Werner Herzog's film about
Walter Steiner (circa 1974-75) shows some remarkable aspects of the sport.
You can see the start of the film here with english subtitles (perhaps all of it)
The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner...
The full film in German can be seen at this
Video.. looking for the Part 2 in English.. which I think would be interesting as this is a very poetic film as well as a very beautiful one. The Slow Motion parts from flying in Planica are truly out of this world.
If you are (or were) a Ski Jumper like me it is fun to see the sport that you knew growing up, and also to notice how it has changed. The equipment is the most different.
Ski Jumping Boots of the early 70's were not much more than basketball shoes. Skis were narrow, bindings were prone to stretch and rebound. Skiing into the track of the inrun required real turning, and tracks were often glaze ice. On top of this, helmets were nearly non-existent.
My time ski flying was 8 to 10 years later than this. Boots were taller, Helmets were on every skier. Suits had transitioned in a few short years through Air Suits (that were subsequently outlawed) to full arm covering suits. Skis got stronger and bindings a bit lighter and more consistent.
Another 30 years have past and the sport has changed more. Cut tracks have become the standard in winter jumping -- an aspect that grew out of the great confidence and safety that was established with Frost Rail was introduced (followed by Porcelain Rail) for summer jumping.
The intro to the Great Ecstasy shows jumping on Plastic with plastic track. The problem plastic had was that it tended to cause deceleration coming into the takeoff (rather than either acceleration or at least maintenance of developed speed). The Plastic track shown also shows the reality that one could not turn into a plastic track the way one could or had to on snow. By 1983, Sit Start were starting to be introduced, again first in the Summer, allowing a much greater control of speed and challenging the best skiers to get to the bottom of the hill with the minimum of takeoff speed.
The biggest visible difference is the "V" method of flying which aerodynamically has turned skiers into flying squirrels and allowed jumping to follow a flatter and safer flight line.
The 1973 Jump shown of Walter Steiner falling at 179
Meters is remarkable. Walter stood at 172 or 174 meters in 1974.
Toni Innauer had one of the most beautiful jumps ever made in 1976 flying 176 meters (clearly with the help of an air suit, but he was the consumate stylist). This was the year that the
East Germans moved inrun arms from the front to the hips and everyone followed suit within the next 12 months at most (perhaps the fastest technique change ever in a sport of "eras" and difficult transitions.) 1980 had skiers matching 176 meters and seeing 180, but it was not until 1983 that 180 was reached, then 1985 Matti Nykannen went 1984 meters (I have a nice photo of this jump in
Oberstdorf). The equipment was pretty much static from 1979 through the late 80's.
In the 1980's frost rail and porcelain track jumping was coming to summer skiing and this brought a tremendous level of control and focus skiers could put towards technique. The takeoff clearly became the area of utmost focus. and the safety of a inset track also allowed more assertive and aggressive moves. The result of improving technique is that the best skiers can fly to the bottom of the hill with less and less speed so the sport became safer and safer. And then Jan Boklav of Sweden got really crazy and pushed his skis away from under him, to bringing them out beside him in the "Boklav" or "V" technique.
Bindings have also changed. Between not knowing the V and not knowing the string corded bindings that replaced the Adidas binding.. and now there is a more logical Wire Track Heel lift coming into the scene (
Simon Amman brought these forward at the Olympics in
Vancouver 2010)... The sport has very few crashes. There are some incredible jumps coming out of the new hill in Vikersund Norway, but truly world wide. Jumping has many fans and many devotees. The Biggest CHANGE of ALL though is the inclusion of WOMEN! Hip Hip Horay! I will give it another 10 years but I'll bet we see open class jumping. To my eye, women can be every bit as good as the men, and likely more so as they are brought into bigger hill and ski flying venues where technique out weights power on the takeoff.
With all this one can in fact, fly like a bird. The current world record (for some reason recorded in a Trial Round) is 246.5 meters. Once we get to 250 one might reasonably say in a 2 day, 4 jump competition that one flew a Kilometer this weekend! Pretty remarkable. And takeoff speeds are considerably less than 60 mph, and the good fliers are likely hitting stable glides at less than 70 miles per hour, and if I am doing the math right, with final flight lines of about 34 degrees. What does this mean? It really means that jumpers are indeed flying squirrels. If the rules on suits were a little "looser" or, lets say "a lot" looser and one could use the inflating jump suits of 1975-1976 we might be talking 50 mile per hour glides.. which is a nice thought but "its not about the suit --- its about the skier". Fly far men and women.
