NEWPORT, N.H. – Ruby Spitz and her teammates at Hanover High School in New Hampshire are members of an exclusive club: The Granite State is the only place in the nation that still offers ski jumping as a competitive sport for high schoolers.
Ruby, a 15-year-old sophomore, says the adrenaline rush is what keeps her going back to the top of steep ramps on frigid nights to tackle the gravity-testing sport.
America has never embraced ski jumping, and when major colleges dropped programs three decades ago, the last incentive for high school jumpers disappeared everywhere but here.
For a time in the 20th century, New Hampshire was the center of the country's ski jumping community and two members of the U.S. team, Nick Fairall and Nicholas Alexander, are natives.
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