Højbjerg

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Ørnekollen:

K-Point:	20 m
Hill record:	26.0 m (Arne Kirkbakk , 1958)

Further jumps:	no
Plastic matting:	no
Year of construction:	1950
Operating until:	1963
Status:	destroyed
Ski club:	Aarhus Skiklub
Coordinates:	56.101765, 10.236371 ✔

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History:

The hills in the Marselisborg forests inspired skiing enthusiasts in the 1950s. A ski jump was built near Ørnereden, and so it was naturally named Ørnekollen.
Construction began in the summer of 1950 and was quite troublesome. The site was chosen to the north of Ørnereden, toward the city, where steep ravines run through the forest. At that time, the area was difficult to access, and the construction required ingenuity from the Aarhus Ski Club. Rails were laid and a small mining cart was used to transport soil into the ravine. A total of 400 cubic meters of soil were needed to create an even landing and outrun. At the top, a wooden inrun tower was built, with the goal of enabling jumps of up to 30 meters.
This goal was partially achieved. In 1958, Norwegian ski jumper Arne Kirkbakk set the hill record at 26 meters, 1.5 meters longer than the previous best. Kirkbakk worked professionally as a postman and was featured in the 1956 publication Norske skiløpere, where he was presented as one of the active jumpers of the time. The landing area was short, often resulting in crashes into the straw laid out at the end to prevent jumpers from hitting the trees. Spectators stood very close. During the opening in 1952, when Danish jumper Jørgen Albrechtsen fell and lost a ski, it flew into the crowd — two people were hospitalized.
As many as 6,000 people attended the inaugural competition. Five buses shuttled between the tram stop and the hill, but many spectators still arrived late. The police helped transport some of them back to the city. Despite the great interest, the ski jump was closed in 1963. The official reason was the lack of snow — there was no guarantee of suitable conditions for competitions. Club members often had to gather snow from the forest just to cover the hill and landing area.
A few years later, in the mid-1960s, the Aarhus Ski Club attempted to build a new jump (actually two — one for juniors and one for adults) closer to the city, in Dyrehaven. Some materials from Ørnekollen were reused there. Today, those facilities also no longer exist, and it's difficult to find any trace of them.
The Ørnekollen ski jump was located in the Marselisborg forests, directly north of the Ørnereden restaurant. Today, a path with wooden stairs leading from Ørnereden to the beach marks the spot.

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