Calgary Ski Jumps useless?

[Hack&Lube]

I just saw a program on TSN which was very disappointing. It was about the state of ski jumping in Canada. Already, the program has almost no budget plus they have to travel out of country (eating up more budget) since Calgary's ski jumps are too antiquated for today's standards and the iconic big jump is closed and grasses and weeds and rust are growing.

Is this true?

[Hack&Lube]

sorry wrong section, mods move please!

[keratosis]

N/m

[troutman]

Not smart to put it in the way of the prevailing chinook winds from the west.

[McG]

wasn't there funding announced to re-establish COP for 2010 training?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by troutman

Not smart to put it in the way of the prevailing chinook winds from the west.

Yeah, horrible positioning there. It's too bad, but that's pretty much the only white elephant of the Olympic venues, which is a lot more than Montreal (or a lot of Olympic cities) can say. I remember when they were trying to win the Canadian bid for the 2002 Games, there was a plan to build a roof/wind-shield over the ski jumps.

Originally Posted by McG

wasn't there funding announced to re-establish COP for 2010 training?

I don't think that involved the ski jumps, but I could be wrong. I know there are plans for a new rink and stuff at COP. I thought the Canadian ski jump team is training in Quebec at least until the jumps in Vancouver are ready.

[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by troutman

Not smart to put it in the way of the prevailing chinook winds from the west.

Yeah exactly. From what I have heard the jumps themselves are fine and would be great to use....but for the direction they face and the crazy ass winds that effect them because of that.

[ricoFlame]

Originally Posted by troutman

Not smart to put it in the way of the prevailing chinook winds from the west.

i wonder if they are forced to jump in the wind if ski jumpers prefer a quartering wind or what. i never really though of this, but the wind makes it tough to find an adequate location in calgary, i wonder what a better location would have been. very interesting.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by ricoFlame

i wonder if they are forced to jump in the wind if ski jumpers prefer a quartering wind or what. i never really though of this, but the wind makes it tough to find an adequate location in calgary, i wonder what a better location would have been. very interesting.

A side wind is probably the best possible option, you wouldn't want either a head wind (which could make the jumps dangerously short) or a tail wind (which could make the jumps dangerously long). The problem is that the Chinook winds can reach almost hurricane force at times, so I don't think that jumping in heavy winds in any direction is particularly safe.

I believe that Salt Lake built their jumps into the profile of a mountain, which would probably have been a better idea (although the Chinooks played havok with the skiing events at Nakiska too), rather than having them standing unprotected on the side of the hill at Paskapoo.

[Hack&Lube]

the program didn't mention the winds, but the fact the jumps were too short for international standards of today and therefore the big jump is closed.

[fanforever1986]

Yea I worked at COP, the largest of the 3 ski jumps is out dated and no longer usable for world cup comps or training. The smaller jumps are still used.

The problem is the airtime jumpers are getting today is longer than the runout that the calgary jumps to allow...so basically if they went flying off they'd land on flat ground and kill themselves, which kinda takes the fun out of it. The 90 meter tower is now being used for the skyline...which is a ridiculously fast and long (fastest and longest in the world actually) zipline. So they've at least found another use for it.

[TheCommodoreAfro]

Well, I did actually tie the knot in the big ski jump, so to my mind they're not useless.
But of all of the winter sports Canada has performed well at since the Calgary Olympics, ski jumping just never took off. Looks like what they say about having the training venues leads to medals is true.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Well, since we'll have new jumps in BC after 2010, I'm more than happy to concede the training camp to them for ski jumping. Let's just keep the speedskating and other centers of excellence....

[fanforever1986]

If you go check out the olympic hall of fame at COP, there's an artists vision of COP in 2014(i think)...The layout of the whole hill is different...looks really sharp.

[Tron_fdc]

The 90m ski jump still serves a purpose at COP.....the seating areas were gutted and used for the mtn bike park!