“Seeing ski jumping live is such a different experience than anything you can see on television,” Hendrickson said. “(In Ishpeming), we have the historical aspect as well — that it’s been happening for 129 years, of course, so you have people coming here on a traditional basis no matter what.”
Ski jumping is considered the original extreme sport, and one that has taken hold in the UP and beyond — a growth that can certainly be traced to the influence of the Ishpeming Ski Club. When it was first founded as the Norden Ski Club in 1887, the club was just a gathering of working-class men (many of them immigrants from Norway, England and Finland) who needed something to occupy themselves when they weren’t working in the mines. What was at its start a simple desire for organized fun outside of work eventually became the National Ski Association, and ultimately the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. If you were ever wondering why the United States Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame is located in the middle of the UP, there’s your reason — because of its ski jumping roots, Ishpeming is considered the birthplace of modern organized skiing.
Now, 130 years later, the sport has earned a place in the Olympics, and countless training and competition facilities have popped up around the country. Yet most will admit that they don’t think much about ski jumping in the four years between each Winter Olympics, which makes events like this (which will be held on January 31st this year) a great time to experience ski jumping on an annual basis, and better yet, without commercial breaks.
However, ski jumping isn’t just about ski jumping — this is the UP after all, and tailgating is an essential part of the ski jumping experience (nearly as essential as the ski jumping itself). That means massive bonfires, an abundance of hot dogs and hot cocoa, and Ishpeming-natives who have been attending this event since they were in the womb.
“There are two different things going on at the event — the jumping and then the tailgating and bonfires and festivities, almost like the Winter Carnival atmosphere, you could say,” Hendrickson said, adding that his favorite part of ski jumps is at the very end, when he can stand around a fire and revel at the fact that they pulled off another event (this year will be the 130th year of the Ishpeming Ski Jumps).
“It’s a celebration of winter and getting outside after so many weeks of being inside, you know,” he said. “It’s like a family reunion for a lot of people.”
A “family reunion” that includes tailgating at a ski jumping event that’s gone largely unchanged for 130 years?
You can’t get that from your TV.
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-Words by Amanda Monthei
