170 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 4, inl¬ 
and we would see what progress the jobber was 
making. 
On the way home I told Pascal that some day 
I was going to write up our adventures, but he 
said that if I did no one would believe them. 
He asserted that if getting flooded out and then 
burned out in a tent in winter had not actually 
happened to him, and if someone else had told 
him of such happenings, he would have known 
right away in what category to place the nar¬ 
rator. 
He finally concluded, however, that if these 
adventures had not really happened, no one could 
have thought long enough or hard enough to 
get up such a combination of fire and flood, and 
I dare say that he has since regaled many a 
camp-fire with the story of our experiences. 
I have heard from him during the last year, 
and he tells me that the caribou have never come 
back to the barrens in numbers as we saw them 
on the first trip, but he offers no explanation for 
this. 
Ski Jumping 
By E. A. DIME 
H OW would you like to shoot down a nar¬ 
row, slippery slide from a steel scaffold 
eighty feet high, and then leap out into 
the air over an incline 150 feet high and al¬ 
most perpendicular? 
Just imagine yourself performing this feat with 
a pair of long flat boards fastened to your feet, 
traveling at the rate of forty miles an hour, and 
you may get some idea of the sport of ski jump¬ 
ing_a pastime in which the Scandinavian peopie 
of the Northwest find a great deal of sport. 
Truly this is a dangerous sport, because every 
time the skier jumps he takes his life in his 
hands, for if he should fail to keep his balance 
while leaping through space, it is possible he 
may wind up with a broken neck. \ et the 
Scandinavians see no more danger in their na¬ 
tional pastime than we do in baseball, which is 
a very tame affair when compared to the excite¬ 
ment and thrills of ski jumping. 
Jn many parts of the Scandinavian peninsula 
skis are used as a means of travel, especially 
among the people living in the mountains. The 
heavy snowfalls for which Sweden and Norway 
are known cover the earth to a depth of seveial 
feet, and it would be practically impossible for 
the traveler to get anywhere without skis. 
Gradually skiing came to be a national winter 
sport in the Scandinavian countries, and interest 
in it has been steadily increasing. Especially 
has the broad jump been developed to a very 
high degree, and in the opinion of the most 
famous ski jumpers the length of the broad 
jump cannot be increased to any considerable 
extent. The laws and forces of nature will not 
permit it. But that there will appear phenome¬ 
nal skiers, both in the jump and long distance 
skiing, is natural and self-evident. 
The long and steep mountain sides in these 
Northern countries offer conditions which have 
made skiing a decidedly thrilling pastime. The 
skier will choose a suitable point on some hill 
or mountain side, and from there make his de¬ 
scent. Down he goes, gaining speed with every 
foot. Sometimes the glide goes over compara¬ 
tively level stretches, then again there is a very 
steep decline and it looks as if the ski runner 
was shooting down the side of a precipice. 
Down he slides, the wind whistling in his ears 
as he cuts the crisp mountain air at express 
train speed, until the “take-off” or start for the 
broad jump begins. In jumping, the skier shoots 
right out into the air and may sail on through 
space for a distance of about 150 feet before he 
again strikes snow. When he does land, it is 
upon a very steep incline, and if he is able to 
stand on his legs at this crucial moment, he has 
performed a marvelous feat. 
Skiing with its joys and thrills, has been tians- 
planted on American soil by the sturdy Norse¬ 
men. For a number of years the Scandinavians 
of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have 
held skiing tournaments, which are replete with 
excitement and interest. The nerve and daring 
displayed at these tournaments seem to go al¬ 
most beyond human reckoning, and no circus 
act has ever held spectators more spellbound 
than has the slides made by the ski jumpers. 
Enthusiasts by the thousand come from far and 
near to witness these events. 
To get an idea of the fascination for which 
this class of sport -is known, I visited one of 
the tournaments held by the Twin City Ski Club 
in Minneapolis. This club has erected the Glen- 
wood Hill steel scaffold and cable slide, near 
Keegan’s Lake, in the outskirts of the city. In 
a country where there are no suitable hills foi 
the slide and jumps to be made, it becomes 
necessary to erect a scaffold from which the 
skiers slide preparatory to the broad jump. The 
Glenwood Hill scaffold and slide is the highest 
in the world, and to behold a skier slide down 
the narrow slippery trail, make the famous jump 
and then land on the steep incline, make a spec¬ 
tacle worth going miles to see. The scaffold 
consists of a steel tower eighty feet high. From 
the top leads the slide 130 feet long and pitched 
at an angle of sixty-five degrees. On top of the 
scaffold is a platform where the men adjust 
their skis. The slide and tower are supported 
by four steel cables and several guy ropes which 
make the entire structure rigid and free from 
a swaying motion, while the skier makes his 
descent. The slide is seven feet four inches 
wide. The cross sections on which snow is 
placed are composed of hardwood and pine 
planks six and eight inches wide and of two 
thicknesses to prevent the snow from sliding 
off the structure. The lower end of the slide 
with a slightly upward turn rests about four 
feet above the apex of a steep hill, down which 
the jump is to be made. The incline of the hill 
is about 150 feet with a pitch equal to that of 
the steel slide. At the foot of the hill is the 
“dead man’s curve,” the lowest point in the 
valley, and from which the ground takes an 
upward turn, forming the side of another hill. 
In order to make a successful jump, the skier 
starts from the scaffold platform, glides down 
the slide, shoots out over the apex of the hill 
(the distance from where he leaves the scaffold 
until he lands on the snow may vary anywhere 
from seventy-five to 150 feet), strikes the in¬ 
cline and remains on his feet, then continues- 
the slide until he has passed the curve. To do- 
this requires both nerve and long experience. 
For an amateur to attempt the feat would be 
foolish. The most difficult part that the broad 
jumper has to perform is to maintain his foot¬ 
ing after he has alighted on the snow-covered 
incline of the hill. Coolness in the air and the 
poise of his body determine the success of this 
feat. The best professional ski jumpers in 
America say that it is very difficult to keep cool 
in the air, and when one fails to estimate cor¬ 
rectly the descent a fall is unavoidable. 
In order to obtain a good score, a skier has 
to remain on his feet throughout the entire flight 
and he has to display a graceful carriage. In a 
skiing tournament each contestant makes three 
jumps. The first is a trial jump and no score 
is taken; the other two count. To the number 
of feet which'the jumper makes are added so- 
many points of character, which means the 
gracefulness the jumper displays in the air. As 
a matter of illustration, let us say that the skier 
makes a distance of 100 feet in one jump and is 
given by the judges eighteen points for char¬ 
acter; this makes 118. In the other jump he 
covers a distance of no feet and is given nine¬ 
teen points for character, making for this jump 
129. His score in the contest would be the sum 
of the two totals or 247 points. Should a skier 
make a wonderfully broad jump and be so un¬ 
fortunate as to fall, he would be entirely out of 
the running, since he would lose 33 1/3 P er cen b 
of the feet made, and would be given no points 
on character. The distance reckoned in the' 
broad jump is from the lower end of the slide 
or “take-off” to a point near the center of the 
skis on which the jumper alights. 
The best skis are made of hickory, birch or 
oak. They should be so long that the skier can 
barely reach the end of them with his fingers 
when the skis stand upright. They should also 
be very flexible at the center, as these two con¬ 
ditions prevent the skier from getting stuck 
when he lands in deep and loose snow. Many 
of our most daring skiers, who have not given 
any attention to this, have had bad falls, espe¬ 
cially so since they are the most eager to bend 
forward in the downward leap which is neces¬ 
sary to do. 
Heavy skis, which are more steady in the air, 
are preferable for broad jumps, and neither the 
pressure of the air nor the wind will exert any 
disturbing influence on the handling of heavy 
skis. The length of the jump depends upon the 
weight of the skier, the speed with which he 
comes down the slide and the position he holds 
as he bounds forth into the air. He generally 
comes down the slide in a crouching position, 
going at the rate of from forty to forty-five 
miles per hour, and as he leaves the slide he 
gives himself an extra bounce, which shoots him 
into space as far as possible. 
Wishing to ascertain the sensations felt by 
those who participate in this thrilling sport, I 
asked O. O. Jonnum, president of hte Twin City 
Ski Club, for his impressions. Mr. Jonnum, who 
is a former national champion jumper, having 
made a record jump of 130 feet in 1907, said: 
