Anaconda

Wraith Hill

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Wraith Hill Ski Jump:

K-Point:

60 m

K-Point:

45 m

K-Point:

40 m

K-Point:

25 m

Further jumps:	no
Plastic matting:	no
Year of construction:	1935
Conversions:	1938
Operating until:	1939
Status:	destroyed
Ski club:	Anaconda Ski Club
Coordinates:	46.172487, -113.214656

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History:

Although at the time the main skiing area for Anaconda was located on Oimoen Hill the summer of 1935 Casper Oimoen, Bill Wraith and Sven Ramsey found a new place to built a new ski area for ski jumping, slalom and downhill skiing. It was located near Silver Lake, later renamed as Wraith Hill, around 23 km West from the city of Anaconda. They leased this territory from Forest Service and soon began to clean the area. Also a small ski jumping hill was built after the outrun was cleared from trees.
In the summer of 1938 the ski jumping facility at Wraith Hill was completely rebuilt. It got a new big landing slope with two separate in-runs. The bigger one allowed jumpers to jump up to 200 feet and smaller one up to 150 feet. Also a smaller hill for beginners was constructed in a similar way, with one landing zone and outrun and two separate in-runs, allowing jumps around 130 feet and 80 feet.
Unfortunately, the new site was used only for a short period of time. In December, 1938 Bill Wraith stepped down as president of Anaconda Ski Club as he took a new position in Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which required him to move to Mexico. Shortly before Wraith finally left Anaconda, the first and only ski jumping event was held on the new Wraith Hill. On March 4-5, 1939 the Montana Ski Jumping Tournament was won by Alf Engen. This was the first ever ski jumping event in the state of Montana held at night under floodlights. Unfortunately, it was also the end of Wraith/Oimoen skiing era, as well the end of ski jumping history in Anaconda. On Sunday Oimoen had broken his right leg above the ankle in a practice jump before the contest exhibition - it was the last jump of his career.
Besides two exhibition jumping sessions being organized to financially support Oimoen (after breaking his leg he couldn't work for the next 9 months), the sport shortly after disappeared from Anaconda. Without Oimoen's dedication and Wraith's support the skiing era of Anaconda history had ended, especially since mild winters made transporting snow to Anaconda's ski areas too expensive and other ski areas in the state got more modern ski jumps than Anaconda's ones.

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Anaconda

Wraith Hill

Data | History | Competitions | Map | Comments

Wraith Hill Ski Jump:

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