Ah, memories. They are always so much clearer when you can see them in person.

Today, I had a long walk. And during said walk, I took multiple pictures, thanks to the request of a couple of people from my first journal that I posted. This batch of pictures will be dedicated to the old ski jumping ramps.

Over a hundred and twenty years ago, the local area founded a sports team. This team did many things, such as competitive sail boat races, football (soccer), sportsfishing, and skiing. As you would probably know, many things fall under skiing, such as slalom, races, and jumping. The biggest thing this local team did was jumping, as for the longest time, the team leader was an olympic medal winner for jumping. I think without him, we wouldn't have these ramps.

There are three ramps, three layers of difficulty, and I wanted to show off parts of all three.

In the top left, that's the peak of the highest point, seen from behind, along a newly made path that allows for easy access to the nearby school and to the apartment blocks where I live, atop the mountain. Moving closer to its right side, you can find the staircase which is now broken. It was broken on purpose, as kids would climb it during recess, which is bad, because these have now stood there for 40 years or so with no proper tending, and could collapse if the right amount of force is applied.

Heading on down to the second row of images, you can find the second highest jump, which has an accessible staircase, albeit in a more overgrown part of the forest. I could easily go to the staircase, though I decided to not do so, because I didn't bring a pair of properly waterproof shoes, and it was raining pretty hard about half an hour before these images were taken.

When I was younger, this particular staircase was used in gym classes. Or physical education, as you call it in the states. Basically, if you didn't have skis on gym day, you were forced to jog up and down those stairs for about an hour straight, until you were allowed a break. It was a harsh exercise, actually. It might not look it, but that's high up.

The image next to it is how the ramp looks from below. That's both the big jumps side-by-side, and you can see how poorly they have been tended to in the last few years. Literally zero. It is quite possible to walk up it, but like I said, it was raining, and my shoes had poor grip, so I decided to just look up rather than climb it. Also, various parts of the ramps are broken, covered in moss and dirt, and would likely collapse if I went too crazy up there. In the image in the bottom right, you see where the second jump leads you, a small flattened patch of land close to the main road. The bottom left is part of the baby jump, which is to the right of the red building you can see in the bottom right image. This jump just goes down the hill slightly, and sends you flying like ten meters. Don't get me wrong, that's a lot of height and distance, but it is the smallest one here, and definitely the safest, thanks to the tracks. It's quite a controlled jump, but it has been left uncared for for about ten years now, and is likely not safe anymore.

And that's it for the ski jump field! If you'd like, I could take pictures following the tracks next time, or I could take you down to see the fjords, and my boat. You decide! :D