Press Information Release Date: Friday, January 7, 2005
Contact: Pat Howell or Deb Dean 802-257-7174
Harris Hill Ski Jump Re-scheduled for February 19–20
Brattleboro, VT – The Harris Hill Ski Jumping competition, scheduled for Jan. 15–16, has been re-scheduled for the traditional February weekend, Feb. 19-20, due to the extended forecast for warm weather predicted for the next 10 days.
“We’re looking at temperatures in the 40s during the day through next week, and in the high teens and 20s at night,” explained Pat Howell, co-chair of the competition. “We need several nights of below 15 degrees to make snow and days where the temperatures are below freezing. Even if we could find a window of two cold nights to make the snow, it would be completely gone by the tournament.”
The organizing committee made the decision after studying the long-range forecast, talking with the snowmaking crew at Mount Snow, and reviewing the risks.
“The window of opportunity for the February date made an otherwise difficult decision a little easier,” said Howell. The Fred Harris Memorial Tournament and PEPSI Challenge will now be held on the traditional Washington’s birthday weekend.
“We’ll still have a solid field of U.S. and European jumpers. The only difference is that we won’t be hosting the USSA SuperTour event,” Howell said.
Advance tickets that have been purchased for the event at the Chamber of Commerce will be good for the February date.
The organizing committee had moved the date of the competition to January this year to host the United States Ski Association’s new SuperTour Event. The SuperTour, the top-tier series of U.S. competitions, was started last year in an effort to increase the number of high-level competitions for jumpers from around the United States and to provide more visibility for ski jumping throughout the country.
One of New England’s premiere winter sporting events, the two-day competition offer spectators an up-close experience with this breathtaking Olympic sport and a first-hand understanding of why it’s called “The Original Extreme Sport™.” Spectators will witness the skill and form of these jumpers as they launch from the top of the 90-meter jump and soar through the air at speeds of up to 60 mile per hour.
This year’s competition celebrates 83 years of ski jumping in Brattleboro. ### Press Photos Photos are roughly 5x7 300dpi jpegs for use in print media
(downloads will be ~1-2 mb)
Photo 1 - Ski Jumper Jumper Austrian Martin Pichler
Photo 2 - Final Prep work on the Ski Jump
Photo 3 - Big Air
Photo 4 - Jumper races by in a blur |
