Video: Ski jumpers in Salisbury hit the slopes for 96th year

Connecticut Public Radio | By Ryan Caron King

Published February 19, 2022 at 6:13 PM EST

Cadel Cox, 13, of Peterborough, New Hampshire (center), sits with other teenagers waiting on top of the ski jump tower at Satre Hill in Salisbury before they go down the ramp — over 300 feet above ground level where the crowd watches below. Cox hadn’t done a jump this high before — but he said he wasn’t nervous. The feeling of getting a good jump drew him to the sport. “You sort of just float down the hill,” Cox said. — Cadel Cox (center), 13, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, sits with other teenagers waiting on top of the ski jump tower at Satre Hill in Salisbury before they go down the ramp — over 300 feet above ground level, where the crowd watches below. Cox hadn’t done a jump this high before, but he said he wasn’t nervous. The feeling of getting a good jump drew him to the sport. “You sort of just float down the hill,” Cox said.

The Salisbury Ski Jumps have been embedded in northwestern Connecticut’s culture since Norwegian immigrants started teaching locals how to ski in the 1920s. In this video, we go to the 96th annual Jumpfest to learn about this long-standing tradition and get some advice from young ski jumpers in New England on how to brave the heights.

Video by Ryan Caron King, audio by Ayannah Brown, graphics by Sam Hockaday

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