"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
New Heights, Online
the electronic newsletter of
Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping
The Lost Articles

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The November-December 1997 issue of New Heights ("the Mouthpiece of Eastern Ski Jumping") was composed, printed, stapled, stamped and delivered to the Post Office, where it fell into a black hole. Here is some of the material from the missing issue.

CONTENTS
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A Tribute to Gerry Austin
by Dan "Mouse" Warner

He was a short, stout, rough around the edges sort of guy...
There he stood in the old Judges Tower at Gunstock in February 1971. We were at the Gunstock Invitational 70 Meter Ski Jump. It was my first time to jump the "big hill". On the trip over from Rumford Coach Austin had kept our minds off the task at hand by loosening us up with a few stories from "the old days" (pre-60's). My favorite was: "One day we was at Berlin, ya' see. Gerald Brown asked me what the hammer, nails and marshmallows were for. 'Give me about three minutes and I'll show ya', I says. So I proceeds to drive a nail through each of my old wooden Northlands. "Watch this, Gerald" I says and I stuck the two marshmallows, one on each tip, jumped into the track, yelled "Yee-Haw" and off I went. After nailing the end of the jump, I sailed into the air, over the knoll and headed for the K-point. In perfect form I reached out with my mouth and ate both those marshmallows... and landed with a perfect telemark to the roar of the crowd!"

Now it was my turn to jump at the Big Gunstock Hill. I was only about 4'2" and 80 pounds (like I said it was 1971!). Anyhow Coach Austin looked up there and said "Look, there's a mouse in the house." He gave me the flag and away I went. On July 3, John "Gerry" Austin passed away. I am only one of the old ski jumpers who had the pleasure of being around Gerry. He was hands down the best story teller ever, in addition to being a coach, volunteer, father and grandfather of jumpers, preparer of hills and an awesome character. He was a part of the ski jumping scene for 50 of his 69 years. We'll miss ya', Gerry!

(editors note: Thanks for a great tribute "Mouse". I bet some folks always wondered where that name came from. We'll all miss Gerry and his contribution to not only the jumping scene but Rumford and yankee life in general. He was one of a kind! Our condolences to the Austins.)

"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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What is a Grasshopper?
by Marshall Ambrose, JIII, Lebanon Outing Club

It is a leaping insect with powerful hind legs adapted for jumping. Maybe I should ask the question differently. "What is a Lake Placid Grasshopper?" Answer: a kid with powerful hind legs adapted for jumping.

I was lucky to have had the opportunity to attend the two grasshopper camps sponsored by NYSEF this summer in Lake Placid. I did a lot of jumping with great instruction and advice from coach Larry Stone, but also had the opportunity to try out some other fun activities as well. We raced down the jump driveway on road luges, hopped on the trampoline, swam in the freestyle pool, watched world cup jumping during lunch breaks, mountain biked and went for a hike that ended with jumping off large boulders into a pond. My favorite special activity was when I got to ride the outrun of the K-90 hill. This was a great rush, especially when I felt that my helmet started to lift off my head halfway down the hill! Larry videotaped our jumping practices and had us doing a lot of imo's which helped me learn and become a better jumper. I know I still have a lot to work on before I am a really good jumper, but at least now I know what I have to work on. Thanks Larry!

"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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Stoney's Corner
by Larry Stone, NYSEF/Eastern Jumping Coach

It's been a while since our last issue and a busy summer season has come and gone. We had a successful series of camps and Lake Placid saw a lot of jumping. The two Grasshopper camps turned out well but I was disappointed with the lack of 40 meter skiers in the JIII age group. Next year we hope to have some kind of porcelain or marble track like the St. Paul hill on our K-48. Reports have been very good on the way that new (and relatively inexpensive) system worked. Even so, the new plastic inrun was a much better ski surface than the old plastic and some skiers like Jonathan Kling, Morgan Goodwin, Chris Decker and Marie Pierre Morin were able to log a lot of rides and make some serious improvement over the course of the summer. In addition, Willi Graves, newcomer Craig Murray and Marshall Ambrose made their 40 meter plastic debut flights. Kudos to the Lebanon Outing Club for getting their K-25 meter hill up and running with plastic from the old Lake Placid hill. John Farnham and company deserve a great deal of credit for getting another plastic facility going.

The 97-98 season comps and camps are all set and included for your information in the issue. [ See Schedule ] The New Hampshire High School camp will kick things off up here on Dec. 5-7. Look over the schedule, plan when you need the OTC and let me know in writing well in advance. The JO Qualifiers are noted and if you have any questions about them, please call me. The Olympic Trial Events, now called the Gold Cup, will preclude us from the OTC Dec. 29 - Jan. 3 and Jan. 17-18, when World Cup Freestyle comes to town. It should be an exciting time to see the best ski racers and jumpers in the country as they prepare to go to Nagano.

During September we took a contingent of jumpers to Chicago and the East did well (see Ryan Cutter's article). Young Jeremy Carter turned some heads and transplanted Kyle Wylie (now attending NSA and skiing for the East) also did a great job. Jim Carter accompanied us as an assistant coach and was a big help.

The October Flaming Leaves Festival showcased some great jumping. The women turned in good performances and Casey Colby just missed beating out one of Norway's best, Kent Johanson in the AubuchonElimination Jump and did beat him in the Friday meet to win the National Ranking Meet. The East did not have a particularly good showing in the National Ranking List (NRL) Meet and points out a need for more development and, in my mind, particularly the need for a summer (and winter) hill in the K-65 meter range. Our summer six week camp also shows that we only have two of our OTC qualified jumpers who are able to participate, whereas the other divisions have 6 - 8 each (excluding the Nordic Combined group of Demong, Van Loan and Hinkley who are now training with Tom Steitz's Blob group under Chris Gilbertson). There is a group coming up but at this point they are a few steps away from being OTC qualified. The good news is that we did have a new group of juniors enter the testing program that is the basis for National Ranking. This occured during the Flaming Leaves week and saw juniors like Chris Decker, the Carters, Morgan Goodwin, Jonathan Kling, Geoff Howe and John Farnham get into the system. That is good but we need to maintain these youngsters in a productive training program so they can benefit from the OTC and the new ranking system.

One other skier who deserves special mention from this corner is Bill Demong who has caught fire this summer and is skiing at a very high level. Bill had a great result in Austria in August placing 4th against some of the best Combined skiers in the world and followed it up with some good skiing in a pre-Olympic visit to Nagano with the Combined Team in October. Carl Van Loan also got to travel with the top team this summer on a visit to Norway and got some valuable experience. We wish them and the rest of our Eastern contingent - Tim Tetreault, Casey Colby and Taylor Hoffman the best of luck going into this Olympic year. That's all for now. See you on the hill!

"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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The Road to Norge
by Ryan Cutter, JI, Hanover, NH

For me the trip began on a Wednesday Afternoon in good old Hanover, NH. I hopped in the car and arrived in Lake Placid three hours later. Jim Carter was already there preparing the van for Stoney's strict 6:00 departure time. At 6:45 the van was finally packed and we headed for Lake Placid's own health food restaurant, McDonald's. At 7:45 we where finally off for the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove, IL. The van ride was both interesting and entertaining. We managed to pass the time with multiple "chinese fire drills" (when everyone gets out and runs around the van on a red light) and the comedy of Adam Sandler. Eighteen hours later our fearless leaders, Jim Carter and Stoney pulled into the Norge Ski Club. Stoney decided to inflict a light plyo work out and have us set up "Camp East" at the base of the jump. The next morning the eastern team was "wide awake and eager" as we headed to breakfast. After breakfast it was time to warm up and do imo's before trying out the mighty K-64! The jump reminds me of the old plastic on the landing hill of the Lake Placid 40 meter. Norge is not the smoothest jump in the world but it is still a fun jump. After two days of training the hill had managed to consume Molly "coaches daughter" Stone to a leg injury and LP's Morgan Goodwin to a hand injury (which didn't stop him from competing!).

Sunday morning came and everyone was eager for the competition. Noon: we began warming up with a game of soccer and some imo's with Stoney. 12:45: time to suit up and climb the hill. 1:00: competiton starts with a crowd guesstimated at two to three thousand. Many of the Eastern skiers skied well and had results as follows: JI Class - honorary Eastern skier Kyle Wylie took top honors for our group by placing 2nd followed by myself in 5th and Marie-Pierre Morin in 9th (she also won the women's class). JIII Class - Jeremy Carter placed 4th with some of his best jumps ever, followed by Chris Decker 10th and Morgan Goodwin 16th. After the awards we were quickly herded into the van for another 18 hour road trip home.

P.S. The Eastern Jump Team would like to thank Vladimer Glyka and Cathy Deever for their hospitality and great food at Norge!

"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!

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