Nansen Ski Jump

Berlin and the surrounding north country drew large numbers of Scandinavian immigrants in the late nineteenth century, many to work in the paper mills along the Androscoggin. They brought skiing with them, and in 1872 they founded the Nansen Ski Club, named for the great Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, which is counted among the oldest ski clubs in the nation.

That deep skiing culture made the region a natural home for competitive ski jumping. The club and the community built a series of jumps over the years, culminating in the giant steel structure that still stands, and turned Berlin into one of the early centers of the sport in America.

Erected in the 1930s, the Nansen jump was, at the time, the largest steel ski jump in the eastern United States, a soaring tower and inrun engineered to send jumpers to record distances. Through the mid-twentieth century it hosted major competitions, national championships, and Olympic team tryouts, and jumpers bound for the Winter Games trained and qualified here.

As the sport's centers shifted and the great jump aged, it eventually fell out of use and stood for years as a rusting relic above the river. A restoration effort later stabilized and repainted the structure and interpreted its history, saving one of the most dramatic pieces of skiing heritage in the country.

The jump sits along Route 16 in the Androscoggin River valley, in the Great North Woods, the vast, thinly populated forest country that fills the top of New Hampshire. Berlin, just to the south, is a historic paper-mill city, and the surrounding region is a land of rivers, moose, and deep forest reaching toward the Canadian border.

A roadside wayside lets travelers pull over to see the jump and read its story, an easy stop to fold into a north-country drive that might also take in moose watching, the Androscoggin's fishing, or the remote lakes farther north.

Winter is when the jump makes the most sense to the eye, standing in the snow that once made it run, in a region known for long, deep winters.

Spring brings the Androscoggin high with snowmelt and the north woods slowly greening around the steel tower.

Summer and early fall are easy times to visit the wayside, with the river valley green or turning and the wider Great North Woods open for exploring.

Fall wraps the north country in early, vivid color, a fine backdrop for the jump against the hills.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.