“Once you see the precision, skill, and sheer guts it takes to master this sport, you’ll be hooked. And there’s no better place to experience the adrenaline than Salisbury’s Jumpfest—set to be bigger, bolder, and better than ever! The frost in the air, the clang of cowbells, the roar of the crowd, and the unmistakable thwack of skis hitting the landing hill—it’s pure magic. This isn’t just an event, it’s a winter experience!”
— Janet Serra, Connecticut Travel
When anything turns 100, it’s worth celebrating. But when it’s a tradition as classically awe-inspiring as ski jumping, in a setting as old-school charming as Satre Hill in Salisbury, Connecticut, it’s time to pop the champagne. Actually, more fittingly, time to gather around a crackling bonfire with a cold microbrew (or hot toddy) and a local brat in hand. That and more await you the weekend of February 6-8, when roughly two dozen competitors climb the towering seven-story jump atop the hill and compete before a crowd of 1,500, cowbells clanging, spirits soaring. “If you haven’t seen Jumpfest live, you haven’t seen it,” board director Willie Hallihan insists. This year, if you want to see it live, you may want to buy your tickets in advance.
A Norwegian passion turned tradition
Norwegian-born John Satre—who came to the region to be a chauffeur for the Warner family, while also working weekends for a local farmer—launched the tradition with his brothers (Olaf, Magnus, and Sverre) back in January 1927 to share a sport from their homeland. The event included a demo jump off a shed roof and a cross-country ski race, and established what was then known as the Salisbury Outing Club. There were 200 spectators. The farmer later donated the land, and the event became an annual tradition.
In 1933, the Salisbury Outing Club gained visibility by hosting the National Championships, but during the war years that followed, the jump fell into disrepair. The event resumed under a new name in 1945. Further improvements to the landing hill and tower were made in 1950 and 1952 after the site was selected to host the Eastern National Championships. Over the years, Satre Hill has added several jumps. They currently have 20-meter and 36-meter jumps, as well as the pièce de résistance, a 70-meter steel tower that replaced the iconic wooden jump, completed in time for the 2011 United States Junior Nationals in Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined.
Now sponsored and run by the Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA, pronounced “Swa-sa”), it has become Salisbury’s signature annual winter event, bringing crowds from throughout New England, along with booming business for local venues. Jumpfest weekend features Target Jumping under the lights, the Human Dog Sled Race, and fireworks (all part of this year’s Friday opening night festivities); the Saturday Invitational (Eastern Junior Cup—20 Meter and 36 Meter Small Hills Competition; 70 Meter Salisbury Invitational Ski Jumping Competition) and Snowball Fundraiser; and the 70 Meter Eastern Ski Jumping Championships and Nordic Combined Race on Sunday. All the action is announced by Dale Jones, a former jumper himself who has spent a lifetime in radio and has been volunteering at Jumpfest for decades.
SWSA board president Ken Barker recalls saying yes to hosting the Junior Nationals long before he had any idea how they would raise $700,000 or find a team able to construct the jump within a tight deadline. Through an astonishing (though not entirely unexpected) outpouring of local support, however, the organization raised a substantial portion of the necessary funds, and the town (using paper ballots in the nearby Congregational church) voted 141 to 2 to back a loan for the remaining balance. Using all local builders, they achieved an engineering feat—a superstructure with concrete footings and a steel frame—in record time. In 2021, the SWSA cleared a Nordic loop, providing over half a kilometer of groomed track for skate and classic skiing at the base of the jump.
Exposure and skills
The mission of the Salisbury Winter Sports Association has long been “to acquaint our nearby communities, especially the children, with Nordic ski-jumping, cross-country and Alpine skiing, and to teach the skills necessary for their enjoyment and lifelong pursuit.” Part of the mission, according to board director and Jumpfest judge Brian Sangster, is to provide scholarship money for local school students (grades 5-8) in Falls Village, Housatonic, North Canaan, Salisbury, and Webutuck to participate in the after-school ski program. For example, Salisbury Central School students travel by bus on Wednesday afternoons to Mohawk Mountain for ski lessons, and SWSA helps fund the program (including bus fees, lift tickets, and ski rentals).
Other school-based programs include an annual two-day skills-building, ski jumping camp for students over the holiday break ($50 for two days) and a week-long ski jumping skills camp during the summer. SWSA also offers a $60 club membership covering three weekly practices (held Wednesday and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons) and fun tournaments throughout the winter, as well as all necessary equipment (skis, suits, and helmets). “The information/invitation goes out in the Friday folder for Salisbury Central School, and nobody is turned away,” Hallihan notes.
“We recently held a 45-minute assembly at Salisbury Central School, organized by SWSA board director (and ski-jumping parent) Billy Sheil and assistant principal John Conklin. Larry Stone, who grew up here and is a former Olympic coach, joined in and met with gym classes the rest of the day, leading exercises (jumping, hurdles, balancing, and other introductory skills),” Sangster explains. “The Town of Salisbury’s role in supporting Jumpfest and SWSA is a remarkable story of winter sports enthusiasm.”
What kind of students sign up? “It’s a self-selecting group, which is part of the reason parents and kids are so supportive of each other,” SWSA board director (and parent) Caroline Gilbert says, adding, “You have to be comfortable walking up the steel steps and be committed to practicing, but it’s a truly authentic experience.” The program is also growing every year—with 20-plus kids currently in the ski jump program (14 of whom are from Salisbury Central School). “At the end-of-season gathering, one parent commented, ‘We found something we didn’t know we needed,’” Gilbert shares.
Team SWSA is a group of area youth that continues to train beyond the holiday camp and club practices (which end when the snow is gone). The participants are eligible to compete throughout New England. SWSA co-hosts winter and summer training and competitive opportunities with the Eastern Ski Jumping Association, which has clubs in Lake Placid, N.Y., and throughout New Hampshire.
Limited risk, strong community and character
While developing strength and agility are obvious benefits of ski jumping, the sport also builds confidence, commitment, and self-reliance. As Islay Sheil, who groomed her skills with SWSA and now competes nationally, attests: “Ski jumping and SWSA have shaped who I am in a really big way. Being part of a community that believes in you, pushes you, and appreciates hard work as much as results has given me confidence I carry into everything I do. Jumping has taught me how to take risks, trust myself, and dream bigger than I ever thought I could.” (This weekend, she is competing at the Junior World Ski Jumping Qualifier in Ishpeming, Michigan.)
Is it a dangerous sport? “Statistically, there is a significantly lower percentage of injuries in ski jumping than in downhill racing,” Gilbert replies. “Although the promotional posters may make you think otherwise, the contour of the hill is actually designed to follow your flight, so at any given time, you’re no more than 15 to 20 feet off the snow, with 400 feet of outrun that gradually slopes up to slow you down once you land.” A jumper describes it this way: “When you’re in the air, it feels like something went off inside you and you feel magic! Sometimes I’m scared, but that’s the fun of it!”
Gilbert continues, “Your kids start on a bump on the left hill, so they ride the hill. There’s a gulp moment each time they go to the next level, but by their second run, you find yourself thinking Okay. Let’s push more!” Gilbert also feels there’s something inherently unique about ski jumping and the community around the sport. “A ski breaks, and a competitor rushes to loan a ski. The biggest crash gets the biggest applause. We have a special community—not just the ski jumpers but the supporters ringing their cowbells and cheering them on,” she notes.
“It’s the opposite of Hotel California,” Sangster chimes in, grinning. “You could leave anytime you want, but nobody wants to. It’s a competition, and everyone wants to win, but there’s nothing like the outpouring of support when you’re at the top of the tower with Carey Fiertz (starter) and hear your competitors saying ‘Have one’ (which in ski jargon means ‘have a good jump’).”
“You will see future Olympians here”
Each jumper is judged on a combination of scores for style—including flight in the air (stable body, fully stretched legs, V-style, capitalizing on wind and conditions) and landing distance (smooth transition and landing position). “A proper telemark landing should have a straightened upper body, bent knees, split legs, and feet apart with hands out when first gliding on the snow,” the judges explain. Athletes receive 60 points if they reach the K point (the section of the landing hill where it begins to flatten, marked by a red line). The K point on the large steel jump is 65; each meter over or under that distance increases or decreases the score. Each competitor gets two rounds, with the leading jumpers jumping last in the final round.
In his 2022 “View from the Top” article for the SWSA newsletter, Jumpfest starter Fiertz recalled a young participant’s first competitive jump. After remaining seated during the first round, the young girl had everyone wondering whether she could do it. Recalling the cheers of support from the crowd, Fiertz wrote, “Once upon a time, or in another sport, a parent or coach or other competitors or the crowd might try to force the issue. Not in ski jumping these days. There is such a feeling of community and supportiveness, it is hard to remember there are podiums and trophies at stake.” Suddenly, the five-year-old straightened up, let go of the bar, and started sliding down the track. Fiertz continued: “Absolute silence everywhere, and no one takes a breath. She gets to the takeoff and jumps. The crowd reacts as if they have seen a world record. The applause is thunderous.”
“We support those chasing the international dream as well,” Hallihan says. Roy Sherwood, who first jumped in Salisbury, competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics, and Sasha Rearick, the U.S. Ski Team’s head men’s coach, also learned to ski here. More recently, Tara Geraghty-Moats, a former Jumpfest competitor, won the inaugural Women’s Nordic Combined World Cup event in 2020 and went on to become the first overall Women’s Nordic Combined World Cup season champion. Kai McKinnon, who also jumped here for many years, won the U.S. Cup in 2024 and is now part of the U.S. Women’s Cup Tour for Nordic Combined. Tate Frantz (who, at 21, is the youngest male on the U.S. international team) jumped here, too. “In fact, Tate wears his SWSA hat on the world tour,” Gilbert says with pride, adding that he is currently competing in the 2025-26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup season.
“My son Caleb started in 2008 at age 6,” Gilbert recalls, noting that ski jumping was declining in the U.S. at the time. To attract more participants, Barker started the first jump camp in 2008, and SWSA just completed the 18th season. “Ken has been a significant force in getting more people involved. He is also involved in Eastern Ski Jumping and was Chief of Competition for the World Cup in Lake Placid the past two years,” Gilbert adds.
Sustainability in a changing climate
“The weather is everything,” Hallihan admits. “We’ve never lost a whole Jumpfest weekend, but we’ve lost the last two Friday nights—once due to temps near 20 degrees below zero and once due to rain.” A Sunday competition was also once held in freezing temperatures, but 300 people showed up, and all the jumpers still participated. “They’re impervious to the cold,” he laughs. One year, despite an epic blizzard on the Thursday before the event that made it illegal to drive on state roads, the Jumpfest team shoveled off the landing hills by Sunday and managed to hold all the events. “That kind of determination and can-do spirit are not uncommon in the SWSA community,” Hallihan emphasizes.
“Next year will be our fourth time hosting the Junior Nationals,” he continues, “with kids flying in from across the country.” The second time they hosted was in the 1980s; it was 60 degrees and raining. Eddie the Eagle [British ski jumper and Olympian] came that year, with an ABC film crew shooting a promotional movie (“It’s his character, not his skill, that made him famous,” according to Hallihan). “That Thursday evening, the temps plummeted. Ken Barker started making, moving, and grooming snow, and by Saturday, the kids were able to jump. We got all of the jumps in during a 24-hour period.”
“It’s like a mythological city that rises and then disappears after three days,” Gilbert says, referring to the snow-covered hill. They make snow and form it into a massive mound so it stays cold, then use PistenBully (a snow grooming machine) to complete the work that used to be done by humans. Dump trucks full of snow are driven to the base of the tower, and volunteers shovel the snow into a corn blower with an auger powered by a farm tractor, which pushes the snow up a 70-foot pipe to the top of the tower. The snow then cascades down to cover the in-run. “We used to snow the entire area but have gotten smarter in recent years, focusing our efforts where they’re needed,” Hallihan clarifies. Given the global warming trend over the past decade, they are setting their sights on the next fundraising dream—installing synthetic turf so they can offer summer jumping as well.
It takes a village
“We’re an all-volunteer board, with SWSA families and local residents pitching in every year as volunteer hosts, and area businesses collaborating to provide food, beverages, and plenty of red-and-white swag,” Hallihan says. Partner organizations for Jumpfest weekend include SOAR Educational Enrichment (hot toddies), LaBonne’s (brats), Sunday in the Country Food Drive (Friday evening Cook Shack), Lakeville Hose Ladies Auxiliary (Saturday and Sunday Cook Shack), Low N Slow food truck, and Norbrook Farm Brewery (which creates a commemorative beer). In addition, the Salisbury Fire Department offers its space for the annual SWSA Ski Swap on the first Saturday in December, the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance is always on hand if needed, and Pittsfield Community now supplies walkie-talkies (previously provided by Lime Rock Park).
Gilbert acknowledges the mutual support SWSA and local business owners have enjoyed over the years. “SWSA gives Salisbury a huge boost in business and supports the school kids and parents,” she affirms. Reflecting that collaborative support, The Salisbury Association (a local nonprofit) is hosting an exhibit on the 100th anniversary, several area venues are participating in Restaurant Month (which began January 4 and includes stickers and prizes for your patronage), and The White Hart is running an annual Pot Pie Take-out fundraiser. The Snow Ball Fundraiser, featuring the Steve Dunn Band, is held at the Lakeville Town Grove on Saturday night of Jumpfest weekend, and the annual Golf Tourney & Pig Roast is held at Undermountain Golf Course (Boston Corners, NY) each summer.
To celebrate Jumpfest’s long success, Rich Hanley (an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University) recently wrote, produced, and directed an hour-long documentary titled “The Jump,” which premiered last year at the Colonial Theater in Canaan, Conn. The film covers the history of Satre Hill from the 1920s through 2014, and features local hero Roy Sherwood, who overcame a bout of polio to compete in the 1956 Olympics.
On February 1, The Moviehouse in Millerton is hosting a showing of “On the Hill,” a short film featuring local young ski jumpers as they train and compete, with a Q&A after with Izzy Cohan and select panelists from SWSA, followed by the Paramount Pictures film “Downhill Racer,” starring Robert Redford as David Chappellet, who joins the American ski team.
For more information—and to purchase Jumpfest and other tickets!—visit jumpfest.org.
