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| The leap heard ’round the US… Petri’s 122m ride in the 1984 Olympic try-outs on the large hill in Lake Placid. |
STORY No. 75
MATT PETRI
Age 54
Larkspur, CA
Deerfield Academy, St. Lawrence University, Lake Placid Ski Club, U.S. Ski Team & Olympic Team
I’d like to share a list of ski jumping memories and experiences instead of just one. Some are personal. Some will be common to many in the jumping community. Some will only be recognized or remembered by a few. Hopefully, they will elicit a smile, a laugh or prompt another memory as they do for me.
First, let me try to answer Nancy North’s question about how we all got started, and what it was like, with a brief story of my own about my quixotic ski jumping career.
I started jumping at the age of 14 at Deerfield Academy when I didn’t qualify for the Alpine team. The funny thing is that I had chosen Deerfield instead of Holderness because they required Alpine skiers to try ski jumping, which I was not going to do.
Once I was talked into trying jumping, I was hooked. I jumped through high school and college at St. Lawrence University with varying degrees of success. My journey then took me to Lake Placid to live and train full time for three years to pursue a spot on the U.S. Ski Team and potentially an Olympic Team, which I knew was a long shot.
My dream of making the Olympic Team came down to the last day of the 1984 Olympic Trials on the large hill in Lake Placid after having only been named to the national team the week before. In the first round, the longest jump before me was 112 meters. I remember thinking that would be hard to beat, but I was going to go for it and that it either was going to turn out well or I’d crash. As it turned out, I jumped 122 meters, which was by far the longest jump of my life in competition. After that, all I focused on for my second jump was staying on my feet to secure a spot on the team.
I jumped for another four years before hanging them up for good at age 29. And while we jumpers may all have had different goals and levels of success, I know that many of us share that “I’m going to go for it” moment.
Now, here is my list of a few of the other memories that I will never forget. My favorites are the ones with which I associate specific individuals, which is what its really all about – teammates, competitors, coaches, officials, family, and friends.
Who or what do you think of when you read these?
The very 1st jump of your life
Packing a hill (or boot packing a hill)
Praying for snow
Getting too much snow on the hill
Waxing / scraping skis and burning lacquer onto skis for jumping on plastic
The smell of wax
Burning your finger tips on the waxing iron
The skis themselves – The Flying Finns (if I remember correctly), Kongsberg, Elan, Fischer, and Kneissl
Jumping with hands forward, then converting to hands back (I never had to make the switch to the V)
Jumping in low back boots and then making the switch to high backs
Jumping with no hat or helmet
Jumping on cold clear days
Jumping on windy days and getting held and then sent
Jumping on snowy days
Jumping in the rain
Jumping on crushed ice on the Lake Placid 40 meter on the 4th of July
Jumping under the lights during the day above the Artic circle
Jumping on plastic, frost rail and porcelain
Jumping on a 90 meter (k120) for the first time
Jumping hung over
How it feels to pull on a jump suit
Setting tracks
Pulling out of the start onto an icy track before there were start bars
Standing at the top of the Dartmouth ski jump looking out over the trees
Winter carnivals
Jumping in the last NCAA Championships in 1980
Watching a teammate do the agony of defeat ahead of you before your first jump
Seeing stars after pile driving into the landing hill headfirst, with or without a helmet (concussion, what concussion?)
Climbing rickety towers where you were more scared going up than coming down
The crowds at competitions in Central
Banquets
Dry land training
Wind tunnel testing
Watching video
Realizing video isn’t going to help you right now
Falling, crashing, falling on plastic and getting burned
Cross country road trips
Cross country road trips in the U.S. Ski Team van
Skis flying off the roof of the van
The van breaking down
Iowa gas station owners who say: “come back and my daughter will show you all a good time”
Burning a giant hole in the front seat of someone else’s car
Weather so cold in Lake Placid that you had to walk the tower of the large hill
Weather so cold in Thunder Bay that coffee thrown in the air vaporized before hitting the ground
The curve in the track of the large hill in Lake Placid that didn’t exist
Watching an ambulance head to Mt. Hoevenberg from the top of the jumps in Lake Placid while thinking, of course, that bobsledders and lugers were the crazy ones
1st Nationals
1st European trip
1st Europa cup
1st World Cup
Walking into the Olympic stadium and visiting the White House
Traveling with all of the gear, especially overseas with more than one pair of skis
Border crossings to jump behind the Iron Curtain
Walking up jumps in summer behind Europeans who had not showered for days
Swedish girls at the pool in Falun
Getting pulled over for running a red light in Yugoslavia and paying the fine in cash
Crazy Subaru activities like passing on corners after the car ahead gives the okay on the walkie-talkie
Taking a picture of the “cool” helicopter that would later take me to the hospital
Roommates bringing a girl back to the room and not being “quiet”
Roommates who don’t appreciate snoring (the same as above)
Smelling the “effects” of your teammate not adjusting well to European food
For entertainment, someone lighting the “effects”
Putting a duck, a rabbit, and a fish in the coaches’ room (not all at the same time)
Landing on the knoll
Coming over the knoll knowing you were going to the bottom of the hill
Getting told you’ve made the “team”, whatever it was
Coaches – For me there were many over the years that informally or formally coached me or helped me along the way, including especially Don Burdick, John Manson, Rex Bell, Greg Windsperger, and Erling Rimeslaatten to whom I will be forever grateful.
And finally, dreams – Having talked to a few jumpers about it over the years, I believe that one of the other unique things that we have in common is dreams of jumping even long after we’ve retired. My most recent one was last week. I hope they will continue…
Age 54
Larkspur, CA
Deerfield Academy, St. Lawrence University, Lake Placid Ski Club, U.S. Ski Team & Olympic Team
I’d like to share a list of ski jumping memories and experiences instead of just one. Some are personal. Some will be common to many in the jumping community. Some will only be recognized or remembered by a few. Hopefully, they will elicit a smile, a laugh or prompt another memory as they do for me.
First, let me try to answer Nancy North’s question about how we all got started, and what it was like, with a brief story of my own about my quixotic ski jumping career.
I started jumping at the age of 14 at Deerfield Academy when I didn’t qualify for the Alpine team. The funny thing is that I had chosen Deerfield instead of Holderness because they required Alpine skiers to try ski jumping, which I was not going to do.
Once I was talked into trying jumping, I was hooked. I jumped through high school and college at St. Lawrence University with varying degrees of success. My journey then took me to Lake Placid to live and train full time for three years to pursue a spot on the U.S. Ski Team and potentially an Olympic Team, which I knew was a long shot.
My dream of making the Olympic Team came down to the last day of the 1984 Olympic Trials on the large hill in Lake Placid after having only been named to the national team the week before. In the first round, the longest jump before me was 112 meters. I remember thinking that would be hard to beat, but I was going to go for it and that it either was going to turn out well or I’d crash. As it turned out, I jumped 122 meters, which was by far the longest jump of my life in competition. After that, all I focused on for my second jump was staying on my feet to secure a spot on the team.
I jumped for another four years before hanging them up for good at age 29. And while we jumpers may all have had different goals and levels of success, I know that many of us share that “I’m going to go for it” moment.
Now, here is my list of a few of the other memories that I will never forget. My favorites are the ones with which I associate specific individuals, which is what its really all about – teammates, competitors, coaches, officials, family, and friends.
Who or what do you think of when you read these?
The very 1st jump of your life
Packing a hill (or boot packing a hill)
Praying for snow
Getting too much snow on the hill
Waxing / scraping skis and burning lacquer onto skis for jumping on plastic
The smell of wax
Burning your finger tips on the waxing iron
The skis themselves – The Flying Finns (if I remember correctly), Kongsberg, Elan, Fischer, and Kneissl
Jumping with hands forward, then converting to hands back (I never had to make the switch to the V)
Jumping in low back boots and then making the switch to high backs
Jumping with no hat or helmet
Jumping on cold clear days
Jumping on windy days and getting held and then sent
Jumping on snowy days
Jumping in the rain
Jumping on crushed ice on the Lake Placid 40 meter on the 4th of July
Jumping under the lights during the day above the Artic circle
Jumping on plastic, frost rail and porcelain
Jumping on a 90 meter (k120) for the first time
Jumping hung over
How it feels to pull on a jump suit
Setting tracks
Pulling out of the start onto an icy track before there were start bars
Standing at the top of the Dartmouth ski jump looking out over the trees
Winter carnivals
Jumping in the last NCAA Championships in 1980
Watching a teammate do the agony of defeat ahead of you before your first jump
Seeing stars after pile driving into the landing hill headfirst, with or without a helmet (concussion, what concussion?)
Climbing rickety towers where you were more scared going up than coming down
The crowds at competitions in Central
Banquets
Dry land training
Wind tunnel testing
Watching video
Realizing video isn’t going to help you right now
Falling, crashing, falling on plastic and getting burned
Cross country road trips
Cross country road trips in the U.S. Ski Team van
Skis flying off the roof of the van
The van breaking down
Iowa gas station owners who say: “come back and my daughter will show you all a good time”
Burning a giant hole in the front seat of someone else’s car
Weather so cold in Lake Placid that you had to walk the tower of the large hill
Weather so cold in Thunder Bay that coffee thrown in the air vaporized before hitting the ground
The curve in the track of the large hill in Lake Placid that didn’t exist
Watching an ambulance head to Mt. Hoevenberg from the top of the jumps in Lake Placid while thinking, of course, that bobsledders and lugers were the crazy ones
1st Nationals
1st European trip
1st Europa cup
1st World Cup
Walking into the Olympic stadium and visiting the White House
Traveling with all of the gear, especially overseas with more than one pair of skis
Border crossings to jump behind the Iron Curtain
Walking up jumps in summer behind Europeans who had not showered for days
Swedish girls at the pool in Falun
Getting pulled over for running a red light in Yugoslavia and paying the fine in cash
Crazy Subaru activities like passing on corners after the car ahead gives the okay on the walkie-talkie
Taking a picture of the “cool” helicopter that would later take me to the hospital
Roommates bringing a girl back to the room and not being “quiet”
Roommates who don’t appreciate snoring (the same as above)
Smelling the “effects” of your teammate not adjusting well to European food
For entertainment, someone lighting the “effects”
Putting a duck, a rabbit, and a fish in the coaches’ room (not all at the same time)
Landing on the knoll
Coming over the knoll knowing you were going to the bottom of the hill
Getting told you’ve made the “team”, whatever it was
Coaches – For me there were many over the years that informally or formally coached me or helped me along the way, including especially Don Burdick, John Manson, Rex Bell, Greg Windsperger, and Erling Rimeslaatten to whom I will be forever grateful.
And finally, dreams – Having talked to a few jumpers about it over the years, I believe that one of the other unique things that we have in common is dreams of jumping even long after we’ve retired. My most recent one was last week. I hope they will continue…
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| Matt Petri (R) with wife Nell and kids Chase and Molly. |
