STORY No. 29
BILL CANTLIN
Age 64
Thornton, NH
Lebanon (NH) HS Ski Team, Dartmouth Ski Team, US Ski Team
 |
| Bill Cantlin on the cover of SkiWeek in 1967 |
Back in the early sixties some of us (then) kids went over to the twenty meter jump in Lebanon, NH at night after a snow storm to pack the jump so we could use it the next day. It was one of those nights when you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and this was way before the jump was lighted. By the time we got done packing our flashlights were dead. The hill was perfect and someone suggested we go off the jump. One guy smoked and offered to light two matches at the takeoff on both sides of the track. Brilliant idea. Light the matches, “all clear”, kick off, but the matches burned out before the jumper got to the takeoff. It was scary for that first jumper sailing into the darkness (I have forgotten who it was ) and we howled with laughter. We spent more time trying to light the matches at the right time so they were still burning when the jumper got there. Sometimes it worked out. Sometimes it didn’t. It was fun and we, apparently, were making a lot of noise laughing and cheering because we exited the hill under the full lights of a Lebanon police cruiser.
