Hard backbreaking work for a few seconds of Air Stand

For me, as an athlete and trainer, the fascination of ski flying was nowhere more palpable than in Bad Mitterndorf/Tauplitz. On the one hand, of course, this was due to the fact that there is only this one flying hill in Austria. On the other hand, there is hardly a place where, as a local actor, one comes so close to the traditional enthusiasm for flying. This is already evident from the history of the origins of the Kulm, which is closely linked to the Neuper family name.

In the 1950s, fanatical men around Alois Neuper built a huge natural ski jump in the slope at the foot of the Grimming using the simplest of means – backbreaking work for a few seconds in the air, for the long-awaited feeling of flying. The fact that his grandson Hubert Neuper would later become a successful ski jumper and enthusiastic organizer of the Kulm-Fliegen was already preordained. Today the Kulm is a modern ski jumping facility in the middle of the countryside, which commands great respect from every athlete.

For the less experienced, the (air) forces that occur can be overwhelming: the extremely fast approach speed, the high air level and the great pressure that presses the skis against the body with all its might. Everything seems to be going faster and more powerfully, and yet the athlete has to find the courage to remain patient, especially after the jump. The unusually long stem does not forgive any mistakes, whoever presses on the skis too early faces great trouble: Every ski jumping fan will probably remember the terrible falls when a skier fell high in the air and the whole thing ended fatally.

mighty wave

The experienced athletes, on the other hand, know how to use these aerial forces for themselves. It sounds paradoxical, but although the speeds are higher, top jumpers have more leeway to implement a harmonious movement. Allowing yourself to take your time after the jump and the enormous air resistance over the stem make it much easier to glide down on a cushion of air. Like a mighty wave whose crest you ride perfectly. In ski flying, a phenomenon takes hold that does not exist in ski jumping: the jumper and skis become an independent missile that, instead of landing higher up like in a parabola, takes off again and sails to record distances.