Vertical Schlieri

In conventional ski jumping Schlierenzauer, Morgenstern and Co. compete for the furthest lengths. Simon Dumont prefers to jump high: 73 feet (22.2 meters) above the ground created a new world record.

Since snowboard legend Terje Haakonsen jumped the highest air of all time with 9.90 meters (32 ft 6 inches) in Oslo 2007, freeskier Simon Dumont has had a dream: to break Haakonsen’s world record. On April 11 he realized his (h)airy challenge in Sunday River, Maine, USA – the skiing resort where he grew up.

Customized ramp

For his world record attempt the 21-year-old X Games winner had the biggest quarterpipe in the world tailor-made for him. “An unusual assignment,” said Corley Howard of Snow Park Technologies. “But I’ve seen Simon’s gigantic airs at the X Games and wanted to be part of this project at all costs.” With the help of a snowcat Howard built the basic structure over two days; it took a further three to form the eleven-and-half-meter-tall (38 foot) wall of the quarterpipe by end.

Two injuries as handicaps

The dimensions of the ramp were only exceeded by Simon’s ambition: although the hard landings from 20 meters up gave him a bruised heel and reactivated an old knee injury, after the trial runs he raised the approach by another five meters. “I was in pain, the wind conditions were everything but ideal, but somehow it just hit me that this would be it.” Dumont accelerated to 90 km/h (55 mph) and catapulted himself 22 meters up into the air – that’s about seven floors.

35 feet over the world's highest quarterpipe

However even more crucial than the absolute height was the distance from the top edge of the quarterpipe: with ten-and-half-meters or 35 feet, the American freeskier managed the highest air in history. But Dumont didn’t even want his world record jump to end without a stylish trick: Simon found that there was more than enough time for a 900 as well.