Park City Ski and Snowboard Club’s Springer Tournee is returning for the 25th time next week, making it a staple in the ski jumping and Nordic combined communities.
Skiers ages 8-30 will compete Monday through next Saturday in events across Park City and Midway.
Fans are welcome to all of the week’s events. The club’s big-ticket event is their Saturday evening large hill competition from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets for that event will be $20 to all ages 13 and up.
The large hill competition will also have a band and refreshments for fans.
While the Springer Tournee typically has a few international competitors, this year they’re at other events in Europe. The event will have around 50 competitors, according to the club’s program director Adam Loomis.
Loomis said the Springer Tournee is special because of its generational impact. He noted a lot of today’s large hill competitors were once small hill (ages 8-15) participants.
“Events are important to give to the community,” said Loomis on why this group holds the event. “We’re definitely hoping to raise some funds to kick back into our programs.”
U.S. Ski and Snowboard recently tabbed Park City Ski and Snowboard Club as one of the top clubs in the country.
Monday and Wednesday at the Springer Tournee will be largely training days,Tuesday a large hill athlete mentorship one and Thursday, Friday and Saturday, competition days. The action will go from sunrise to sunset most days.
Loomis is excited for year two of the retooled large hill competition. Last year, the club added an event where athletes spin a wheel to determine what distance they need to land closest to. Competitors are vying for some prize money in the large hill event.
“Come up to the Olympic park and walk down to the Nordic jumps,” Loomis said toward interested fans. “The small hill Saturday morning is also pretty fun to watch. The youngsters are newer to sport but still pretty fun to watch.”
Loomis said the Springer Tournee is huge for competitors who likely don’t have many summer competition opportunities. For the large hill competitors, many of whom are professionals, it’s a low-stress event.
The event also comes at a precarious time for Nordic combined, having lost national team funding from USA Nordic Sport weeks ago. Loomis is a former Nordic combined national team member, and his younger brother Ben is now in the team. He’d like to see a resurgence in the sport’s standing.
One of the club’s coaches, Michael Ward, is also a lead coach for the Nordic combined national team. The club is actively looking into ways they can continue to help out that team and the sport.
Loomis hopes the Springer Tournee can attract new fans, and it usually receives a mix of winter sport-loving locals and tourists. He said the sports are entirely different in-person and that if they meet that goal he’ll consider the week a success.
Another Parkite and current Nordic combined team member Stephen Schumann is fighting for his sport. Schumann will be a participant in the event, as he has been for years, and will also make his way over to a Saturday afternoon Nordic combined fundraiser for Nordic Combined USA, which his mom Penni is helping organize.
“It’s near and dear to my heart as my home club, I’m here to support it,” said Schumann on his excitement for the Springer Tournee.