Engelberg_Magazin_No_15

Die weltbesten Skispringer werden sich am Wochenende vom 20. und 21. Dezember 2014 auf der Titlis-Schanze in Engelberg den Traum vom Fliegen erfüllen. The world’s best ski jumpers will be making their dream of f light come true on the Titlis Schanze in Engelberg on the weekend of 20 and 21 December 2014.

It might only last for a few seconds each time, but ski jumpers have a very special gift: they get to live out the ancient dream of flying. And this is what they will be doing on 20 and 21 December 2014, when they gather to compete on the world’s largest natural ski jump, the Titlis Schanze in Engelberg. Icarus needed wings to get close to the sun; the Wright brothers tinkered around with winged vehicles and eventua lly added engines to get themselves of f the ground; and Ferdi- nand Graf von Zeppelin built an airship so he

under 100 metres long. The angle is about 36 degrees, and it takes skiers rough ly ten seconds to reach a top speed of just over 90 km/h. What happens nex t is crucia l. The skier has about 150 milliseconds in which to execute the take-of f. Inside their heated boxes, the commentators are quick to spot whether a jumper reaches the table too early or, and this can be even more fata l for the distance, too late. But whatever happens, the jumper now gets to f ly. Depend- ing on the size of the hill, the f light will last for ten, perhaps 20 seconds. A lthough the skier

cou ld obser ve the world f rom above – the dream of f light is as old as humanity itself. For more than a centur y, daring skiers have been hur tling of f a hill in Engelberg so that, for just a few moments, they

is now in the air, he or she is still ver y close to the ground because the prof ile of the landing slope is designed to match the skier’s f light path. Ski jumpers are of ten ca lled the kings of the skies.

Ski jumping hills are sophisticated and highly complex structures.

can f u lf il their own persona l dream of f light. Even though the distances jumped in the ver y early days were rather modest, ever yone who has ever dared to make the leap has a lways been a hero in his or her own right, and the spor t still proves as a lluring today as ever. For ski jumpers to be able to take to the air, they need struc tures f rom which to launch. They a lso need courage. Ever y thing depends on the approach. They take their seat on the star t bar and focus on the take-of f table below. The tips of their skis hover just a few centime- tres above the in-run track, while the ends are a lready in the grooves. At this stage, on ly the slightest of movements separates the ski jump- er f rom f light. This movement is one we a ll do subconsciously severa l times a day, whenever we get up f rom a seat. Ski jumpers, however, are ver y conscious of the moment they lif t up their rear. Once they do it, there is no going back. The in-run on Engelberg’s Titlis Schanze, the biggest natura l jump in the world, is just

While comparisons between the ath letes and the true kings of the skies – eagles – might seem overblown, they are never theless va lid. Just as eagles use subtle movements of their wings to control their f light, so ski jump- ers use their hands, held back against their body, to tr y and control their trajec tor y. They have to a lign biomechanica l requirements with the laws of aerodynamics in a way that ensures they land as far down the slope as possible. The world ’s best ski jumpers will be making their dream of f light come true on the Titlis Schanze in Engelberg on the weekend of 20 and 21 December 2014. The likelihood that they will never be able to live the dream of f light in this form is probably what makes competitions like the one on the Titlis Schanze so enduringly fascinating to audiences.

www.weltcup-engelberg.ch

18

19

events

events