Arosa ski jumps
| Bärenbadschanze | |||||||
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 Bärenbadschanze on Schafrügg |
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 Switzerland
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| society | SC Arosa | ||||||
| Extended | 1916, 1928 | ||||||
| Shut down | 1931 | ||||||
| Destroyed | 1931 | ||||||
| Hill record | 56 m Gérard Wuilleumier (1929) |
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The Arosa ski jumps were a number of different ski jumps in the Swiss sports and holiday resort of Arosa between 1904 and 1967 .
Historical facts about ski jumping in Arosa
The first official ski jumping in Arosa took place on February 14, 1904, just under a month after the local ski club was founded, which organized the event on a temporary ski jump on the Obersee . Of every three jumps of the 12 participants, the best was rated. The regulations stipulated that only jumps of at least ten meters in length, after which another 20 meters should be skied, would be taken into account. Regardless of this, the best of the day, a jumper from Davos , who participated out of competition, only reached a distance of 8.75 meters. The runner-up jumped five meters, the third placed 4.7 meters. In the following years, due to the great effort involved in the preparation of the ski jump, further official jumping competitions were waived for the time being.
In autumn 1909 there was talk again in the ranks of the Arosa Ski Club about building a ski jump. A location near the upper log floors on the Tschuggen eastern slope was specially selected, but no permission was given to remove the spruce trees there . Instead, a ski jump was built on the Tschuggen itself in the first days of the New Year's 1910, on which a jumping competition was also held. Although this facility had proven itself, it was considered too far from the village. One month later, another ski jump was built on Obersee as part of a ski course under the direction of Norwegian master Trygve Smith. On this a competition was held on February 20, 1910, in which Smith demonstrated his skills in front of hundreds of spectators and jumped distances of about 40 meters.
Tomelischanze
In the autumn of 1911, in the area of today's Arosa train station and the Weisshornbahn , the so-called Tomelischanze, the first permanent jumping device, was built. The outlet led directly to the Obersee. The first competition took place there on December 30, 1911. The Tomelischanze was only used for two years. It was already expected when it was built that it would be a provisional solution, as the intention was to hold the Swiss Ski Races (Swiss Ski Championships) in Arosa in the foreseeable future. This project and the growing interest in the sport of ski jumping prompted the ski club to build an actual large hill. Due to the extensive later construction activity in this area, there are no more traces of Tomelischanze today. From now on, small jumps were created for the offspring, for example in the Seegrube above the Untersee .
Bärenbadschanze
In 1913 the ski club checked two locations for the new natural hill to be built . The Bärenbad, located at the foot of the Schafrügg , was preferred to the log floors, as the facility there was cheaper to build and the terrain profile was more advantageous. Furthermore, an agreement was reached quickly with the municipality of Arosa as the landowner and it was found that there was always "good skiing" (good snow conditions) in the Bärenbad. The hill was opened the following winter with a competition in which the Norwegian Harald Smith and other well-known athletes took part. Following this competition, the system underwent a few small changes that were definitely implemented structurally in the following year.
In 1916 the Swiss Ski Association decided to hold the 13th Swiss Ski Races in Arosa at the beginning of February 1918. As a result, the take-off and the run-out of the Bärenbadschanze were rebuilt. The Kurverein Arosa created an access road suitable for horse-drawn sleighs from Büdemji over the Plessur to the finish area, where a grandstand was built. Around a dozen interned German soldiers, who were housed in the Grand Hotel (Savoy, today Robinson Club ) towards the end of the First World War, were used for the construction work . On the occasion of the Arosa Ski Festival in February 1917, Harald Smith jumped a new hill record with 45 meters. At the Swiss ski races in the following year, the winner Leutnant Parodi achieved widths of 34, 41 and 42 meters on the Bärenbadschanze and an overall score of 1.476. In January 1923, as part of the 2nd Graubünden ski association, a top-class international jumping competition with the best jumpers from Switzerland (including Hans Eidenbenz and David Zogg ), Germany, Austria, France, Czechoslovakia and some Norwegians was held in front of 2,000 spectators . The latter dominated the traditional Arosa January jumping a year later. At that time, the organizers demanded a fee of 1.20 francs from the onlookers on Poststrasse to Innerarosa, from where one could clearly see the operation of the ski jumping hill from a distance, which aroused public displeasure.
After the Bündner Verbandsspringen was held again on the Bärenbadschanze in 1927, the facility had to be significantly rebuilt again in the summer of 1928 in view of the 23rd Swiss ski race in 1929. It should be possible to achieve larger jump distances. On this occasion, in front of 4,000 spectators, the jumping winner was Fritz Kaufmann from Grindelwald . Gérard Wuilleumier from La Chaux-de-Fonds achieved a new hill record with 56 meters. However, the conversion was not convincing in all respects, so that further construction measures were considered. When a snow avalanche from Schafrügg hit the inrun scaffolding in the spring of 1931 and the following June a storm destroyed the judges' tower , the ski club decided, for cost and safety reasons, to build a new facility, the Plessurschanze, a few hundred meters further northeast. The days of the Bärenbadschanze as a sports facility were numbered. In 1934 the existing infrastructure was definitely dismantled.
Plessurschanze
| Plessurschanze | |||||||
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 Plessurschanze at Müliboden |
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Switzerland
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| society | SC Arosa | ||||||
| Extended | 1947 | ||||||
| Shut down | 1967 | ||||||
| Hill record | 75.5 m Kjell Sjöberg (1965) |
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The Plessurschanze was built in the summer of 1931 as a replacement for the abandoned Bärenbadschanze. It came to lie in the middle of the back forest as another natural hill, which is why certain clearing work was necessary. The inrun was not far from the previous target position of the Arosa shooting range from 1895 at Lärchboden at 1820 m , the run ended on the other bank of the Plessur on the Müliboden. The lowest point was at 1723 m above the Plessurbett. The approach was 110 meters with an incline of 30 degrees. The landing track was inclined by 28 degrees after 20 meters, gradually reaching a maximum incline of 35 degrees. It led directly over a forest path, which was always filled with snow. The rounding started at a jump distance of 75 meters and had a radius of 100 meters. The run ended with a counter slope of eight degrees to the garbage floor, where the grandstands were in winter.
The run-up track was four meters wide, the take-off table was five meters and the run-out track widened to 24 meters. The Plessur was crossed on a 22 meter wide bridge. The river passage made from rubble stones was 5.2 meters wide and three meters high. The construction costs amounted to 50,000 Swiss francs , of which the Kurverein took over 8,000 francs and the municipality took over 5,000 francs. The municipality also granted a loan of a further 5,000 francs, while the remaining funds were raised by the ski club itself. A building right contract for 99 years was concluded with the municipality as the landowner. The farmer on whose meadow the run was created received a one-time compensation for loss of income of 3,000 francs.
The Plessurschanze was inaugurated on December 27, 1931 with an opening competition. The longest jump was 61 meters. The provisional hill record was improved to 64 meters by Alfred Kleger on April 16, 1933 on the occasion of the international Easter jumping event . This record should last for 14 years. The winner of the event was Sigmund Ruud , who with his brother Birger also showed a spectacular double jump of 58 meters. In 1937 the FIS eliminations for the World Championships in Zakopane and in 1943 the Swiss Championships were held on the facility . A new judges' tower had been specially built for this occasion. On average, one to three jumping competitions took place on the hill each year. In 1946, the future Olympic participant, Karl "Charly" Blum, achieved a distance of 60 meters, an achievement that had hardly been achieved until then and which at the same time meant Arosa record.
Due to different interpretations of the FIS requirements regarding the standard profile in the landing area, the Plessurschanze received a new normalized take-off table in 1947. Since then it has also been officially recognized by the FIS and can be used without restriction for relevant occasions. The critical point was now 66 meters. The conversion, which cost 19,000 francs, led to significantly larger jump distances. At the New Year's Eve competition in 1947, the winner Gordon Wren achieved jumps of 64 and 66 meters, which was a new record. In the preparatory competition of February 10, 1948 for the 1948 Winter Olympics , the future Olympic champion Petter Hugsted won with 68 meters. Sepp Weiler and Walter Steinegger exceeded the 70 meter mark for the first time at the 1949 International Silverster Show and Andreas Däscher jumped a new hill record with 72 meters. This width was almost equalized on the occasion of the international jumping on January 31, 1951 by the Finn Matti Pietikäinen and improved to 73 in the training for the international jumping of 1953 by Otto Austad . The definitive record distance was finally 75.5 meters, achieved in 1965 by Kjell Sjöberg .
In 1950 an international national competition, the so-called SSV-Springerwoche or Swiss Four Hills Tournament , was launched with competitions in Arosa, St. Moritz , Unterwasser and Le Locle . In 1956 this competition was held in the back forest at a record temperature of -25 degrees Celsius. In 1958 the SSV Springer Week was again a guest on the Plessurschanze. After the Arosa ski club, under the influence of Hans Danuser , began to concentrate increasingly on the alpine disciplines as early as the mid-1950s , ski jumping gradually took a back seat in Arosa.
The traditional New Year's Eve competitions were also continuously less popular, and there was also a lack of their own offspring. When the former ski jumper Fritz Tschannen took over the post of Arosa sports secretary in 1965 , a permanent training center was set up at the Plessurschanze. Parallel to the existing ski jump, the ski club created two smaller jumps for youngsters and beginners. An alpine slalom training slope was also prepared. The facility had extensive lighting so that night competitions could be held. When Tschannen left some time later, the project was discontinued.
After the steepest section of the ski jump outlet began to slide down during heavy rainfall, construction work worth 35,000 francs was due, an amount that neither the ski club nor the spa association wanted to raise. After the cancellation of the touring competition of 1967, the ski club decided that in future it would forego the continuation of the international ski jumping week in favor of the alpine three-piste races. As a result, the Plessurschanze was no longer used and the judges' tower was removed in 1970. Since then, the facility has been left to decay and has grown in to a considerable extent. A reactivation or the construction of a new ski jump is not planned.
The Plessurschanze, on which the Olympic skeleton champion Nino Bibbia was also active as a ski jumper, had neither lift systems nor permanent ascent facilities. The jumpers had to cover the demanding route between the run-out and the starting point on foot over narrow snow paths. Like the Bärenbadschanze, it never had mats, so it could only be used in winter.
Technical specifications
| Plessurschanze | |
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| Start-up | |
| Tower height | 40 m |
| Inrun length | 110 m |
| Slope of the approach (γ) | 30 ° |
| Take-off table | |
| Table length | 5 m |
| Landing | |
| Construction point | 60 m |
| K-point inclination angle (β) | 35 ° |
literature
- Hans Danuser / SC Arosa (Ed.): 100 Years of Arosa Skiclub 1903-2003 , self-published by SC Arosa, Arosa 2003, pp. 8 ff., 13, 17, 19, 22 ff., 34, 38 f., 44 ff. , 51, 54, 57, 61, 77, 80.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1962–1978) , Vol. 5, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 2001, pp. 52, 81, 137.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1947–1961) , Vol. 4, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 2000, pp. 25, 41.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1928-1946) , vol. 3, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1999, p. 34 ff., 63 f., 113, 204.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1907-1928) , Vol. 2, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1998, pp. 84, 113, 174.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1850–1907) , vol. 1, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1997, p. 97 f.
- Hans Danuser, Ruedi Homberger: Arosa und das Schanfigg , self-published by Danuser / Homberger, Arosa 1988, p. 37 f.
- 50 years of Ski Club Arosa , anniversary publication for the 50th anniversary of Skiclub Arosa, Skiclub Arosa (ed.), Arosa 1953, pp. 17 f., 20, 22 f.
- Fritz Maron: From mountain farming village to world health resort Arosa , Verlag F. Schuler, Chur 1934, p. 166 f., 170.
- The history of the Arosa skiing , commemorative publication for the thirtieth anniversary of the Arosa Ski Club, Arosa Ski Club (ed.), Arosa 1933, pp. 14–28.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Video clip of jumping on the young Plessurschanze (around 1935)
- ↑ Video clip of jumping on the Plessurschanze (around 1935)
- ↑ Video clip 1 Swiss jumping tour on the Plessurschanze (1953)
- ↑ Video clip 2 Swiss jumping tournament on the Plessurschanze (1953)
- ↑ Video clip of the Swiss ski jumping tour on the Plessurschanze (1957)
- ^ Die Südostschweiz, May 30, 2013, p. 11.
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