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Show WedThurs, February 13-14, 2002 The Park Record A-13 Ecker Hill: jumping prelude fv j j 1 S v ,: i Long-abandoned jumping spot saw records set in 1930s By Jay Hamburger . Of the record staff There will probably be little fanfare fan-fare at the bottom of Ecker Hill today. Instead, ski-jumping enthusiasts are headed for the Utah Olympic Park, the site of today's K120 finals. Just down the road from- the Utah Olympic Park, though, and tucked behind the Pinebrook neighborhood neigh-borhood off 1-80, Ecker Hill drops out of the mountains behind it. Ecker Hill is hardly a commodity in ski-jumping circles anymore. But, in its day, Ecker Hill was one of the top ski-jumping spots on the planet The jumpers did not display "the same winged techniques as modern Olympians. And the suits woven to increase distance that are now worn by jumpers came decades after the people who jumped at Ecker Hill. But, records were set there. Alf Engen, one of the sport's pioneers and one of Utah's most famous ski-. ski-. ing names, was one of the men who . jumped at Ecker Hill. , His son, Alan Engen, says Ecker Hill was partly responsible for bringing bring-ing Utah winter sports to a world . audience. "I think it's an important spot for 'the state of Utah, not just me," Engen said. "It was probably one of the first places that focused attention atten-tion on Utah skiing." Starting in 1931, Alf Engen set . world records at Ecker Hill. The competitions at the site brought people to Summit County to watch yzr: p- . - -a A( I- COURTESY OF PARK CITY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM A jumper soars off Ecker Hill during a competition in 1936. Ecker Hill is located just west of the Utah Olympic Park. top ski jumpers soar over the hill. Jumpers eventually set five world records at Ecker Hill. Once, Engen, who was jumping in an exhibition, soared 296 feet at Ecker Hill. The hill was mothballed in the mid-1960s. Now, where skiers once descended descend-ed toward the jump is merely a clearing in the hillside. Ski jumping did not return to Utah until the Utah Winter Sports Park, as the Olympic Park was called when it was dedicated, opened in 1997. The original ski jumps at the Olympic Park were torn out several years ago in order to construct the jumps that are now featured. Athletes can jump at the park in the summer and winter. Ecker Hill, which lent its name to a nearby middle school, was largely forgotten in the three decades after it stopped hosting competitions. Visitors who make their way to the site, which is virtually unnoticeabte behind Pinebrook, now see a small monument to the accomplishments at the hill. During the 1980s, a neighborhood neighbor-hood group pushed to have the hill recognized. On May 25, 1986, a monument at the bottom of Ecker Hill was dedicated. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original monument, however, howev-er, crumbled. Over the past 18 months, a second drive, though, restored the monument and added a plaque with the names of people known to have jumped at the hill. "It was a world-class ski jump. They came from all over the world," said Bob Anderson, the Pinebrook resident who worked to have the monument built in 1986. "People by the thousands came." fit IK 5l iJ i -1 v I . . i ' COURTESY OF PARK CfW HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM Sigmund Ruud of Norway, left, and Utah ski-jumping legend Alf Engen fly above Ecker Hill at the 1937 National American Ski Championships. WLWnMMWfWnE o gJii f Ali8(BjJ o)jwji -.1IIF, - - 4 a mm J ma m !&:: I kit i.Httx ssmmm aatPaiflRfliB wtB wiLit3ffl(aHB Baron NOBODY DOES IT BETTER! 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