The scene Tuesday night high above the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove was a bit like a Norse version of the Greek myth of Sisyphus.
But instead of a punished king pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back, jovial, hardworking volunteers were busy filling a wooden cart with orange bags of snow being pulled up a steep ski jump — repeating the process over and over and over.
The task was to get the club’s big jump ready for its 112th International Winter Tournament Saturday and Sunday.
The event was rescheduled from Jan. 21 and 22 because of rain the week prior followed by unseasonably mild temperatures that weekend. Group members claim that was the first time the event ever had to be postponed.
Tuesday, as he took a break from his duties, Guy Larson was confident that that the tournament would go on this time.
Norge Ski Club members readying jump for rescheduled tournament Mike Danahey
Members will be out this week readying the jump at Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove for the 112th incarnation of the group’s annual tournament — and hoping weekend weather allows the event to happen.
“The plan is to snow the hill Tuesday night,” Norge Ski Club president Scott Smith said.
While…
Members will be out this week readying the jump at Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove for the 112th incarnation of the group’s annual tournament — and hoping weekend weather allows the event to happen.
“The plan is to snow the hill Tuesday night,” Norge Ski Club president Scott Smith said.
While…
(Mike Danahey)
"It’s going to happen," Larson said. "We’ll be ready."
What had Larson optimistic about the competition finally happening is the weather forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.
"It’s supposed to get pretty cold the next few days and nights, which will allow things to set up right, even if it warms up for the weekend. And the weather tonight allows us to put down a good base," Larson said. "That wasn’t the case in January with the rain." Temperatures Saturday are predicted to reach the upper 40s and the low 40s on Sunday.
Conditions Tuesday night by the jump were brisk, with the thermometer slowly dropping from the mid-30s, occasional wind gusts and foggy mist in the air shrouding a view of the river. Ice and mud along ways to the work zone added to the challenge.
Larson, of Barrington, is a former vocational coordinator at the now-closed Larkin Home in Elgin, whose son, Casey, 18, is a member of the U.S. Nordic Ski Team, while daughter Cara, 16, is part of the Women’s Ski Jumping USA squad. Larson also oversees Norge’s Nordic Combined, which involves jumping and cross country skiing.
Ed Waters of Fox River Grove, who has been involved with the club since 1965, explained the initial steps of what was happening.
"We take the snow that was made and put in a pile, then shovel it in front of a snow blower to pulverize it," Waters said.
A worker would hold a plastic bag on a blower’s shoot to fill it.
Lack of snow leads to unusual winter in Fox Valley Sarah Freishtat and Mike Danahey
The Fox Valley’s so-far mild winter has meant a Special Olympics snowshoe team was forced to compete on grass and, during a sled dog demonstration, a team of huskies pulled their sled on wheels.
Still, for some area cities and school districts, the lack of snow has led to savings – so far – and…
The Fox Valley’s so-far mild winter has meant a Special Olympics snowshoe team was forced to compete on grass and, during a sled dog demonstration, a team of huskies pulled their sled on wheels.
Still, for some area cities and school districts, the lack of snow has led to savings – so far – and…
(Sarah Freishtat and Mike Danahey)
Prior to that, though, the cart for hauling the snow had to be lifted from the base at the lip of the jump onto the jump — which looked way more difficult than, say, moving a cumbersome sofa into a college apartment.
With the cart in place, a volunteer or two standing on a mildly wobbly picnic table beneath the end of the jump would hoist the bags up over its lip for others to take to fill the cart.
One of those bag-tossers was Kevin Sliczniak, 15, of Batavia, who was there with his father Mike, who was assisting higher up, emptying the bags onto the jump. Sliczniak said he just took to learning the sport about 8 months ago and had yet to soar off a hill.
Of his Tuesday task, Sliczniak said, "You feel it in your back."
Once in the cart, the bags were pulled up the incline, looking much like a car on a wooden roller coaster making its way to the apex. The empty bags were returned back in the cart to begin the process all over again — with those below reminding those above to stuff bags into bags to prevent them from blowing away.
At the Norge Ski Club, moving the cart involved a pulley system with a heavy wire attached to Jim Schroeder’s Suburban. Once given the message, Schroeder would pull that wire by slowly driving his big SUV — the distance changing during the course of the night, adjusted to the point of the hill being covered with the man-made snow.
(Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
Schroeder, a surveyor from Fox River Grove, said he helped the club install the 70 meter tower more than a dozen years ago.
The 70-meter hill stands 160 feet tall, and Norge purchased that tower in 2004 from the town of Ely, Minn., to replace its aging 60-meter jump. In 2011, the club also rebuilt its 10 and 20-meter jumps. All of this has been accomplished with the volunteer effort of Norge’s 100-plus members.
The club, founded in 1905 by Norwegian immigrants, is one of the oldest continuously operated ski group’s in the country and today offers a living history of the breathtaking sport.
Larson explained that once the snow completely covers the artificial turf lining the slope, the next step would be raking it down, then smoothing out the surface. The slightly above freezing temperatures actually could work to the club’s advantage he said, as the slushy snow would freeze nicely in the predicted weather.
The next step would be coming back in a day or so to form tracks in the surface in which competitors put their skis to make their way down the inrun to their takeoffs.
Larson noted that next year, the process would be a bit smoother as club members were creating a different sort of cart that would be easier to fill. And the current system takes less labor than it did years ago, Larson said, when a big crew was needed as bags were passed person-to-person up the hill, much like crews do with sandbags in a flood zone.
In the early 1920s and 1930s, ski jump contests and ski culture were thriving in the Midwest. The Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove was just one of the many clubs that held an annual tournament that drew thousands of spectators and international contestants from places like Norway and Sweden.
Given the unpredictable nature of winter in the Midwest, Larson noted the Norge tournament has taken part in all sorts of weather, yet typically draws a crowd, regardless of conditions.
"People love to watch the jumping, and they are patient if we have to delay for wind or other reasons," Larson said. "They come to have a good time. It’s a party."
mdanahey@tribpub.com
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