realize what was to come over the next several days.

 

Tuesday I showed up figuring we would end up taking some jumps on either the K25 or the K50.  Nice thought. Instead the weather forecast had made a nice change.  It was suppose to snow starting Wednesday night...6-12 inches worth.  It was decided instead to get the inrun on the K25 prepped since it needed some snow tossed up on it to fill it out to the sideboards.  We spent the evening doing that and a little work on the landing hill so the incoming snow storm could take care of the rest of the work for us.

 

Wednesday saw 5 inches of snow fell overnight with another 1.5 inches on Thursday.  Any thoughts of jumping at Newport ended as the school kids didn't want to come out and jump.

 

Thursday I was hoping to get in touch with Cannonball in person so I went up to Lebanon and as I actually figured...he wasn't there.  Everyone was pretty much finishing up doing any hill/getting ready to leave by the time I arrived.  I spent all of 10 minutes there before I left.

 

Friday-Sunday everyone was going to Lake Placid for a jump meet.  I wasn't going and instead I spent the weekend at home waiting for the Sunday afternoon through pre-dawn Monday morning snow storm to arrive.  This time dumping 10 inches of snow on the area.

 

After spending 10 hours shoveling snow yesterday I figured no one was going to be out doing any jumping anywhere so I didn't even bother leaving home.  Smart move.

 

Today, almost decided to stay home again but I knew I needed to get in touch with Cannonball plus I had an errand or two to run so I left a little later than planned and headed on up to Lebanon.  I found Cannonball doing some work on the K25.  Nothing was happening on the K50.  It looked like the jump was pretty much ready to be jumped.  I walked in the lodge and saw one of the kids already suited up and walking out the door toward the hill.  I decided I would take a few jumps to keep this no jump streak from going any further.

 

I walked back to the car and grabbed the gear and went back inside and suited up.  I walked on up the top of the inrun and found Mike getting ready to take another jump.  He has started jumping nicely in the past couple of weeks.   I put on the skis and get the signal for the first jump.  It wasn't the best but given the new snow and the slower track conditions it wasn't all that bad until I got into the transition and almost ended up face plant into the snow in the outrun.  I managed to hold on and stay on my feet...I'm not sure how.  Mike thought I had stuck and I said no I just let myself get too far forward.  Normally I do just the exact opposite.

 

I walked up and the second jump was smoother than the first, at least in the air. In the transition it was the same situation again.

 

The third jump on things felt much better in the air.  It was seeming like I was back to normal once again.  The third jump I also changed and ended up almost sitting down going through the transition.  The next three jumps I was mostly back where I started from, getting too far forward on the skis.

 

On the seventh and final jump of the evening I ended up with a pretty decent jump and I did have a much better position going through the transition and out into the outrun.

 

Hopefully may get a chance to jump coming up on Thursday.  If it's anything like the rest of this winter I won't be holding my breath.

 

Crash