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For a modern training example, watch the video at this link [1]
A water ramp is a ski jump into an over sized pool or lake for practicing ski and snowboard aerial acrobatics utilized in Freestyle Events[1]. A water ramps is composed of an in-run, a kicker and a water surface for landing. Athletes practice new skills while "landing" on water where the impact is significantly less dangerous than landing on compacted snow.
Athletes flip and rotate from as high as 60 feet in the air above the water landing surface.
World class coaches help their students work on each aspect of a new trick into water, before being allowed to attempt it on snow.
Smaller Photo seen here ->[2]
Water ramp training for snow ski aerials became an indispensable professional training tool when Bob Salerno, Frank Bare jr., Hans Ribi and Jeff Chumas built a ramp capable of breaking world records in 1978. This first world class water ramp was built on a ski resort partially owned by Bob Salerno called Nordic Valley, now known as Wolf Creek Utah Ski Resort [3].
The first double twisting triple back flip & the first triple twisting triple back flip were performed by Frank Bare in 1979 on this water ramp. In 1983 Frank Bare went on to perform the world’s first Quad flip [4] on snow.
Being the only water ramp capable of pushing the sport of aerials skiing beyond its limits, athletes from all over North America trained at Nordic Valley.
The next world class water ramp was built in 1987 in Lake Placid, 7 years after the Olympics [5] that were held there in 1980.
Park City, Utah built their WATER RAMP [6], in preparation for the 2002 Olympics [7].
Winter Olympics [8]
Today there are water ramps run by freestyle ski and snowboard teams in Canada, Europe and Australia
Lake Placid Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex New York USA Olympic Park, Park City UT USA [9] Steamboat Springs, Steamboat CO USA Yabuli Ski Resort, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China Shenyang, LiaoNing,China Centre National d'entrainment acrobatique Yves LaRoche)
A water ramp is constructed by covering a structurally stable wood or steel frame with a stiff plastic, hair brush like surface, that skiers slide down, which is called an in-run. This ski-able surface was then, and is today, called “the green meanies" for its ability to leave a "road rash" on a skier/snowboarder who falls on it (much like the famous "agony of defeat" video from ABC's Wide World of Sports Introduction). The sliding surface is regularly watered down to allow skis and snowboards to slide without sticking on dry spots.
At the end of the "in-run" is the "kicker" which is a curve of the ramp upwards to provide "air time" which allows the skier/snowboarder to perform tricks in the air before landing in the water.
Pools built specifically for water ramps are larger than Olympic size to accommodate the different distances that athletes travel forward of the ramp. Water ramps are not heated and only operated during the Summer, since during the winter aerialists take their new skills onto ramps on snow.
Today water surfaces are being aerated to raise the water level with bubbles by as much as 12”. This function softens landings and lowers injuries.
Skis are reinforced to lengthen their life. The impact on the water will delaminate skis even when the water is aerated and the skis are reinforced.
As a training tool, the water ramp can be invaluable to preventing injuries on snow, but dangerous in themselves.
Falling on the in-run is always a concern for the novice water ramper who isn't used to the compression that happens at the end of the in-run and the beginning of the kicker. [10] & injuries. Awkward landings from high in the air often renders athletes unconscious. Lifeguards are a must at all water ramps.
Participants wear wet suits, dry suits, gloves, ear-covering helmets, & Life Jackets.
![[2]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Water_ramp_8X10-1.jpg){kind=link}