Snowflake Ski Jump-
Thousands of people are expected to attend the annual Snowflake Ski Club‘s annual ski jumping competition in Timber Coulee near Westby.
Ski jumping teams from America, Norway, Slovenia and Finland are expected to compete, but something will be missing, as it has been from the competition since the end of the 20th Century, a Westby-native competing.
The Westby ski club is working toward developing young people who could someday compete on the home 118 meter Olympic ski hill and beyond. Snowflake Ski Club Vice President Mike Thompson said they’ve recently remodeled four other junior hills and have a new coach who is committed to developing a good training program.
“As a member of the board of the club, my goal is to have a kid from Westby jump off our big hill in our big tournament that we put on,” Thompson said. “That’s something that I really want to see happen soon. The last time I think a club member jumped off our big hill was 1999.”
Westby is one of five ski jumping clubs in the upper Midwest that host annual jumps during January and February. Other clubs on the circuit are in Eau Claire, the Twin Cities, Chicago and the upper peninsula of Michigan. There are 30 ski jumping clubs in the United States stretching from the northeast to the upper Midwest, Rocky Mountain states and Alaska. Those clubs and the sport of ski jumping receive support from an organization called USA Nordic. Signe Jordet is the executive director.
“The sport is growing, and that’s a big goal as a national organization to help the clubs grow, and to grow the sport within the United States,” Jordet said. “It’s been pretty exciting, and there are a couple of new clubs that have started to form, and some new jumps being built, and old jumps being refurbished.”
The future of maintaining ski jumping in Westby has improved greatly. About a decade ago, there was talk of ending the event and club because of a lack of volunteer support and a financial struggle. Thompson said the Snowflake Ski Club is in better shape financially, and has been able to fund many improvements.
“We’re doing a lot better now and our future is extremely bright in my opinion,” Thompson said. “We’ve got money to do some projects, and fix some things up, and we’ve done that recently. More volunteers wouldn’t hurt.”
Thompson said the Snowflake Ski Club is run with a corps group of 15-20 volunteers.
– by John Davis
Episode Credits
- Hope Kirwan Host
- John Davis Producer
- Mike Thompson Guest
- Signe Jordet Guest
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