• Monday-What'sUP January 16 - 12:44 am

Debra McCumber recently checked out Pine Mountain Ski Jump in Iron Mountain, sharing the adventure with us. For some, this may be as close as you'd ever want to get to that jump, although I wouldn't mind taking the stairs in the third picture, so I could see the view from the top. This is the one and only 120 meter (equal to about 394 feet) hill in the USA. Each February, the Kiwanis Ski Club hosts what's known throughout the world as the best tournament in the United States. With a height of 176 feet in the air, it's no wonder a skier's estimated speed at take-off is 55 mph and that's without a seatbelt!

Stairs only for me!

I'm getting a nose bleed just looking at the pictures. What guts those skiers must have!

I don't have enough coordination to take on the bunny hill, I will stay far from that!

Good morning from a rainy Mishawaka, IN.

Love the pictures but that's as close as I really want to be. I would never make it up the steps, my fear of heights would over take me before I was anywhere near the top. The view from the top must be beautiful. I'd send my camera up with someone else.

Day off of school today for Martin Luther King Day. Gives me time to get ready for my trip to Toronto on Friday.

Have a great day.

Is the ski flying hill stillover by Bessemer? I have some pics of that I'll put in my gallery when I get time.

MLK day today, some people just can't get over it...passed a school on Sunday and stopped and took a digital picture as the sign in front says:::NO SCHOOL JAN.15 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY. Does the state of Michigan have a law making MLK day a manditory school closing date???

Man oh man. I get a nose bleed on the third rung of a ladder.
Those skiers are VERY brave!

But the photos are great.

Many years ago I began to climb up this ski jump and the acryphobia hit me about halfway up. That was enough. It was a beautiful sunny summer day.

Ain't no way...nuh uh...no,no,no... not me. The Norge ski hill is close to us, but never go. Went once, just to see it. Those people are crazy! Who ever thought up skiing, anyway? Oh, let's put these little tiny sticks on our feet and go down a biggggg hill! And then, let's climb all the way back to the top and do it again. Nope! Not this kid! NO, no, no!

Never partake in a sport where they have an ambulance at the bottom of the hill.

Don't those people know that trees move in the winter. They're attracted to skiers.
Mr. Deb

Oh, and the highest jump there is 70 meters.

Eddyfitz, that is excellent advice.

No Eddy...MLK is not a mandatory day off...mother nature took care of that here on the sunrise side tho...kids have a snow day today!

The view from the top is definitely worth the climb! My husband and I climbed to the top many summers ago. You feel like you are at the top of the world.
I must add, I am also a little shaky when it comes to heights, but the railing is sturdy.

NICE PICS. ANYONE KNOW IF THE SKI JUMP LOCATED
AROUND NEGAUNEE OR ISHPEMING IS STILL THERE. A FRIEND AND I CLIMED TO THE TOP OR THAT JUMP ON A 4th OF JULY WEEK END MANY, MANY YEARS AGO.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments on my pictures. It's a gorgeous view from the top and well worth the climb. I go out there sometimes on my lunch break to climb it for exercise. If you park at the very bottom of the hill, there are 418 steps to climb just to get to the base of the jump! Add the 200 or so that it takes to get to the top of the ramp and your in shape in no time!

Jim:
It looks like the ski jumping hill in Ishpeming is still active. I googled "Suicide Hill Ishpeming" and found the following:

Every year the Suicide Hill Ski-Jumping Competition in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan welcomes skiers from the United States, Finland, Germany, Japan, Austria, France, Norway, Canada and other countries. The jumpers come to the United States as part of the ski-jumping circuit, earning points at each jump which apply towards their standing in the race for the individual cup.

They make two stops in the Upper Peninsula: the Pine Mountain Ski Jump in Iron Mountain and the Suicide Hill Ski Jump in Ishpeming.

The main ski jumping sites in North America are Steamboat Springs CO, Lake Placid NY, Westby WI, Ishpeming MI and Iron Mountain MI.

This years tournament at Suicide Hill will be a two day event held in mid February, 2001 and will feature some of the top ski jumpers in the world. The Ishpeming Ski Club is host for the tournament. This will be the 114th consecutive year that the club has presented a ski jumping competition. The tournament has been held at Suicide Hill continuously since 1926. Suicide Hill is a 90 meter jump with an official hill record of 328 feet and unofficial jumps of around 340 feet....

Based on the picture it looks like they have really upgraded the Iron Mountain ski jump since I was last there in the 1970's! If you ever get a chance to watch the ski jump competition, do it! Watching them fly off the jump will take your breath away (not to mention it is a great photo opportunity)

Eddyfitz (Eddyfitz) The kids have school here in Ontonagon today, MLK day or not.

Seen the competition at the hill in Iron Mountain a couple of years ago. Sure was an awesome sight to see but I will keep my feet on the ground. There is a way to the back side of the hill from where they start. Its way up there too!

Eddyfitz: We are in full session today, as normal as any
Monday can be. We do not recognize MLK Day in any
way here at the Calumet School. The state does not
have any requirements on that issue. However,
Michigan Technological University is off today, the first
day of the new semester. The second semester gets off
the ground tomorrow. I'm sure the students are glad for
an extra driving day, or a day to collect snow for
statues.

We expect 3-5 inches today (and we are getting it) and
another 3-5 during the night. Just in time for Winter
Carnival.

Hello!
Finland boy MATTI NYKÄNEN;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matti_Nyk%C3%A4nen

I know Copper Peak ski jump is still in Ironwood because I fly over it a couple times a week. They have not used it for a few years except for snowmobile hill climbs. Last year, it was cancelled due to lack of snow.
I don't ski jump but have flown my parachute down Pine Mountain jump and landed on bottom for a Veteran's event. I started from a plane.It would be scary with only boards on your feet.
I thought Suicide hill in Ishpeming was going to be relocated because the mine was expanding. I am not sure of status on that issue.

I just updated the Snow Thermometer page snow totals for Keweenaw County. We now have 70.4" for the season total and 15" on the ground. Just in time for Heikinpäivä.

Get your skis. Bring your snowshoes. Get the snowmobile ready and come on U.P.

I have climbed the Pine Mountain jump in the summer and you get one of the more spectacular views in all the UP. The Ski Flying event in Februarys past was a major sporting event, thousands of spectators, skiiers coming from Finland and Sweden and Norway and Japan. Huge crowds! A part of the folklore was that as the skiers went off the end of the run they shouted "Sagola!" for the little town 20 miles north on Hwy 69. Perhaps they could see it or perhaps they hoped to reach it.

With several inches of snow in Esky finally, I am feeling more
positive about winter here in the U.P. I remember going over to
Iron Mountain for the ski-jumping in the 1950s. What fun! And
it has helped me enjoy the Winter Olympics all the more
knowing a little about that sport. Now that my wife and I have
moved up here,I think we had better put this event on the
schedule for Feb. for sure!

Wasn't there a ski jump -- much smaller -- near Marquette? Or am I imaging things? It has been a while...........

Maybe the state of MI needs to listen to Mother Nature; maybe there's a reason she closed many schools today. It's really hard to believe the state of MI does not recognize MLK Day.........
REALLY hard!

Eddyfitz, Here in Walled Lake, the kids are off for "Record Day" (a day that allows the teachers to catch up on admin, grades, etc,,) Tomorrow they're off for Professional Development Day, so, MLK is not recognized in the Walled Lake School district either.

Marty and Nephew Ben, if we can make it thru the beaver pond at keystone in the trucks, we could also make this jump! come on Marty, Let's try it!HA!

Pinckney is calling it "Professional Development"

kj, I say "ditto" to everything you said! Those people are N-U-T-S!!!!!!!!!!

Uncle Chuck I can remember the first time we crossed the beaver pond, I was sitting in the back seat of the Blazer so mad we was going to try something so stupid as to cross it, and when the muffler did their putt putt's I could have strangled all of them. We have been across it so many times but that was such a great memory. Our grandson swam in Keystone Bay and Jim Rooks came along with a tour and he said not many people in the world can say they swam in Keystone Bay. Jim was such a great man that we looked forward seeing every year.

Hey Deb- and then it's not bad enough they just go down a big hill, they have to build an even bigger hill and fly off the end of it. I have to say I've watched it on TV and it doesn't look so bad there, but we went to Copper Peak a few years ago and that is way too high.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a true hero in the greatest sense of the word. All of our children deserve to understand his time and his contribution.

Unfortunately, schools in Michigan, and I'm sure elsewhere, have become test-driven, which makes them "state ordained" curriculum driven. Teachers today do not have the freedom to teach as teachers did in my entire career.

Great lessons are being lost.

Janetnwohio, we crossed the beaver pond once in Mid November, and almost drown. We had another truck and towed the disabled one to Copper Harbor, when the flatbed truck got there and towed it to Hancock to the dealer, he wrote on the tow bill, "customer took truck swimming", it was over 5ft deep in the pond then, but we couldn't tell at the time, oh well it was Marty's truck.lol

kj, I love watching it on TV, especially the Olympics, but still think they're nuts!!!

maija--I read my class a book about Martin Luther King, Jr today
and we discussed his contributions to the US as well as the world.
He's one of my heroes too.

Maija -- I couldn't agree more. All the joy has been taken out of teaching because of tests! That's why I retired May 23 -- the first moment I was eligible!

But we DO honor Dr. King here in GA -- it's a holiday!

We honor him here in MN too. I work at a bank so I had the day off.

MLK is not singled out; Michigan schools don't close on President's Day, Columbus Day or Veteran's Day. I don't think that it's that Michigan doesn't recognize them; it's just that they don't recognize them as a paid day off.

Uncle Chuck it sounds like you had a exciting time thank goodness that didn't happen to us.

I think that part of the deal of the school holidays in Michigan has to do with the number of required teaching minutes/hours that are required by state law. Daveofmohawk is right that Michigan schools do not close on President's Day, Columbus Day, or Veteran's Day. There is so much that must be taught to the students, there are so many required teaching hours, and then, there is the weather. They have to figure in a certain number of snow/ice days here in mid-Michigan, we have already used 2 days (Dec 1 & Jan 15). And, the schools can't go very far into the summer months because most of the schools up here aren't air conditioned. Those classrooms, especially above the first floor, are like hot, humid ovens in warm weather. The classrooms aren't ventilated well enough, with enough windows that open, to go to school in the summer. Students don't learn much in those conditions, when they are so hot & sweaty that they can hardly think.

Eddyfitz -- Yesterday was a holiday for State of Michigan employees and my daughter didn't have school (Waverly Schools in Lansing) either in observance of Martin Luther King's birthday.

An addition to the conversation here from Betty Catalano, who sent me this postcard of the Pine Mountain Ski Jump, dated 1951. Betty says, " The back of the card says that they soar almost 300 ft -- I was there the first time that 300 and more was hit--- now I understand that they get close to 400--" Also, take note of the cars in the photo and the small building at the top of the jump! Thanks Betty!

I SAW SOME SAY THAT MICHIGAN DID NOT CLOSE SCHOOLS FOR MLK DAY - I KNOW MY DISTRICT DID "EAST DETRIOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS" IN EASTPOINTE/WARREN- AND SEVERAL OTHERS DID TOO.