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Snow Jumping on Hampstead Heath.....
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

There was a great picture in the Sunday Times of an event held on Hampstead Heath on March 25th 1950. Anyone see it?

Apparently Oxbridge skiers organised a ski jump competition. They invited the Norwegian ski jumpers over, who kindly brought with them 45 tons of snow for the event. A jump was rigged up for the competition, which, judging from the 'photo, must have been watched by a good few thousand people.

I've tried to find the pictoral reference on the ST website to no avail. Suffice to say the extraordinary shot is from the top of the jump and of a midflight jumper and the snow run below, with several thousand people on the Heath in the background.

If anyone can find a reference to the event, it looked fascinating.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Mark. That event took place over two years, and was huge. Ski jumping also took place at Wembley Stadium. The SCGB was involved in the events.

Even better than a photo reference, if you go to the Pathe News site, which was digitised with National Lottery funding (which is why it's in the public domain) you can find a free low-res preview video of the ski jumping on Hampstead Heath.

Go to British Pathe Limited Use keywords in the search.

There's lots of other ski stuff too, such as the first Glencoe chairlift (the old single one that's now a double)
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Here's a linkto the Pathe News item

There are some great images. Reading Ott's graphic accounts, and seeing these images from similar eras is quite strange when weighed with indoor ski centres of today and the resorts of today.

Thanks for the lead, David.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.

It's one of the most valuable applications of lottery funding, since Pathe was the main source of news for ciinema-goers pre-television, and in the decades of early television.

I live a mile from Hampstead Heath, and the slope concerned (which I think was probably Parliament Hill) has also been used for grass skiing many times. It's also one of London's most popular kite-flying locations and has great views of the city. The authorities are very restrictive about sports on the Heath now, since it's such a remarkable piece of unspoilt land, and I doubt if a ski jumping rig like that would be permitted now.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Actually, from the point of view of the rickety nature of the scaffold, that's quite reassuring Wink

I couldn't see any signs of a lift system, so I suppose that represents a brave climb, not to mention speedy and (from one entrant's point of view) trcky descent Exclamation

Joking aside, that must have been one hell of a spectacle judging from the numbers of spectators - some of which seemed to have had the advantage of a viewing gallery. I don't know about you, David, but there's something very typically "British" about the whole thing. I don't mean that in a derogatory sense either.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.

Incidentally David, do we have the pleasure of looking forward to your caption competitions to keep us in comfort during those long warm summer nights?
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

"Now Oxford's captain, Douglass Macintosh takes off from the 80-foot starting point... if he wasnt Dark Blue before, he will be now!"

hehe, love the 50s commentators! Smile

Rob
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

Huge ski jump ramps like this - but even bigger, of course - were also set up in places like Los Angeles, and there was an era when it was regarded as showmanship as much as sport. "See a man fly" - that kind of thing.
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