Live call-in discussion: One hundred years ago, Fred Harris fell in love with ski jumping and built what's now known as Harris Hill Ski Jump in Brattleboro. And it's still going strong today. This hour, we explore the history of Harris Hill and look at how the Brattleboro community is celebrating a century of ski jumping.
Our guests are:
- Kevin O’Connor, VT Digger reporter and contributing writer of Harris Hill Ski Jump: The First 100 Years
- Dana Sprague, historian and former ski jumper who provided hundreds of photos and other archival materials for the book
- Peter Graves, a former U.S. Ski Team coach and Olympic commentator for alpine and cross country skiing, biathlon and ski jumping events at Harris Hill and beyond
This weekend will mark 100 years of competition at Harris Hill, and a series of events will mark a century of ski jumping.
Friday, Feb. 18, will see fireworks and an international contingent of ski jumpers participate in a night jumping exposition, followed by competitive ski jumping Saturday and Sunday.
It wasn't until 2014 that the Olympics opened competitive ski jumping to women, but Sprague told Vermont Edition that Harris Hill has been ahead of its time since the beginning.
"Fred Harris' sister went off in 1922, with Fred, when they were trying it out. So we're taking that as 100 years of women jumping," he said.
"We've always allowed women jumpers at Harris Hill, and it's getting bigger and bigger, and I truly believe women are going to save the sport of ski jumping, they're that good."
The current jump at Harris Hill is a 90-meter hill, one of only a handful in the country and the only Olympic-sized ski hill in New England.
Listen to the full interview to hear more about the history of Harris Hill Ski Jump and its role in the sport of ski jumping going back to 1922.
Broadcast live on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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