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The largest ski jump in Switzerland is getting
bigger and better. On the weekend of 17 and 18
December, the world’s top ski jumpers will take
to the Titlis ski jump for the first time since it
was extensively renovated.
While ac tors strut and f ret their hour
on the stage, ski jumpers feel in their ele-
ment in the few seconds it takes them to leap
of f a ski jump. Engelberg of fers them a stage
to showcase their ta lents in the shape of the
Titlis ski jump, the biggest jump in Switzer-
land and the largest natura l ski jump in the
world. This summer, ex ten-
sive renovations were car-
ried out on the venerable
jump, which was star ting to
show its age. The brand-new
facilities properly ref lec t
the zeitgeist of modern
ski jumping – because in the meantime
both the materia ls used in ski jumping and
the ath letes’ f light styles have evolved.
Engelberg invested CHF 3 million in the
renovations to turn the ski jump into a fabu-
lous new stage for the world ’s ski-jumping
elite. The bu lk of the renovations were carried
out on the in-run and the take-of f table. The
point f rom which the ath letes will take of f
at the World Cup event on 17 and 18 December
2016 is now around four metres f ur ther back
and two metres higher than in the prev ious
construc tion. This means that the take-of f
table has become a lit tle shor ter, and the in-
run now conforms to the current standards
laid down by the Internationa l Ski Federation.
Ski jumpers on the Titlis will now be
able to jump f ur ther than ever before. Cor-
rec tions a lso had to be made to the landing
hill to ensure that this wou ld be possible.
The severe physica l impac t absorbed by the
ath letes during landing will be a thing of
the past as of December. There is a lso a new
lighting system that boasts exposure va l-
ues suitable for telev ision, which means
that on Saturday, 17 December 2016, the f irst
of the two World Cup events will be aired
on primetime TV in the early evening.
Despite the numerous renovations, the
jump’s charm and charac ter have been pre-
ser ved – af ter a ll, for many skiers the Titlis
jump was not just any old ski jump, it was
the ski jump. The f irst training sessions will
revea l whether the new jump will give more
predic table outcomes than its
predecessor. Prev ious jump
records will be reset to zero.
Two-time double Olympic
champion Simon Ammann
is looking forward to test-
ing out the new facilities.
The competitions in Engelberg have a specia l
signif icance for him: “The events on the Titlis
jump are the f irst high lights of the season
for me and my teammates. Expec tations are
high, not just among fans but a lso among us
ath letes.” The fac t that, un like downhill skiers,
ski jumpers cannot gradua lly prac tise their
technique on descent af ter descent, will make
tack ling the new Titlis ski jump an even more
specia l experience for the v isiting ski jump-
ers. Because once ski jumpers spring f rom the
star ting block, they accelerate f rom nought to
over 90 kilometres per hour within a mat ter
of seconds and, for a f leeting moment, they
live out humanity’s age-old dream of f ly ing.
So dunkel wird es heuer nicht
bleiben: Dank neuer Beleuch-
tung kann das erste Springen am
Samstag, 17. Dezember 2016 sogar
am Vorabend ausgetragen werden.
The new and improved light-
ing system will make it pos-
sible for the first event on
Saturday, 17 December 2016 to
be held in the early evening.
Following renovations over the
summer, the Titlis ski jump now
conforms to modern standards.
events
Die Titlis-Schanze gilt als die
grösste Naturschanze der Welt.
Trotz dem Umbau sollte ihre
Einzigartigkeit erhalten bleiben.
The Titlis ski jump is the largest
natural ski jump in the world. Its
unique character has been pre-
served despite the renovations.