 Pine
Mountain Ski Jump Hill Records
Iron Mountain, Michigan Records are made to be broken, and they have been on Pine Mountain as the U.S. ski jumping distance mark has been shattered or matched 16 times on this world famous King of American ski-jumping hills. 1939 - Bob Roecker was the first rider to set the North American record at Pine Mountain when he sailed 257 feet in the inaugural tournament of 1939. 1941 - Roecker's standard fell as Alf Engen extended the distance by 10 feet with a jump of 267 feet. 1942 - Torger Tokle surpassed his own standard in the 1942 Pine Mountain meet with a 289 footer, his third straight record breaking performance. 1949 - the North American Record was broken three times on Pine Mountain. Ishpeming's Jumping Joe Perrault was the first with a 293 foot ride. Matti Pietkainen took the record away from Perrault with a 294 footer, then Joe came back with a 297 foot effort to regain the title of North American record-holder. 1950 - Billy (The Kid) Olson tied the 297 foot record on Pine Mountain 1960 - Jim Brennan matched the record of 316 feet set at Steamboat Springs in 1951. 1962 - Pekka Tirkkinen tied the new record of 317 feet on Pine Mountain. 1965 - The record was broken three more times before John Balfanz returned it to sole possession of Pine Mountain with a 325 foot jump in the 1965 classics. 1968 - Adrian Watt set a record when he sailed 337 feet during the Olympic trails at Pine Mountain. 1971 - Jerry Martin, one of the most popular jumpers in the history of Big Pine Mountain, established a new distance mark when he flew 345 feet. 1978 - Austria's Gebhart Aberer put his name in the record book at Pine Mountain when he jumped 371 feet. 1980 - Another Austrian, Armin Kogler, set a new U.S. ski jumping distance mark when he flew 399 feet. Kogler also leaped 421 feet but fell on landing. 1991 - Austrian Werner Schuster flew to a new hill record of 400 feet or 122 meters. 1996 - at the World Cup Jumps, Masahiko Harada of Japan established a new Pine Mountain record with an incredible jump of 459 feet or 140 meters. 2002 - At Continental Cup Competition at Pine Mountain, the hill distance mark of 459 feet was tied by Kalle Keituri from Finland. 2006 - Austrian Stefan Kaiser set the new hill record of 468 feet at Continental Cup Competition at Pine Mountain. 2009 - The hill record of 471 feet was set by Stefan Thurnbichler of Austria at Continental Cup Competition at Pine Mountain.
Ski jumping at Pine Mountain through the eyes of first graders.
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