BERLIN, n.h. — A historic ski jump that once attracted up to 30,000 spectators and made New Hampshire an important winter sports destination after it opened in 1938 is getting a chance to soar again.
The Nansen Ski Jump in Milan lured some of the biggest names in jumping to the state’s North Country for decades and was host to Olympic tryouts, World Cup competitions and four national championships before the last jumper flew off it in 1985.
Now, an effort is underway to revive the dilapidated jump and make it a tourist attraction featuring story boards, a picnic area and observation platform at the takeoff point so visitors can get a jumper’s eye view of the panorama.
The timber and overgrown brush that have obscured the jump from view are scheduled to be cleared next spring, and grant proposals are being written to develop the state park around it.
The 70-meter jump is a monument to the region’s rich cultural history and the Scandinavians and Canadians who were brought in to clear forests for the nearby paper mills. They brought with them their devotion to skiing and ski jumping and championed the building of the jump by the Nansen Ski Club — the oldest continuously operating ski club in the country, formed in 1872.
“There’s a lot of history, a lot of interest and a lot of potential,” said Vaughn Roy, 72, of Berlin. He said he first worked up the courage to go off the jump at age 17 and made about 75 jumps in all.
Ben Wilson, director of the bureau of historic sites with the state Parks and Recreation Department, said ski museums in New Hampshire and Maine are part of the coalition of people working to preserve the jump. A Maine steel company helped design the project and provided the steel to build it. He estimates it will take $100,000 to turn it into a tourist site, though there are no plans to use Nansen for jumping again.
