USASJ Story Project- Dec 19 RAND

JAY RAND

Age 62

Lake Placid, NY

Northwood School, University of CO, USST

Memories of the Past – White Rush!
It was in December of 1973 when seven members of the US Ski Jumping Team experienced a real thriller. Jerry Martin, Tom Dargay (Denver Dog), Ron Steele,(Stainless) Terry Kern, Greg Windsperger,Jeff Wright, and I were at Sepp Bradl’s training facility in Mulbach, Austria, which is in the vicinity of Bischofshofen. This fearless band of characters was led by no other than our beloved Coach Ed Brisson.

As I remember it, the lodge where we stayed was surrounded by towering peaks, in the middle of nowhere, and hot water and warm food was a non-commodity. It snowed heavily on a daily basis throughout the week. Each day we had to trek through the heavy snow for over a mile just to get to the jumps. The last part of the journey involved a descent, and crossing of a fairly long valley, prior to climbing back up the other side to the jumping hills. Of course, this took lots of energy, and by then everyone had broken into a heavy sweat. Yet, that was only the beginning as the reality of boot packing waist deep snow followed by ski packing began.  I don’t think anyone’s clothes or boots ever dried out as the heat in the lodge was also nearly non-existent. This weary process continued for the first four days without a single jump. I can still vividly hear Coach Brisson growling that it was just what we needed to get us marshmallows into shape!  Finally on about the 5th day we got a very enjoyable rides even though there wasn’t much snap left in anyone’s legs.

Throughout the week it had snowed everyday with more heavy snows predicted. Warnings began being broadcast about avalanche dangers, and out of the 11 teams that began the week with us, only the Polish team remained. It was now the sixth day, and fearlessly we headed back out to the hill through waist deep snow. (If there ever was a real meaning to boot camp – this was it!) Even the Polish Team remained behind.  By then even Coach Brisson was having doubts, but we were on our way back to the hill. We were in the middle of the valley trudging through more than waist deep snow when a thunderous roar echoed through the mountains. It appeared at first that an entire mountain top had broken off and was headed our way. For a brief second we all stood frozen before everyone began in vain to get to a safe spot on the other side. With the deep snow we all knew that was not going to happen.

Personally, I tried to get my bearings. It all happened so quickly -suddenly we were in a white cloud of snow, and I, for one, thought this could be it as I had witnessed similar avalanches in Colorado that had taken people out. Miraculously, the avalanche stopped a couple hundred yards above us. No one would have had much of a chance had it reached us.  Stainless probably did the smartest thing as I recall, he hid behind a boulder to wait it out.

We, of course, retraced our steps to get the hell out of there. The next day we were informed that another slide had made its way through the valley so some of us went back up along the higher ground to see the damages. This one clearly would have rolled over us had we been in nature’s way that day.  It actually snapped down trees in its path as well as branches over 20′ high along the visible sides. Its destructive path could be seen far down into the valley.

Well, it had been quite a week, but it was definitely time to move on to some civil territory. We were certainly lighter and in better shape, at least physically, and definitely thankful for our good fortune. Off to Garmisch we went where we actually got some good training and jumped in a competition that was staged for all of the teams that had been at Mulbach with us. We did pretty well – three in the top ten!  Coach Brisson thought he was on to something, and was already making reservations with Sepp Bradl for next year!  Chuckle!

This happened quite a few years ago, but this is how I remember it. Can any of you other guys, who were there, add to it!

Best regards to all my jumping friends.