Wrapping up the Summer with a Trip the the Wind Tunnel

Hello Ski Post readers! And happy fall!

The fall training period is one of my favorite times of year. I start to feel fit, it’s not blistering hot outside, and it means that the winter comp season is just around the corner! My teammates and I just returned from our final European camp of the summer. It was a quick trip (by my standards) but was super productive. Much of the trip was similar to any other trip: ski jumping sessions, roller ski intervals, and easy runs. What set this trip apart was that my team and I got to spend two days at an indoor wingsuit tunnel in Stockholm, Sweden. Being able to practice inside of a wind tunnel is a great way to work on ski jumping technique and allows us to spend a lot more time in the air than is possible on a normal ski jump. Typically, you’re in the air for around 3-5 seconds on a ski jump, whereas in the wind tunnel you can fly for minutes at a time. Over the course of two days, we had the equivalent airtime of a few hundred ski jumps, which would take months to do with normal training.

(Photo: "Wingsuit")

On the trip over, our flight leaving Salt Lake City was cancelled, and we arrived to Stockholm a day late. On top of that, the airline lost a total of 20 bags that my team checked in (Nordic combiners travel heavy). I thought that missing our skis and ski jumping suits would be an issue for going into the wind tunnel, but we spent the first part of the day just jumping up and down in the tunnel in our normal clothes. What sets the wind tunnel in Stockholm apart from other tunnels is that the tunnel sits on an angle, similar to the angle of a ski jumping landing hill. With wind speeds of 140-170kph, you can jump off the ground and stay in the air for 1-2 seconds. We spent a lot of time doing squat jumps in the tunnel and changing our body positions to see how much lift it was possible to create with just your body. This was not only really fun, but really productive, because now I know which body position I should try to create off of the ski jump takeoff.

When our bags finally showed up, we strapped into our skis and used a harness so that we could hang in the air and recreate a ski jumping flight position. The harness in the wind tunnel was attached to a scale on the roof, which allowed you to see how much you weigh while you’re in the air. You’re probably thinking “well aren’t you gonna weigh the same in the air no matter what?”. And yes, you do weigh the same, but the weight on the scale changes depending on how much lift you create. Essentially, the better flight position you have, the less weight is being put on the scale. The numbers aren’t an exact science, but I typically weigh about 73-74kg with my ski equipment on, and when I was in my best flight position I only weighed about 28kg while in the air. I could move my body position and ski position slightly and watch the scale change, which was super cool to see. Spending 5 minutes at a time changing your position and seeing the effects of the changes is not something that you can do on a ski jump, which is why going to a wind tunnel is so beneficial.

(Photo: Wind Tunnel Flight)

Two days of being in the wind tunnel was super tiring, but super fun and super productive. I am thankful that we had the opportunity to go test it out and am already looking forward to the next trip to Stockholm! After spending time in the wind tunnel, I was able to use what I learned during our jump sessions on the rest of the trip and I felt some big improvements on the hill.

With only about a month until the competition season starts, I’m fully focused on getting ready to compete and am looking forward to getting back to Europe to start the season. In the meantime, I’ll be going to Lake Placid to jump on their newly renovated ski jumps which will be a great way to finish the summer and start the winter. This summer flew by but I’m happy with the progress that I made and think that this winter is going to be a good one!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the last few weeks of fall!