I am a young and healthy 23 year old who is no stranger to downhill skiing, but I seriously suspect that I would break a few vertebrae and tear some knee ligaments if I ever attempted a long-jump.
Also, are there many cases of serious long jump accidents and/or deaths?
I have nothing to back this up, but I suspect they don’t start at the top of the ramp. Probably start with a small jump and work their way higher up the take-off ramp as they get more comfortable with it.
Well, they don’t start out on the 90m hill. I know there is such a thing as a 10m hill. I’m guessing you start small.
http://www.snowflakeskiclub.com/jumping.html?PHPSESSID=1cbbd1e16b66ddb83bf83ef2675c23e8
Brian
Assuming you are talking about ski jumping (long jumping is a Track and Field event) then the answers above are correct. There are various smaller jumps (we had a 15 and 25 meter hill, and then the big 45 meter hill) to work on before moving up to the big jumps. And keep in mind that for the most part, you aren’t very far from the snow on those jumps so if/when you fall it’s not that big a drop. You’re more likely to get hurt on a GS or Downhill course than on a ski jumping hill.
The biggest hills (120 meters) are called ski flying for obvious reasons. Those are immense.
Don’t you remember “the agony of defeat” part of the start for Wide World of Sports? That guy didn’t die, but his wipe-out on the ramp probably wasn’t pleasant.
FTR, ski jumping is a nordic (cross country skiing) event and not an alpine (downhill) event.
Through natural selection. They take maybe 50 or 60 people and shove them down the ramp. The ones that aren’t crippled are sent down again to weed out the lucky ones. Usually by the fifth or sixth shot, the people left standing are the ones with the natural aptitude and they then undergo more rigorous training.
I always thought that was pretty cool the way the Olympic skiiers seem to just hover right above the ground as the hill falls away from them, essentially at the same rate (slope?) as they are. Do you know how far from the ground they are? Obviously, at the landing, the distance is zero, and it is at a maximum as they leave the ramp, but there seems to be a fairly long middle part where they are at a pretty consistant distance from the slope.
IIRC the jumpers are between 5 and 10 meters from the snow during jumps. These are from the 70 and 90 meter hills. In ski flying (120 meter jumps) they are quite a bit further off the snow.
While falls aren’t pretty, you are generally falling with the slope. In alpine racing you often fall away from sloping terrain, into obstacles and netting, which is quite a bit more dangerous.
BTW, Vinko Bogataj (the agony of defeat guy) suffered a concussion but was otherwise OK. Really bad injuries are uncommon in ski jumping, but obviously they happen from time to time.
Well, one way is to jump in to a lake. (No, really!). Many years ago there used to be a Participation-type bit on TV here with this girl skiiing down a ramp (which looked to be composed of wood, with many groups of plastic bristles coming up from it), then doing a flip before landing in the lake at the end.
I don’t know any more about it than that unfortunately, and all my Google searches end up trying to give me lessons on water skiing. :dubious:
Well, that won’t train your for ski jumping. Landing in water is for freestyle jumpers.
I went to ski jump school… once. I wasn’t particularly interested, despite growing up near Vikersund (where Norway’s ski flying hill is). We started out on a “home made” hill. Just a small jump made from packed snow.
I’ve also participated in local competitions on slightly larger hills made the same way, and made such jumps myself. I’ve only ever used regular cross country skis though, and never jumped longer than a couple dozen feet.
They do this at Lake Placid; they call it “hot dogging”. During the summer months they’ll hold ski competitions where the skiers go down one of three wood & metal ramps, fly off the end, and do all manner of flips/spins/positions/what-have-you before splashing down in a pool. They’re then judged according to various factors such as the quality of the crap they did, the size of the splash, etc.
It’s like Olympic diving on skis. Very entertaining to watch, and all the more so when you see for your self just how odd it looks to watch somebody skiing in a swimsuit. 
I’ve read elsewhere, and it is consistent with what others have said above, that a ski jumper isn’t very high off the ground during the jump. Still, although there wouldn’t be a significant impact of the body hitting the snow, there would be considerable road rash as the skiier ass-over-elbowed his way down to the bottom, especially since they’re wearing something about the thickness of plastic wrap.
I’d still like to try it, but wouldn’t because of my fear of heights. The scariest part for me would be sitting on that little bench way at the top of the ramp and starting down the slope- once I caught air, though- man, that would be cool.
The scariest part for me would be sitting up there and STARING down the slope.
But I know there wouldn’t be any real danger, because as soon as I finished peeing in my pants, I’d get off the bench, climb down and go home!
One summer on vacation in Oslo, my father and I went to the big ski jump there, Holmenkollen. We took the elevator and stairs to the very top and looked down.
That was a long way down. The bottom of the jump was filled with water since it was May.
Actually, you would probably end up frozen to the bench. I was skiing many years ago and the chairlift stopped half way up the hill for about 5 minute. When we finally reached the top one of the chairlift operators said a woman peed her pants and was frozen to the seat.
Gee, I don’t know what to say to this. Except that maybe that would be me as well.
I absolutely can’t think of anything else to say. But I will note this, and if I ever get into that situation, I will bring both a crowbar and an extra pair of pants.
My gosh, you are serious, aren’t you? This actually happened!
Landing onto something horizontal means that you go SPLAT as you suddenly come to a stop.
Landing on something with a high angle means that you do not go splat, but rather that your trajectory changes somewhat and you gradually come to a stop as you slide or bounce down the hill.
Now have a look at the steep slope of the hill where ski jumpers land.
Anyone want to buy a world class ski jmping facility? There’s one in my town that was built for the World Nordic Games about a decade back that has been mothballed.
As mentioned, to train for freestyle skiing they use ski jumps that terminate in a swimming pool or lake.
How much more distance do jumpers get by positioning their skis in a “V” pattern as opposed to keeping their skis straight?
