Like eagles silently gliding through the winter air, 64 male and female Junior ski jumpers from Canada and the United States launched the inaugural competition at Callaghan Valley's new Olympic venue on Wednesday (Jan. 2).
The North American Junior Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined Championships started a four-day Nordic event the area has never before experienced, which concludes with the Canadian National Championships Friday and Saturday (Jan. 4-5).
Having visited Squamish in October for a series of presentations on his soaring sport, Calgary's Greg Baxter followed up with a first-place finish in the junior ski jump competition.
The 18-year-old Olympian, who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy and is expected to compete again at home in 2010, covered distances of 97 and 99 metres to edge out two American competitors.
The junior competition was held on the normal K-95 hill, which means it's 95 metres from the inrun (launching ramp) to where the landing area starts to flatten. Baxter said he is excited to try out the large K-125 hill during the Canadian Championships.
"It's a little bit bigger, you're going a little faster, and you're in the air for longer so it feels more like you're flying, more like you're defying gravity. It's more fun," he said.
While the massive K-125 awaits, Ski Jumping Canada chairman Brent Morrice wants to see smaller development jumps erected around Squamish in order to encourage young athletes to try out the sport.
He said it's an extraordinary start to have such an advanced venue in the area, but ski jumping has to be made accessible to newcomers in order to thrive.
"We'd like to develop some smaller hills in Squamish and develop some young Squamish ski jumpers," he said. "If we can get a 15 to 20-metre hill we could just work up from there. We'd also like to get a local club started in Squamish and we're looking forward to working with the local people to make that happen."
Local support requires local awareness of the Callaghan Valley developments. Although the venue has attracted national news coverage since its December opening, Callaghan Valley Local Organizing Committee (CALOC) managing director Denise Imbeau said she is surprised the venue isn't creating a bigger buzz in town.
"This is a big deal. These are big wins and I don't think we're acknowledging that in our own community," she said. "We're getting some fairly big stuff and we have to start recognizing this and getting excited, coming together."
Imbeau pointed out that visiting teams and spectators head to Squamish at the end of the ski day. And with the International Ski Federation Cup and the Continental Cup approaching in February, the town will get an economic boost.
