While it may have seemed like you’re looking at photos from Thunder Bay’s Big Thunder or the Calgary or Whistler Olympic Parks, these ski jumping photos were actually taken right here.
On a late February weekend back in 1957, the Midland Ski Club played host to the Canadian Ski Jumping Championships.
According to the Huronia Museum and Huron Ouendat Village archives, the Midland Ski Hills were once home to three nationally-recognized ski jumps.
“Beginning in the 1920s, ski-jumping became popular in southern Ontario with skiers and spectators alike,” the museum noted.
“By 1955, Midland had three of its own jumps, thanks to the vision of ski-jumping enthusiast Pete Pettersen: One full-sized 60-metre jump and two smaller jumps.”
Local, regional, provincial and Dominion championships were held at the facility, attracting competitors from across the country and thousands of spectators.
“At one time, Midlanders boasted that the town was the centre of ski-jumping activities in Eastern Canada,” the museum added. “Although the events were popular, they were not a financial success and the jumps were torn down in 1967.”
Ski jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since the first Games in Chamonix Mont-Blanc in 1924.
The normal hill competition was included on the Olympic program for the 1964 Innsbruck Games. From 1988, the team event was added as a third competition.
