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Nansen Ski Club
Scott Halvorson & Shawn Costello
June 30, 2022 7pm
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
Nansen: Past, Present, & Future - A Short Version of a Long Story
Join us! The oldest ski club in the country is celebrating its heritage and continuing to grow its traditions.
The Nansen Ski Jump (aka Big Nansen), built in 1937, hosted every meaningful ski jumping event in the country before being shut down in 1985, and coming, oh so close, to being gone forever. It’s being resurrected!
The ”Little Nansen”, a smaller jump, located in the shadow of the Big Nansen, and the “L’il Nansen”, a beginner’s jump, were built this past fall and played host to two competitive events, to great acclaim and large crowds. Ski jumping is back!
But there’s so much more! The Nansen Ski Club has 140 years of rich history tracing its roots back to the beginning of American skiing.
This presentation hopes to give a glimpse into this history and the history that we hope to make going forward.
Scott Halvorson is the grandson of Alf Halvorson, a key force in the construction of the Big Nansen ski jump and Shawn Costello is a former jumper and primary organizer of the last Big Nansen jumping event.
Nansen Ski Club: Text
Event Report
Scott Halvorson & Shawn Costello
June 30, 2022 7pm
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
It was a beautiful evening. At the East Overlook, the Presidentials looked pretty basking in the sunlight from the lowering sun.
Nansen Ski Club: Text
Some folks chose to come to the presentation in style.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
Scott Halvorson and Shawn Costello told a fascinating story of the long history, near death and resurrection of this club - the oldest ski club in America. They had wonderful illustrations from yesteryear and from recent times. They also brought along much memorabilia relating to the history of the club - including some very old wooden jump skis.
On this slide is the contact information relating to the Nansen Ski Club.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
Our presenters talked about and illustrated the scope of the work that is being done. For example, the landing hill has been almost totally redone.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
There has been a tremendous amount of work done to not only restore the Big Nansen jump but at the right of the large jump a newer, 39 meter jump has been constructed - (Little Nansen).
It took quite a lot of blasting to carve a path thru the ledge to build Little Nansen.
The club has also constructed a jump for beginners called "L'il Nansen."
Both of these smaller jumps have already been used for competitions.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
Scott and Shawn talked about their hopes and vision for the future which aims to attract younger jumpers. This remarkable club has made an amazing turnaround in just the last few years. The future looks very promising but they will need a lot of support. Folks are encouraged to do just that even by just becoming a member.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
There was quite a good crowd on hand for our first summer program of the year. Before and after the program people enjoyed strolling the grounds, taking in the views, not only of the mountains but also the view north to Lancaster and beyond.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
It was a perfect evening to come to the park. Our presenters, Scott Halvorson and Shawn Costello provided the audience with a wonderful history of the Nansen Ski Club as they described the origins and the worldwide fame of the Berlin Ski Jump. They also pointed the path towards a very bright future - a dual mission to not only improve the 3 ski jumps but to continue to develop cross country ski trails in conjunction with Milan State Park. Well done, gentlemen. Thank you so much.
Nansen Ski Club: About Us
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