Patokoski 
Kitzbühel
New summer jumping hills in Ironwood and Red Wing to be constructed by 2019
on 2017-10-29
The international ski jumping scence has largely been avoiding the U.S. in the past few years, but this shall change now. The ski flying hill in Ironwood will be modernized and a new large hill in Red Wing will be build, and then both sites shall be hosting Grand Prix events in summer 2019.
Ironwood - Modernization of Copper Peak ski flying hill
Copper Peak was once the only ski flying hill in North America and also one-time host of a ski jumping World Cup in 1981. However, since 1994 the hill hasn't been used anymore; only in summer tourists come to visit the hill and in winter the nearby ski lift is used. Already since late 2000's there have been plans to renovate the hill and bring it back to life. After a FIS inspection in November 2013 the idea came up that Copper Peak could, after modernization of profile and a plastic covering, even become a stage of summer Grand Prix as the largest plastic covered ski flying or large hill in the world.
Thus, the efforts to revitalize the hill gained momentum again. In end 2016 a new hill profile as K161, HS 180 was approved by FIS and the funding of a budget of 14 million Dollars began. In October 2017 another FIS site inspection was carried out and very importantly, financial aid of the U.S. senate could be secured. Renovation works shall start in spring 2018 and in fall 2019 the then world's largest plastic covered jumping hill could host the final event of FIS Grand Prix.
Red Wing - new large hill in the cradle of North American ski jumping
The history of American ski jumping began in the 80’s of 19th century in Red Wing, Minnesota. Here, mainly Norwegian immigrants founded Aurora Ski Club and started ski jumping. This history shall now be revived and a World Cup-ready K125 large ski jumping hill be constructed.
According to plans established by the "Friends of American Ski Jumping", the plastic covered "Baldy125" ski hill will be build at a Golf resort at Mount Frontenac, about 10 miles south-east of Red Wing. The construction planning for the K125 hill with its 50 meter high inrun tower, decorated with impressive wings, was already started and around 1 million of the required amount of 3 million Dollars of donations were already collected. The total cost for the whole facility shall be around 15m US-Dollars. If everything works out according to schedule, the first Grand Prix and Continental Cup events could be staged there in 2019.
Ski Jumps:
Ironwood (Copper Peak) Red Wing (Mount Frontenac)Links:
| COPPER PEAK.net: The Future of Copper Peak |
| Friends of American Ski Jumping - Baldy125 |
| FIS Ski Jumping - New and old organizers in North America |
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