Six Meters of Air Under the Ski
The first to take the leap over the humps was Uli Spieß from Austria 36 years ago. In 1980 he was the first to jump over them as up to then - and even afterwards - racers opted to around them. The record jumps - or rather flights - are nowadays over 80 meters long and four to six meters high.
Today, all skiers jump over the second Camel Hump which does not mean that the passage has lost some of its thrill. On the contrary, unfortunately Austrian Matthias Mayer was thrown off the third Camel Hump and fell violently on his back last year. Despite a vertebral body fracture, Mayer was lucky that no more happened and, above all, he was very fortunate to wear a racing airbag. It opened in the fall with lightening speed (for the first time ever in a race) and prevented worse.
