Soul Survival

Every so often, skiers, ski writers and all manner of self-appointed nay-sayers complain about the loss of the soul of skiing. Here at Okemo they point to the snowmaking, the groomed trails, the slopeside condos, the wide runs and the many amenities as somehow an indication that skiing as a sport has lost its way. Obviously, they're wrong. We see a million examples every day that skiing's soul is alive and well. Particularly perturbed by this phenomenon last year, I wrote a piece for this blog about it called, aptly enough, "Shouting at the Wind".  (http://russendlesswinter.blogspot.com/2010/02/shouting-at-wind.html). More importantly and on a positive note, in today's New York Times sports section, there is an article about my favorite little slice of skiing's soul alive and in action.

My hometown in the very Northwestern corner of Connecticut is the tiny village of Salisbury, and it hosts the Eastern Ski Jumping Championships every year. Salisbury has hosted ski jumps since the 1930's, and the organization that runs the jumps (the Salisbury Winter Sports Association, "SWASA") also organizes a number of other great activities for the local folk. It's as grass roots and as unpretentious a group as you'll find in any sport, and it's pure distilled skiing soul. This year, after a remarkable fundraising effort to rebuild and modernize the Salisbury Ski Jumps at Satre Hill that had the support of the entire community, Salisbury is hosting the 2011 Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Junior Olympics. It a tremendous complement for the dedicated volunteers at SWASA, a wonderful addition to the annual Jump Fest festivities, and it'll rekindle faith in the soul of skiing for even the most grizzled winter sports misanthropes.

It's an easy prescription: go to Salisbury, Connecticut for the weekend of February 11-13th; enjoy time outside in a convivial atmosphere watching elite athletes compete in an environment free of crass commercialism; warm yourself near the fire with a glass of something at one of the local inns or restaurants; attend the Snow Ball and let your hair down a bit; and the result will be joy, optimism, ruddy cheeks, and the satisfaction of time well spent in the company of good people. Isn't that the point?!

The New York Times article about the Salisbury ski jumps can be found here –
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/sports/skiing/09skijump.html?src=me&ref=sports

The SWASA website is the go-to source for information about the 2011 JO's, the rebuilding of the Satre Hill jumps, and ski jumping generally -http://www.jumpfest.org/