Bolgenschanze
| Bolgenschanze | |
|---|---|
| Location |
Davos Switzerland |
| Opened | 1908 |
| Closed | destroyed |
| Size | |
| K–point | K-74 |
| Official hill record |
Sigmund Ruud 81.5 m (267 ft.) in 1931 |
Bolgenschanze is abandoned ski jumping hill, located at Davos, Switzerland opened in 1908. It was in use until the mid-1950s and owned by Ski Club Davos. It had a K-point at 74 meters.
History
On February 28, 1909 there were about 1200 spectators attended the antemeridian official inauguration competition on the first ski jumping hill of Ski Club Davos. Winners were the guest jumpers from Norway with Harald Smith (best jump 45 m) in advance of his brother Trygve Smith who fell at 48 m and of Trygve Myklegaard. In the afternoon the distances were shorter due to a weather change. Individual ski jumps then were shorter than 40 meters and double jumps came up to 36 meters. During times of World War I competitive activities rested, but already in 1919 Thorleif Knudseen (NOR) jumped a new hill record of 48 m which was one of the longest jumps world wide in these days.
When the Academic World Winter Games were hosted at Davos in 1929, a renewing of the ski jumping hill was obtrusive. Then the ski jumping hill architects Grünenfelder and Straumann planned a new-construction, which relived a magic moment of ski jumping on February 24, 1931. In an international competition Swiss Fritz Kaufmann won in front of Norway’s Sigmund Ruud and Jakob Kjelland with distances between 60 and 66 meters. Afterwards the athletes went chasing the world record in non-competitive rounds with Sigmund Ruud landing at 81 meters! So he snatched the former world record of 76 m from his younger brother Birger.
With its modern profile the Bolgenschanze attended a lot of worldwide attention in those days and was assessed very much by the international jumper’s elite, consequently Davos was the jumping stronghold of Switzerland.
In late 1950s several attempts to establish a ski jump tournament with St. Moritz and Arosa failed unfortunately. When the ski club could not realize the necessary reconstruction of the ski jump due to financial reasons and the cure organisation didn’t no longer financially support operation and maintenance, too, the end of the most traditional ski jumping hill of Middle Europe had come. Today the slope is still used for alpine skiing.
World records
- 1909 Harald Smith 45 m (148 ft)
- 1913 Thorleif Knudsen 48 m (157 ft)
- 1931 Sigmund Ruud 81.5 m (267 ft)