How to Make a Landing for a Snow Jump

Whether you are skiing, snowboarding or sledging, it's absolutely vital that the landing of your jump is designed and built safely. Failure to do this can mean serious injury. If the landing is built incorrectly the jumper might land on flat ground, take the full impact of her landing or might lose balance on an uneven section of snow and receive an injury from falling. However, a well designed landing allows a high, fast jump to be landed smoothly and safely.

Things You'll Need

  • Snow shovel
  • Spray bottle
  • Skis or plank
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Instructions

    • 1

      Position the landing in line with the jump somewhere where there is no risk of colliding with other skiers. Make sure you have a long, straight runoff after the jump. When coming off a jump you will be traveling fast and will struggle to turn so you need a certain amount of clear slope to regain control. Exactly how large you need to make this runoff depends on the speed you will be traveling and your ability level, but you should always provide more than you expect to need.

    • 2

      Calculate how far you expect to jump and build the edge of the landing slope at a fifth of this distance closer to the lip of the takeoff point. This is in case the jumper falls short; it will keep him from crashing into a mound of snow. Ideally you want to position the jump on a steep section of hill that flattens out shortly after the jump.

    • 3

      Build the landing slope twice the length of the expected jump and at least as steep as the takeoff ramp. This is to make sure that, if the jumper manages a particularly good jump and goes further than expected, she does not overshoot the jump and land on flat ground.

    • 4

      Build the ramp by shoveling a large pile of snow in the place where you want the jump to be. Build a larger pile of snow than the ramp you intend to build. Shape the pile into a ramp by pressing it tight and smoothing it over with skies or a plank.

    • 5

      Press the snow in as you smooth it to firm up the ramp. If the snow is not packing especially well you can reinforce it by spraying it with a little water as you build. However if it is really not packing then don't build the ramp. Avoid spraying water on the landing surface of the ramp as you risk making the landing icy.

    • 6

      Put on skis and, starting downhill from the ramp, shuffle sideways up the hill and up onto the surface of the ramp. This will press the snow down into a nice, even surface.