Could You Race Up Northern Michigan’s Monstrous Copper Peak Ski Jump?
Ski Jumps are make to race down, not up. But this spring the ski jump at Copper Peak in Ironwood will see athletes attempting to make the race up the steep incline.
The race is just 400 meters, a distance that an elite runner could cover in just a minute. But due to the steep 35 degree incline, runners will likely take 4 to 5 minutes to cover the 0.25 mile length.
The event is dubbed the Red Bull 400 and described by Muscle & Fitness as featuring
Adventure-seeking athletes are set to run 400 meters up the 35-degree incline that ski jumpers would typically speed down.
The race itself is the brainchild of former Olympic sprinter Andreas Berger, who was struck with the inspiration while driving past a ski jump in Austria back in 2011. He and his wife managed to make it to the top, and seven years later, his unassuming ascent is a mainstay in Red Bull's roster of adventure races.
If you can stomach the heart-stopping height of the original jumping platform, you're in for an unparalleled 360-degree view of 40 miles.
There couldn't be a better venue for the race. Copper Peak, technically a sky flying, rather than ski jumping, hill is the largest artificial ski jumping hill of its kind in the world. There hasn't been an event staged at the hill since 1994, making the Red Bull 400 the first athletic competition there in 24 years. The event is planned for May 12.