Sun Valley

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Ruud Mountain Ski Jump:

K-Point:

50 m

Further jumps:	no
Plastic matting:	no
Year of construction:	1936
Operating until:	ca. 1960
Status:	destroyed
Coordinates:	43.707199, -114.337856 ✔

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History:

Sun Valley, opened in December 1936 as the first winter destination resort in the United States, quickly gained status as the country’s skiing capital. The initiative of Union Pacific Railroad and its chairman Averell Harriman was meant to boost passenger traffic after the Great Depression and simultaneously turn skiing into a modern and mass-participation sport. Following the success of the first Harriman Cup, its founder noticed one key element was missing: a ski jump. While alpine skiing was still in its infancy, ski jumping—thanks to Norwegian tradition—was already hugely popular. Sigmund Ruud (silver Olympic medalist in 1928) and Alf Engen (professional world ski jumping champion of the 1930s) were invited to design the facility. They chose a site between Dollar Mountain and Proctor Mountain, which was later named Ruud Mountain. A jump for distances of up to approximately 40 meters (131 feet) was constructed on its natural slope. Its profile met the international FIS standards, and the vertical drop of the hill was around 600 feet (182 meters).
Ruud Mountain soon became the arena for competition among the world’s best jumpers. Participants in competitions and exhibitions included Alf, Sverre, and Corey Engen; Sigmund and Birger Ruud; Reidar Andersen; Torger Tokle; Art Devlin; and members of the U.S. Olympic teams for 1948 and 1952. The jumps were part of the Nordic combined (downhill, slalom, cross-country, and jumping), and Sun Valley was the only American resort at that time meeting the criteria to host official FIS events.
The hill was equipped with a makeshift chairlift, allowing for more intensive training and attracting athletes who previously had to climb the slope on foot.
After World War II, interest in ski jumping in the U.S. began to decline. Although U.S. Olympic teams still trained there before the 1948 and 1952 Games, competitions became increasingly rare. The last official event was the American Legion Junior Three-Way Championships in 1956. Slalom races continued until 1961, when the final Harriman Cup was held, won by Billy Kidd.
In 1965, Ruud Mountain appeared in the film Ski Party—a light musical comedy featuring Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Annette Funicello, James Brown, and Lesley Gore. The movie included humorous ski jumping scenes—such as a jump in a clown costume and a sled descent off the takeoff ramp. It was the last known recreational use of the jump.
Today, the ski jump at Ruud Mountain no longer physically exists, but its legacy remains vivid in local memory. Exhibitions such as Skiers in Flight at the Sun Valley Regional History Museum commemorate its history. Memories of it are preserved in the Ruud and Engen family archives, Union Pacific’s documentation, and ski museums. The Ruud Mountain jump was the first fully functional facility built specifically for FIS-level competitions in the U.S. Though its active sporting life was brief, it played a pivotal role in the birth of American skiing as a professional and media-recognized sport.

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Comments:

Post comment:

2) skisprungschanzen.com wrote on 2021-01-11 at 20:12:

@Cateyes

Do you have links to those posts?

1) Cateyes wrote on 2021-01-10 at 20:17:

In use?

Some guy posted some pictures on Instagram showing the jump being used again.

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