Jumping News

Registration for 2018/2019 Ford Sayre winter programs is now open. >> Register Now  To get more information, please check out our Registration page.  To learn more about our various programs, please go to the home page, and select the desired program. If you have any difficulties or questions, please send an email to info@FordSayre.org.Continue reading →

Team East was at the Junior Nationals for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined in Anchorage.  This is a team of kids who don’t train at altitude, who in many cases have learned ski jumping without a home hill where jumps over K50 are available.  They have been coached by a committee of various coaches from different clubs and a ton of traveling is required to train.  It speaks to the drive of the athletes, flexibility of schools, committed parents, and most of all to a culture of community in jumping and nordic combined.

The team won U-16 Jumping, U-16 Nordic Combined, Team Jumping, U-20 Nordic Combined, silver in U-16 team Nordic Combined, and a bronze in U-20 team Nordic Combined.

Evan Nichols from Ford Sayre was first in U-16 Nordic Combined individual, second in team U-16 team Nordic Combined, and won gold with his U-20 team jumping team of four.  He was disappointed by his fourth in U-16 individual special jumping.  He flew further than some who made the podium, but he lost a spot due to style.  He missed bronze by 0.3 points.

 

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Please check out this great article on the Ford Sayre Ski Jumping program from our local Kid Stuff magazine:

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by Dick Nelson [in 1975?]

Though most people don’t realize it, the Upper Valley is the birthplace of modern skiing in the United States.

Sure, the biggest areas in New England now are in central Vermont or north central New Hampshire.  And the biggest areas of all are out in the Rockies.  But it all started here.

To wit:

– The first ski tow of any kind in the United States was installed in Woodstock, Vermont, near the present site of the Mt. Tom and Suicide Six ski area, in January, 1934.

– The original ski “lift” in the country was built at Hanover’s Oak Hill in the fall of 1935.  That J-bar, which is still in operation, was the first device constructed in the United States which “lifted” skiers with power from the rear instead of traction from the front as provided by rope tows.

– Although one of the first chair lifts in the country was built (and is still operating) at the Gunstock Ski Area in Gilford, N.H., parts of that lift were purchased by Ernie Dion for his Snowcrest Ski Area in Enfield and are still being used in the lift in what is now Whaleback.

Yep, there’s a lot of skiing history in the Upper Valley.

In Woodstock, the era of the rope tow is being left far behind these days.  The name of the two areas has been updated this year to Woodstock’s Tom and Six and a spanking new chair lift installed at what was Suicide Six.

But a reminder of skiing’s past still remains in the form of his historic site marker presented in 1964 by Vermont Gov. Philip Hoff to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the tow’s installation.

The marker sits at the foot of Clinton Gilbert’s pasture on Rt. 12 in Woodstock, midway between the two areas. It reads:

“In January 1934, on this pasture hill of Clinton Gilbert’s farm, an endless rope tow powered by a Model T Ford engine hauled skiers uphill for the first time.  This ingenious contraption launched a new era in winter sports.”

Banana Hauler?

The J-bar at Oak Hill is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month and its still getting people up the hill just like it did back during that first winter, when more than 40,000 skiers rode uphill on it.  But to indicate how times have changed, the construction price of that original left was only $3,300 – or about enough to buy one chair on today’s lifts.  In addition, the surroundings of the J-bar have altered over time.

 

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Ford Sayre parent Edie Morgan wrote this great article for the Ski Racing blog on the Alpine Summer Dryland Program.

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