Fly Like an Eagle

Bill Arneson, a ski jumper who hung up his skis a little more than a few years ago, pointed to his head and stated the obvious.

“You have to have something loose up here.”

By that, he meant shooting down a huge ramp on two sticks, taking off like a bird, flying as far as a football field, and landing upright, preferably without breaking both legs or any of the other 204 bones in the human body.

Arneson, 84 years young, is a tireless campaigner for the sport of ski jumping and you’ll read all about why in just a minute.

But first, where on earth did this sport come from?

Not surprisingly, it all began with some guy who wanted to show off for his buddies, like guys tend to do. His name was Ole Rye, and he was from Norway, an up-north country with lots of snow and just a few “hills.”

It was 1808. Rye found a hill, climbed up, zoomed down on two wooden skis, and soared about 30 feet – impressive for the time.

Word spread throughout Norway, and the idea of flying through the air on skis, and miraculously not dying, took hold as a legitimate sport across the country, throughout Europe, and eventually throughout the frozen world.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now let’s get back to Bill Arneson. Bill comes from a family of jumpers. His father Ingvar Arneson, also known as Ole, started winning competitions at the young age of 13 in his home country of Norway. He went on to win many more competitions after moving to America in 1924 at age 18, as did Bill’s brother Ingvar Arneson Jr., and Bill himself.

In 1928, soon after the senior Arneson and his wife Ruth located to Central Wisconsin, they came upon Dyracuse Mound in the Town of Rome, and it proved to be the perfect hill for a jump – something they had talked about building for a long time. And so they did.  

Soon after, Ole, along with two of his Norwegian buddies, Gunner Rebne and Ingmar Ingmarson, founded the Tri-Norse Ski Club, and held the first ski jumping tournament in 1932.

Jump ahead 90 years (pun intended), and today you’ll find Bill, Ole and Ruth’s youngest child, working to build awareness and gain interest from young people throughout the region. When he’s successful in luring them away from their video games to give ski jumping a try, he knows they’ll be hooked for life – like he was.

Bill will tell you he feels an incredible sense of pride when he sees a child, sometimes as young as four years old, climb the five-meter hill, look down, and without fear lean forward, and slide for the first of what may be thousands of heart-pounding jumps, flying higher and farther with each and every one.

Some of the more seasoned daredevils show off their hard-earned talents in competitions all over the Midwest and beyond. The first of the year at Tri-Norse is The Winter Meet scheduled for February 11, 2023. Put it on your calendar. It’s free for all to watch. And you won’t believe your eyes!

Though it’s best known for jumping, for obvious reasons, the Tri-Norse facility also hosts many other kinds of events throughout the year. Taking advantage of the cold, snowy Wisconsin winters, they host candlelight snow shoeing, cross-country skiing, and fat-tire biking along the many miles of trails on the property.

On June 11, 2023, they will host the sixth annual Tri-Norse Mini Mudder – a grueling obstacle course for young people ages 4-15. They run, jump, and climb in the shadows of the ski jumps as they compete with themselves to finish the course as best they can.

That’s right, the Mudder is a non-threatening event that is more about having fun and getting dirty than it is about winning.  But the kids will need a change of clothes, because dirty isn’t a dirty enough word to describe their post-event laundry.

In the Fall, there aren’t too many places that showcase the changing colors better than Tri-Norse and Dyracuse Hill. For two consecutive weekends in October, visitors of Colorama, as it’s called, are invited to walk the stairs to the top of the hill, or hitch a ride on an ATV, to marvel at Nature in all her glory, with vistas spanning four surrounding counties.

No doubt Tri-Norse is a pretty cool place with a pretty cool name and a pretty cool history, but with all the things to see and do there, it’s pretty clear that it is far more than just a ski jumping hill.

Check it out for yourself. You’ll be thoroughly impressed. And consider becoming a member of the Club, as all are welcome. And for just twenty-five bucks, you’ll be glad you did.

And who knows, you might just find yourself, one day, flying like an eagle.

Find out more at trinorse.org. Better yet visit them in person. They’re right next door to Dyracuse Recreational Park on County O in Rome, Wisconsin.

Written By: Lydell Capritta