4000th facility has been added to the Ski Jumping Hill Archive
7000th ski jumping hill added to the Archive!
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Copper Peak: Funding of the renovation finally secured
2025-07-12
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K-Point: | 28 m |
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32.0 m (Mario Ranalter ![]() |
Coordinates: | 47.298483, 11.513803 ✔ ![]() ![]() |
K-Point: | 18 m |
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17.0 m |
Further jumps: | no |
Plastic matting: | no |
Year of construction: | 1930 |
Conversions: | 1969 |
Status: | out of order |
Ski club: | HSV Absam-Bergisel, Nordic Team Absam |
Coordinates: | 47.298483, 11.513803 ✔ ![]() ![]() |
The ski jumping hill, located in the Melans district of the municipality of Absam (Tyrol), played a significant role in the development of local winter sports and in shaping future Olympic champions. Its history dates back to the 1930s, when the first simple earth construction was built on a natural slope in the Halltal valley, used by local skiing enthusiasts.
In 1969, the facility underwent a major reconstruction, initiated by Wilfried Vettori – the father of future Austrian ski jumpers Ernst and Günther Vettori. The goal of the modernization was to create professional training conditions for young athletes from the region. Thanks to the involvement of the local community and the Vettori family, two hills were established: the K‑28 (a main hill with a wooden inrun tower) and the smaller K‑18, intended for youth and junior training.
The 1970s marked the most active period for the Melans ski jumps. Regional competitions were held here, young jumpers were trained, and Melans became an important location on the Tyrolean sports map. Among those who trained here were the Vettori brothers – especially Ernst, who became an Olympic gold medalist in 1992, silver medalist in 1988, Four Hills Tournament winner in 1985/86, and world team champion in 1991 – as well as young Christoph Bieler, who later became an Olympic champion in Nordic combined (2006), bronze medalist in 2002, and team world champion in 2003 and 2011. It was in Melans that Bieler achieved one of his first sporting victories.
The last competition was held in the mid-1980s, with Bieler as the winner. In the following years, as training became centralized in larger facilities like Bergisel in Innsbruck, the hill began to lose importance. A lack of investment and the progressive degradation of infrastructure led to its decline. In 2005, the smaller K‑18 hill was completely vandalized, and the larger K‑28 was partially destroyed. Today, only fragments of the inrun and landing area remain visible in the terrain.
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