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)

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Jumping Journal: January 05, 2010

A new decade.  Oh yeah, same old jumping.
 
After the shortest December in history of ski jumping...one jump that I didn't even complete without falling.  The rest of the month saw cold weather, not normal for December around here since I moved up here in the fall of 2000.  January gets cold but December never drops below zero...at least not until 2009.  Their wasn't much natural snow but the cold temperatures let the snow guns run like a mad man for days on end without stopping.  The hills just never got put into shape.  I think today was the second time anyone had jumped in Lebanon so far this winter.  From what I heard afterwards it sounds like the 50 is in okay shape, I've also heard it needs some more snow on the landing hill between 33 and 43 meters.  Not sure who to believe.  Given the way we used to jump the 50 it is more than likely okay to jump now.  I guess they are planning on jumping it Thursday evening.  Not sure what I'll be doing yet.
 
I went for the wild trip tonight.  It's been a long time since I joined the Sunapee High School ski jumping team for a trip up to Lebanon for practice.  I don't think I have did that since 2001.  Sunapee had typically been jumping either at the 'home hill' in Newport or at Andover.  Ron wanted to get the boys off the K25 before the high school jump meet tomorrow night on a, roughly, K22 in Plymouth.
 
Ihey had moved my skis at the start of the regular ski season.  Normally I just keep them in the entry way out by the back deck.  They like to keep that area clean during the ski season so they had moved them elsewhere.  I first tried the jump inn to find my key to the jump inn didn't work anymore.  After I got back down to the lodge I thought they might have put them upstairs where some of the kids store their skis between jump sessions.  I walked upstairs and sure enough their they were.
 
I suited up and made my way out to the hill.  The kids were starting to ride the landing hill.  I decided to wait and just head up when they headed up.
 
It was going to be the fun night of skiing in a track.  Gee, kinda like summer jumping with snow, HA!  After one of the kids set track I walked up and put my skis on.  I notice most of his track was pretty decent except for right up top he didn't get into his inrun position very quickly and as a result one leg went out to the side and then came back in to where it should be.  I decided to not follow his exact track up top and instead see what I could do to straighten things out.
 
I got the signal from Ron and headed down the inrun.  Everything seemed fine until I was about 2/3rds of the way down.  I didn't realize it until a jump or two later what was going on.  Turns out there was a bit of a divot on one of the ski tracks.  This was throwing quite a few jumpers off including me.  From the 2/3rds mark on down I was trying to get back some symbolance of normallacy.  I jumped at the takeoff and had a so-so jump, nothing spectacular by a long shot.  I landed and did notice I was trying to drop the head and managed to pull it back up and ride out the outrun without any trouble.
 
I went up for the second jump, still not knowing about the divot.  It ended up pretty much the same way.  It was a small bit better but I was still losing it at the divot and letting the hands drops on the inrun.  Ron commented about the divot and Nick commented dropping the hands.  It was a bit of a surprise to see Nick coaching on the 25, normally he coaches on the 50.
 
Each of the remaining jumps the rest of the evening got slightly better when it came to getting used to the divot.  I was still getting thrown by it and it causing me to lose a small amount of control over the skis.  Right before my sixth and final jump of the evening one of the former Sunapee jumpers, Andrew, took the rake to the divot area.  I do think he did help it out some.
 
I headed down the inrun and didn't notice it quite as much as before.  I jumped at the takeoff and landed fine but somewhere around the transition I lost it BIG TIME.  I ended up tumbling two or three times.  At one point I could feel both legs on the verge of giving in.  The only thought going through my mind was, "Will I be able to get up, yet alone walk, once I stop tumbling."  I would have to say it was the second worst crash I've taken in the nine years I've been jumping.  After I stopped moving I got up quickly but I wasn't moving quickly as I could feel it rather nicely behind my right knee and also even more so in the left ankle.  Even now 3 hours later the ankle still hasn't swollen one little bit but I still feel it quite nicely.  The knee is a dull roar right now to say the least. It still seems like it isn't in the ankle as much as around the the ankle, especially in front of the ankle.
 
I'm hoping I didn't get stuffed out again.  I've been wanting to jump the Plymouth jump for years.  I've had one goal to try jump all the currently, since I started jumping in January 2001, active jump towns in the northeastern US.  The only two that I haven't jumped yet are Plymouth and Brattleboro.  Brattleboro is mostly known for the K87 it has.  That one doesn't bother me as much by a long shot as Plymouth does.  I may miss it again this year.  I'll have to wait and see how the foot feels tomorrow to decide whether I will try to jump it or not.  As of right now, I wouldn't.  Hopefully that will change overnight tonight.  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