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Chena Ridge Ski Jump

1956 to 1960

Name of Ski Area: Chena Ridge Ski Jump
Location: Fairbanks
Type of Area: Ski Jump, size: 30-35 meters
Dates of Operation: 1956 to 1960
Who Built It?: Fairbanks ski jumpers
Elevation:

~700'

Facilities: Unknown / likely none
History: Information about the Chena Ridge Ski Jump was obtained from Merrit Mitchell and Harvey Turner.  These two came to the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1947-48 as did his Merrit's wife Liz.  They all were on the University Ski Team.

The Chena Ridge Ski Jump was built in 1956 by a loose bunch of skiers. There was no official organization but they did hold the Nugget Ski Races there for 2-3 years. The group got a permit from BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) and included 10-15 active jumpers. The group included but was not limited to Harvey Turner, Donn Huber, Mel Hackala, Ron Sundberg, Ray DePriest, Art Stubbins.

The Nugget Races were four event races: jumping at Chena Ridge, Cross Country on the University (Skarland) Trails, downhill and slalom at Cleary Summit. 

Sources of Information:

Merritt and Liz Mitchell; Harvey Turner; Donn Huber family

~  PHOTOS  ~
 

Donn Huber 1950's photo of the Chena Ridge Ski Jump

Donn Huber was one of the builders of the Chena Ridge Ski Jump, and one of the skiers that jumped here.  This shot of Donn's shows well the construction of the jump and the landing hill profile.
[Photo credit:  Donn Huber Family]

 

Mitchell and Turner 1950's photos of the Chena Ridge Ski Jump
(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Above and below - the Chena Ridge Jump.  2nd row on right: Harvey Turner heads to the jump.
[Photo credits:  Harvey Turner]

Al Paige in flight Unidentified jumper Al Paige
[Photo credits, above row and to right:  Merritt and Liz Mitchell]
  Merritt Mitchell
[Photo credit:  Merritt and Liz Mitchell]
Unidentified Jumper
[Photo Credit: Archives, UAF]

~  MAPS  ~

This topo view shows the where the Chena Ridge Ski jump was located.  To the west of the airport on Chena Ridge by Broadmoor Acres

(click on this map to expand it)

topo_chenaridge.jpg (156988 bytes)

A zoomed in topo view shows the area where it is believed the Chena Ridge Ski Jump was located.  Note: this location still needs to be verified, it may not be that accurate.

(click on this map to expand it)

topo_zoom_chenaridge.jpg (117559 bytes)

Research Correspondence 
[Dave Brann - 05 February 2005 conversation with Merritt Mitchell]

It was great fun talking with them, he came to the University in 1947-48 and so did Liz. Both were members of the Univ. Ski Team. They married in 1950. [Merritt had] pictures, nice pictures of the ski jump at Chena Ridge, just the jump and with a jumper. In the Alaska Atlas, it was located just west of the airport by Broadmore Acres, just above the e and below the o, you have to look at the map to understand where I am talking about.

Chena Ridge Ski Jump was started in 1956 by a loose bunch of skiers. There was no official organization but they did hold the Nugget Ski Races there for 2-3 years. The group got a permit from BLM and included 10-15 active jumpers. The group included but was not limited to Harvey Turner, Donn Huber, Mel Hackala, Ron Sundberg, Ray DePriest, Art Stubbins.

Also good pictures of the jump at the University. located on the Alaska Atlas just below the g and e of the word college, built by students, it was small, about 1/4 mi. from campus. (I know we have some of this).

[Dave Brann - 07 February 2005 conversation with Merritt Mitchell]

Tim, I talked with Merritt, he didn't help build the Chena Ridge jump, isn't sure why he wasn't involved. He guesses the jump was 30-35 meters and lasted only 2-3 years, four at the most so 56-60 looks like the dates. The Nugget Races were four event races, jumping at Chena ridge, Cross Country on the Univ (Skarland) Trails, downhill and slalom at Cleary Summit. Said they went on for a number of years after he left-maybe they jumped somewhere else. He said the people at Beaver Sports in Fairbanks would be a good source but the best he said is Harvey Turner-he has newspaper clippings, pictures etc.

Here are two pictures of the jump at Chena Ridge, the first picture of a jumper coming over the lip (white sign in the background) is of Al Paige.  I don't know who the second picture is of at this point, I will check with Merritt but I'm not sure he knows as it wasn't labeled.

[Dermot Cole - excerpt from a 26 March 2006 article in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner entitled: "In 1950s, local skiers took flight from Fairbanks ski jumps"]

For full article click here

Their site [ALSAP] contains some great accounts of the ski jumps at the University of Alaska and on Chena Ridge in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The UAF jump was on the hill just beyond the Patty Center, while the Chena Ridge jump was up on the hill above the Pump House restaurant.

Harvey Turner, who now lives in Anchorage, and Merritt Mitchell, a resident of Homer, were top competitors for the university in four events in the late 1940s and early 1950s--slalom, downhill, cross country and ski jumping.

Mitchell grew up in Minnesota and had been going off ski jumps since his childhood. Like Turner, he was a World War II veteran, and he enjoyed the thrill of the campus ski jump.

"It was something to do between classes," he said. "It was a good way to get the cobwebs out of your head because there wasn't much else for recreation."

Mitchell and Turner, now both in their 80s, estimated that skiers would be airborne for about 40 or 50 feet on the campus jump. It was built of poles and scrap lumber. The top was about where the road to the West Ridge is today.

Skier Donn Huber and others built a larger ski jump in the mid-1950s on Chena Ridge. Also made of trees cut from the site and scrap wood, the Chena Ridge jump allowed skiers to go about 90 feet in the air, Turner estimates. The jumpers would pack down the snow by walking sideways up the hill and zoom down and go off the end and up into the air.

"It was a thrill. It gave you a sensation that you just couldn't otherwise experience. You couldn't see where you were landing when you first took off, so that made it interesting," Turner said.

They said 10 to 20 people, most of them UA students who were World War II veterans, went ski jumping in those years. When they had competitions, dozens of spectators would attend.

Turner once broke a leg on the campus hill. It was not because of the jump or the landing, he said, but because his ski hooked a tree while he was slowing down.

Huber, who still lives in Fairbanks, said the jumpers did not try to get flat over their skis while airborne, the way jumpers do today.

"We used to do a lot of windmilling, leaning forward and moving our arms to keep from going too far forward," he said. "The biggest concern we had was falling forward and going head over heels."

The jumpers today look far more graceful, he said. He said that UA President Terris Moore used to park his airplane near the top of the UA hill. Sometimes the president would ski down the jump with the students. He didn't have a good takeoff at the bottom, but that didn't matter.

"We always admired him because he tried," he said.

 

 

Do you have further information, stories or pictures that you would like to contribute about this ski area?