THE BERLIN SUN

By early summer, people will see site work underway on the historic Big Nansen Ski Jump in Milan as the Nansen Ski Club and the Friends of the Big Nansen move ahead with Phase I renovations.

About a year ago, the Friends entered into a contract with the nationally known ski jump design group CBS Squared Inc. to plan and design improvements to the facility to allow sanctioned jumping events to be held at the site in the future.

The design work was funded by a Northern Border Regional Commission Grant award.

The design effort included evaluation of eight different combinations of jump and landing hill alternatives, which were reviewed by a selection of ski-jumping coaches, officials and other knowledgeable people in the ski-jumping community.

The alternative selection provides the smoothest flight and softest landing but requires modifications to both the jump and landing hill.

Once the design work was completed in the summer of 2020, the Friends began the process of soliciting construction services to complete the improvements.

But a combination of the modernized design and a spike in material prices required the organization to reevaluate its approach. It decided to take a phased approach to complete the project.

Phase I will include improvements to the landing hill, and Phase II will include the jump structure. Additional improvements such as a new judges’ stand and other amenities will be completed in subsequent phases.

At the group’s latest meeting, Friends member Jay Poulin reported a $315,000 contract has been signed with local contractor Lee T. Corrigan LLC to complete Phase I improvements.

The improvements will include reprofiling of the landing hill, building a concrete retaining wall at the jump takeoff and installation of a required landing hill deflection system.

In order to keep costs within the group’s funding, the landing hill deflection system will only include installation of the posts and top rail and deferring the installation of the horizontal boards.

The group had hoped to have the boards themselves included in the Phase I work, but the cost was beyond the funds available. Instead, it plans to purchase the boards separately and organize a “work” party of volunteers to install them.

The board installation would be done after the other site work is completed, probably mid- to late summer.

Poulin noted that the work will be paid for by the $250,000 Northern Border Regional Commission grant plus the required match and some additional donated funds, to reach the $315,000 needed.

The state, which owns the jump, is providing $35,000 toward the match.

The site work is scheduled to get underway in mid-June and will take eight to 12 weeks.

Also as part of the project, Conwaybased engineering firm HEB Engineers Inc. has contracted the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to complete design of new code-compliant stairs to the jump structure as well as perform a structural evaluation of the structure now that regular, permanent use was being considered.

In order to receive sanctioned status, the jump must have a new, wider deck on raised nailers, with varying heights above the new deck. Poulin noted “the standards have changed quite a bit since the jump was built in 1937.”

Poulin said the group is coordinating with local steel fabricator Capone Iron Corp. to get an estimate of the steel reinforcing work. A new steel staircase to the jump takeoff will also be constructed, and the cost of that will be covered by the state.

“The scope of this project has grown since our initial plan,” Poulin noted, estimating that the steel reinforcing and the new jump deck profile improvements will likely cost north of $500,000.

Friends President Shawn Costello said the group needs to get the word out to the public on its fundraising needs as well as recruit more volunteers. The organization is planning to undertake a capital campaign to raise the additional money for project completion.

“We need to move this forward,” Poulin said. The ski-jumping community has offered strong support to reestablish a program, including Kennett High Ski Jumping Coach Chip Henry, who suggested the possibility of holding a high school-age jumping event there.

Donations to the campaign can be made to Big Nansen Restoration, Nansen Ski Club, P.O. Box 222, Berlin, NH 03570 or online at skinansen.com.

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