Iron Mountain, Mich. (WZMQ) – Dickinson County’s weekend event is expected to draw a large crowd this year. The Marshfield Clinic Health System’s 2023 Pine Mountain Continental Cup, which is organized by the Kiwanis Ski Club, had many volunteers chipping away to make sure the jumps were just right for the incredible athletes to get up there and catch some air.
The Corresponding Secretary of the Kiwanis Ski Club said that there will be 8 countries, 37 jumpers, and that the event will be a family-friendly affair. Speaking of the 8 countries, she announced that a new country is being added to the list of international competitors.
“Three days ago, they said we want to come, so Switzerland is no longer a neutral country, they’re going to come to the U.P. And then you will hear the wisk of the wind as they come off the end of the take-off. And then you literally watch them fly,” Fox beamed.
The ski club’s President, Nick Blagec said that the Iron Mountain jump is the preferred launch with the Olympic ski jumpers. “I mean last year we had people that could have went to the Olympics, they came here instead because they love this hill so much. I’ve been here like 35 years, this is the first time that we’ve sold all of our buttons. It looks like we’re going to have one heck of a weekend for ski jumping.”
The organizers are expecting such a turnout that they are encouraging visitors to use the shuttle bus from Bay College West, which will run throughout the event. The new shuttle service will run from Bay College West to the north gate of the ski jump complex in an effort to diffuse the limited parking available in the lot. The bus shuttles will run approximately every 20 minutes and the cost is $5 round-trip, but riders must have an admission button to ride. The BOSS Snowplow sponsor is offering courtesy “safe rides home” in the Iron Mountain and Kingsford area until 7 pm during the event.
Corresponding Secretary Suzie Fox said that we don’t need snowy weather to make the ski jumps happen. “We make the snow that we need,” she said. “And it’s a much denser snow. And all this fluffy stuff, while pretty, it’s an inconvenience. So our volunteers have had to work 2 and 3 times as hard, doing jobs 2 and 3 times just to get the hill in preparation for this event. Now as far as the temperatures, they look fantastic. Its going to be in the mid-30’s, I think Saturday and Sunday. The wind, the only time it would be a problem is if it was really strong out of the north or the west.”
Blagec said that the jumpers competing are some very strong athletes this year, and they love jumping on the Iron Mountain ski jump. He explained that the jump has a very strong headwind, and that the jumpers love that about the hill in Iron Mountain.
Fox said that as things are scheduled now, the jumping will start at 10:00 am central on Saturday morning. Tomorrow the jumping starts at 1:00 p.m. central.
For more information on the weekend’s events, spectators can visit:
kiwanisskiclub.com
For accurate weather reporting about the conditions in Iron Mountain, viewers can watch Ariane on WZMQ 19 at 6 p.m. eastern, and 11 p.m. central.
