Jumping Journal: March 05, 2009

Plans are always changing.  Why should now be any different.

 

Okay...back on Sunday the plan was to spend Tuesday and Wednesday night out backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in western Vermont doing a nice 23 mile round trip hike.  One thing lead to another and I delayed those plans by one day.  Knowing its now March I knew the odds of much more winter hiking wasn't going to happen this year thanks to warm weather.  The forecast was looking real nice through early into the day on Friday.  The freezing rain/sleet/snow mix kept moving closer and closer in the forecast to the point where it looked like I was going to see it overnight Thursday night into Friday morning.  I planned to tough it out and stay out on the trail and just hike back to my car no matter what.  Little did I know the mistake I was about to make.

 

Monday the area saw a snow storm come through.  Around here I only got 3 inches.  Looking at weather radar it looked like the area I was planning on going hiking got somewhere around 6-8 inches.  Things looked great.  Until I got to the trailhead.

 

I pulled in the parking lot an I was shocked...where was all the snow.  At the trailhead it looked like it only had 2-3 inches of fresh snow.  I debated whether I wanted to take the snowshoes with me or not and finally decided to leave them in the car.

 

The two miles were great adn then the snow started getting deeper and deeper.  In some spots I was breaking through up to knee deep.  Where were those darn snowshoes.

 

As I got to the campsite last night I knew the snow seemed like the further north and east I got the deeper it got.  I know I would be heading that way today.  I also knew the weather forecast for tonight into tomorrow and I made the decision instead of hiking further north I would head back to the car in the morning and then spend the evening tonight jumping in Lebanon.  I knew the extended forecast was showing nothing but much warmer temperatures moving in and I figured this would probably be the last decent night for jumping on the K50.

 

I woke up this morning and walked the 7.5 miles back the car and drove on home.  While catching up on things on the computer I was questioning whether I really wanted to even think of leaving the house to drive up to Lebanon and jump.  To say my butt was whooped would be an understatement.

 

I decided to head on up figuring I would take at the most two or three jumps before calling it quits...if I didn't call it quits after the first jump.  I drove on up and found Dan, Bill and Matt already out jumping.  I hadn't seen Matt out since this time last year.  I was rather surprised to see him out jumping.  I saw one of his jumps from right outside the jump inn.  He laid down a nice 39-40 meter jump.  I knew by the suit color it could only be one person.

 

I suited up and took the icy walk on up to the takeoff to find Bill getting ready to leave.  Matt and I walked on up the trestle.  I let Dan go first and then Matt.  I was whooped.  I had nothing in me at all. After waiting around for five minutes or so the bar cleared out and I put on the skis and slid partway out onto the bar.  I noticed Dan had picked up the tracolator and decide to do a little work at the takeoff.

 

I found myself on the bar questioning whether I really wanted to even attempt to jump or not.  The conditions looked great and I felt like CRAP.  Dan came walking up the inrun and I told him I was thinking about not even jumping, even though I was already sitting on the bar.  He said it's easier to go down on your skis than on your feet.  I told him I wasn't worried about conditions I was worried about my own safety.  The chatting helped break the paralyzing thoughts going through my mind.  I don't ever remember a time when I have quite felt like I did tonight.

 

I...still a bit reluctantly, got the signal from Nick and headed on down the inrun.  I got to the takeoff and pretty much didn't even try to jump.  I figured I would just slide off the endand move into position.  The flight went smoother than I figured it would and riding down the landing hill and through the outrun was much better than I expected.  At the best it was a 30 meter jump on a 40+ meter night.  I had nothing in me thought to try to jump at the takeoff.

 

I walked back up the snow covered stair and Nick commented on hte jump and I told him not to expect much more under the circumstances.  Oh, little did I know.

 

I got up top and didn't wait around as long before I took my second jump.  This time I did jump, fairly close to on time at takeoff.  I didn't have that strong of a jump but it did carry me nicely down the hill. I landed close to 40 meters on the jump.  I was very surprised at how well the jump went.  I was saying to myself going to the end of the outrun that their had to be a kicker on the takeoff cause the inrun isn't that fast and that jump wasn't that good.  It didn't seem like it to me at least.  I told Tom, jokingly, who just rode the landing hill to, watch out for the kicker on the takeoff. He had showed up with one of his high school kids.

 

I walked up for the third jump.  I ended up jumping a bit late on the third jump and didn't have as much in the jump as the previous jump. The fourth jump had even less in it and I was now landing back up around 32-34 meters.

 

I decided I would take at least one more if it was a nice smooth jump I would call it quits.  I was back to dragging my feet on jump four up on the inrun.  Taking my good old time letting myself rest in between jumps.  I put on the skis and knew I wanted to see if I could get myself to jump on time at the takeoff.  I knew if I did that then I would have a nice jump.  Without any real jump at the takeoff I knew I could still get the down if I jumped on time.

 

I got the signal from Nick and started down the inrun.  I started my move at the takeoff and knew I was going to hit the takeoff beautifully.  I pretty nailed the timing right on the money.  If I would have had any kind of power in the move I would have seen my longest jump ever on the K50 by several meters.  As it was without any real power in the move I still managed to land around 36 meters.

 

The nice thing about each of the five jumps tonight was how quite I was in the air.  I don't think I have ever seen myself so quite in the air before and be able to do it so consistently.  I guess having the energy zapped from your body must be useful for something, LOL!!!

 

Well...yes it is March.  The weather forecast is for the snow/freezing rain/sleet mixture to arrive tonight and last through early morning tomorrow before the warm air arrives.  Highs for the weekend now are suppose to be in the lower 50s with the mid and upper 40's most of next week.  I think tonight was the pick night for me this year for jumping on the K50.  I haven't seen conditions that good on the K50 all winter long nad probably not since February last year sometime.  Hopefully Mother Nature will hold out and not do much damage over the next several days.  I am planning on jumping Saturday morning on the K50 before the temperature gets too terribly warm.

 

Crash