Copper Peak infrastructure upgrades continue

IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - An inspection of the integrity of Copper Peak's launch structure began Monday, the latest in a series of work projects on the site over the last few weeks.

The work is the latest step in preparing the site for future international ski flying competitions, according to Copper Peak Organizing Committee chairman Bob Jacquart.

While Jacquart is excited for Copper Peak's future, he is aware the community in the past heard Copper Peak would host competitive events, but they didn't happen.

"Copper Peak has 40 years of promises and let-downs, and I'm really trying to make sure this is an under-promised and over-delivered project," Jacquart told the Daily Globe Tuesday.

The latest effort began last October, when it was announced the Federation of International Skiing, the body governing ski-flying competitions, was willing to hold several competitions, including the Grand Finale of the sport's Summer Grand Prix at Copper Peak. The Grand Finale is the event where the world champion is crowned.

Since the October meeting, work has been under way assessing what needs to be improved to bring Copper Peak up to current competitive standards.

Part of the process, according to Jacquart, was getting a Japanese architectural firm with ski jumping software to assess the most cost-effective way to bring the site up to modern standards.

One thing the software determined, according to Jacquart, was the most efficient distance between the end of the hill's run and the bottom of the landing hill was 180 meters.

"The hill has to be flatter," Jacquart said.

This presented a problem, as the designation of ski flying only applies to sites with a minimum of 185 meters, Jacquart said. In comparison, the Olympic competitions take place at distances between 90 and 120 meters.

International officials were sympathetic about the problem of losing the "ski flying" designation, according to Jacquart, recognizing it was a better way to sell the sport to Americans.

"(FIS Ski Jumping Director Walter Hofer) said, 'I know you Americans, and you like thrill words. And I hate to take the word flying out of Copper Peak. I know we've got to keep that word in there,'" Jacquart said.

Given the results of the FIS meeting in October, two major hurdles remained prior to actual events being held at Copper Peak, according to Jacquart, Copper Peak's supporters had to obtain the necessary funding to improve the site and the FIS had to grant final accreditation to the site.

Jacquart said he and other Copper Peak supporters, including Torgeir Nordby, a consultant with past Olympic experience who is supporting the project, traveled to Zurich in April to seek the necessary accreditation for sanctioned competitions.

There were three basic things they were asking for, Jacquart said - a waiver of the 185-meter requirement for the event to be considered ski flying, an allowance making Copper Peak the only site in the world with a plastic surface to enable summer competitions and an allowance for the site to host practice sessions.

Jacquart said practicing is normally not allowed at ski flying sites, other than the day before competition, because organizers want support staff present due to the potential danger of the sport.

Nordby successfully lobbied the meeting in Zurich to give its 100 percent endorsements on all three conditions.

"We got it all. We got a ski flying hill, with plastic (that can be practiced on)," Jacquart said. "They gave us a one-of-a-kind exemption for three different things - the 180, the plastic and the practicing."

With the endorsement hurdle complete, the Copper Peak organizers now had to find the necessary funding.

Jacquart said the Copper Peak board decided to pursue a series of necessary improvements, with the expectation of securing funding in the future.

"So really, we had to make a decision. This year? Next year? Do we take a leap of faith now and start?," Jacquart said.

The work done on the site - which includes an aerial topographic survey, which was completed in May; drilling to obtain core samples; and assessing the structure to check for corrosion, broken welds, loose bolts and other problems - are just some of the projects completed on the expectation funding can be secured.

The core samples are going to be used to determine the material used in a permanent, 35-degree angled platform that needs to be installed on the site as a landing platform.

Jacquart said this is expected to likely be the most expensive part of the upgrades and can be made out of either rock, wood, steel or poured concrete.

To assist with obtaining the funding, Jacquart said the board has hired a professional fund-raiser and there are two large donors in place, along with several smaller ones.

"We've got other people that are saying, 'I'll write you a big check, but I'm not going to be the first check.' Something I've learned in fund-raising is that the first check is the hard one to get," he said.

He hopes to be able to announce the initial donations in the coming months.