Jumping UP

Ski club looks at plastic runs, other improvements to make hill a year-round attraction

By L. MATTHEW SNYDER, Journal Ishpeming Bureau
ISHPEMING — When author Peter Stark wrote about Suicide Hill in the January 1985 issue of Outside magazine, he described the three jumps that rose above a ridge between Ishpeming and Negaunee.


At the time, the tallest jump was a 70-meter jump, which Stark appropriately called by the hill’s namesake. He only half-jokingly referred to the 50-meter jump as “Homicide” and the smallest — the 30-meter peewee hill — he called “Pesticide.”


In the two decades that have passed since Stark’s visit to Ishpeming, the ski hill has added two more jumps. And there are no longer 70-, 50- or 30-meter jumps; each of those three has grown taller.


Tom Petersen, president of the Ishpeming Ski Club, said another transformation is under way at the hill. He said the club would like to use the hill for year-round training and competition, and expand the the types of skiing currently available.


“We met earlier this year and decided that we needed to change the focus towards using this as a youth facility,” he said. “We want to have equipment and coaches available to them.”


Becoming a four-season facility will help make this possible, Petersen said.


Volunteers and ski club members worked last week to build decking on the 40-meter hill. Until now, the hill has been little more than a grassy slope for three seasons of the year, useable only in the winter when adequate snowfall makes it possible for skiers to train.


The decking is a framework designed so that the club can tack a network of rigid plastic panels onto the run, Peterson said.


“This plastic run will allow us to train and compete year round,” he said.


According to Petersen, two parallel stainless steel tracks will run down the center of the jump, with the grooves guiding an athlete’s skis.


“During the winter, we just pack the snow down on top of the decking and use it like any of our other hills,” he said.


The 100-meter jump, the largest on the hill, is reserved for annual competitions and the 60-meter jump is used for Junior Olympics competition. In addition to the 40-meter jump, 20- and 10-meter runs exist.


“The 10-meter is for the little guys,” Petersen said, holding his hand out flat  about three feet off the ground.


Ray Hocking, the ski club’s part-time coach, is an accomplished jumper and an example of what the club would like to accomplish with youths in the area.


“I moved up here from Texas when I was in middle school,” Hocking said. “And I needed something to do in the winter, so I started jumping.”


Hocking said dry-land training, team-building exercises and extracurricular events will be part of the club’s training process.


Petersen and Hocking said alternative activities being considered for the hill include setting aside space for downhill skiing and snowboarding, a skate park, and refurbishing the cross-country trails that once existed on the club’s property.


“(Northern Michigan University’s nordic skiing) Coach (Sten) Fjeldheim  calls that course ‘The Grinder’ because of how tough it is,” Petersen said.


Petersen also said the hill has enough equipment and coaching capability to outfit 30 youngsters who want to try ski jumping.


“We can bring the sport to many youth, and maybe with the other activities we have planned we can act as a feeder to Marquette Mountain,” Petersen said.


The club has embarked on ambitious fund-raising projects and with the help of local loans and donated materials, is transforming the space into a year-round facility.


“Eventually, we’d like to have plastic decks on all five runs,” Petersen said.