SKI JUMPING IN NORWAY.

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 16, 20 November 1906, Page 2

SKI JUMPING IN NORWAY.

In Norway skiing is the national winter sport both of rich and poor. As there may be some of our readers who do not know what a ski is, it may be stated that it consists of a narrow plunk ol‘ wood rounded and curved upward at the*toe, furnished with straps or thongs in or about the middle for fastening to the foot.

It has been used in Norway for centuries as a necessary means of locomotion from one part of the mountainous country to another where Snow lies deep and the roads are buried or unknown.

The great meeting of the year for the sport is held four miles from Christiania on the heights of Holmenkollen and is known as "Hollraenkol” Day. Competitors from all parts of tho country take part in the contests for medals and valuable prizes before 25,000 or 30,000 spectators.

• The leaping contest generally starts at one o’clock and lasts about three hours. Tho slope down which the Jumpers gain momentum is 186 yards in length, while the platform of snow or "hop” from which the leap is made is situated about twothirds of the way down. Notwithstanding its apparent steepness, the anglo of the upper portion, that above the "hop” is only about fifteen degrees, the lower part 24 degrees, and tho descent on ski only occupies from 7 to 9 seconds, of which two or three seconds may* be in the air during the leap. When the jumping competition is to commence a bugle is heard, and a dark spec is seen descending the upper part of the declivity, till the ledge or platform is reached, then, like a ball rebounding from the ground, there shoots, and stretches into the semblance of a man, a figure which, making a curve in the air, alights on the slant beneath, shoots downwards on the level with lightning speed, and finally pulls up by a rapid and graceful turn, facing the hill he has so speedily descended. Words cannot adequately describe the features of such a contest, or the sensations of an observer when he sees the men swooping through the air, and performing a feat which seems impossible. Not long ago a ski runner jumped over a carriage which came in his way. The art of skiing is part of the military training of Norway, and the Ski Corps may often be seen leaving the barracks for a course of training*