Copper Peak, MI
The first ideas to built the largest jump of the world had the members of Gogebic Range Ski Club already in 1935, but it took 35 years to realize their thoughts. The ski flying hill opened in March 1970 is the largest ski jump on the American continent and is situated at Chippewa Hill in the western area of Michigan called Gogebic.
The name Copper Peak comes from the copper mining which began in this area at about 1884, but also iron was dug out as the city Ironwood shows. The inrun tower is made of 30 tons of steel and 73 meters high, that is the height of a 24 store building. On top of it there is a panorama platform which can be reached by an elevator and is 543.5 above sea level. On days with good view you can see around 60 km.
From 1970 to 1994 ten ski flying competitions took place and the last hill record was set up by the two Austrians M. Wallner and W. Schuster with 158 m in 1994.
1975 the ski club built three junior hills (K50, K30 and K10) at the side of Wolverine Hill for younger jumpers.
Of course also the ski flying hill was converted, as in 1980 when the outrun was lowered 3 m, which was supposed to make jumps on 180 m possible, and in 1988 when the takeoff angle was changed on 12° according to the FIS rules.
Since 1994 Copper Peak, which is the only ski flying hill in the western hemisphere, hasn't been used, only in summer tourists come to visit the hill and in winter the nearby ski lift is used.
The profile of the ski flying hill is out-dated and has no FIS certificate anymore, so it takes a huge financial effort to reconstruct the hill to international standards. Nevertheless the Copper Peak Inc. tries to revive the ski flying hill. There are plans to reanimate the jump, so that World Cup or COC events again are possible on the 170 meter facility. The plan was to spend 250,000 US$ by 2013 for filling the landing hill with 1150 m³ of soil in order to decrease the landing angle from 41° to 36°, as well as building a new judges tower, installing a total of 500 m guardrails and an artificial snow making facility.
After a FIS inspection in November 2013 the idea came up that after Copper Peak might, after modernization of profile and a plastic covering, even become a stage of summer Grand Prix as the largest plastic covered ski flying or large hill. Thus, the efforts to revitalize the hill gained momentum again. In end 2016, a new hill profile as K161, HS 180 was approved by FIS and the arrangement of a budget of up to 18 million Dollars began. In October 2017, another FIS site inspection was carried out and very importantly, financial aid of the U.S. senate could be secured. In late 2018, another part of the funding could be secured through the state budget of Michigan, amounting to around 10 million Dollars. The world's largest plastic covered jumping hill shall be ready for ski jumping by the 2020-21 season and could potentially host the final event of FIS Grand Prix in summer.
