On the End of a Fabulous Era

In some ways, I'm sure you felt the same when you heard that the Space Shuttle program was coming to an end. Something you'd grown up with was suddenly no longer. Well, it's with great sadness that we announce that our trusty K18 meter Ski Jump, or Flugschanze, has been dismantled. Much like the Space Shuttle, the parts from the structure will be sold at auction in order to buy new clothing and food for Coaches Bliss, McCahill and Colby-- all of whom have had a challenging time dealing with the traumatic event.

Why, do you ask, was our perfectly good K18 meter hill dismantled? Well, the good folks at ORDA deemed the perpetually wilting Freestyle Judges Tower adjacent our jump to be unsafe, and it's to be brought down on the very ground on which our trusty jump lays. The Freestyle Hill itself will be re-graded and the knoll lowered, again with hundreds of tons of fill cascading into the ravine which used to overshadow talented up and coming Grasshoppers. So that's it. New Freestyle Hill. K18 meter gone-zo.

But wait, is that it?!

No.

There's more.

Fear not.

Behold, the new site of the K8 and K20 meter NYSEF/ORDA Flugschanzen:

See the light post on the right, illuminating the K48? That'll be the top of the new K20. The jumps will face down the fall line towards the K90 and K120 outruns, aiming jumpers to the right of the lift shack.

There's no doubt, it'll be a great setup. Coaches will be able to easily bounce between the smaller hills and the the K48, and it'll be a total blast having athletes on the K20 and K120 at once. We'll need a traffic control tower with all those long flights coming in! Larry Stone has already volunteered for this position.

We'll have plastic, of course, on both hills. It should be a phenomenal development complex, that when finished, will look something like this.

But, credit is due where it's most certainly due. We're sure going to miss that old K18. Every NYSEF Coach grew up learning the tricks of the trade on that old slide, and it became the launching pad for such sporting greats as Bill Demong, Lowell Bailey, Peter Frenette, Chris Lamb, Nick Alexander, and Wenceslas Etzol.

Here's a little photo gallery we've assembled as a tribute to our old friend, the LP K18.

Super Heroes!

Matt White, mid flight during a Grasshopper Cup Tele-Tournee

Our very first "Learn to Fly Wednesday"! Pete Frenette (far right in green) graced us with his presence.

Coach Bliss helping Zackary Katterman onto the bar

Landon Livreri, in his Tele-Tournee Leader's Bib. Behold the foreshadowing of the ominous Freestyle Judges' Tower, lurking in the background--ready to thwart K18 jumping at any moment!

Grasshopper Camp rulez. So did our K18.

And of course, we couldn't forget this.

Or, this:

So K18 jumping is finished for the season, we believe at least until the snow flies. The decision to dismantle the hill came as a complete surprise to us; we thought it was to take place after summer jumping had wrapped up. We'll send folks updates about revised practices, so stay tuned!

--The NYSEF SJ/NC Crew