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theabortionator
April, 2025

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Noob question - how do you measure size of a jump?

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thesoloist
Posts: 71 - Karma: 145
Ignoring the sketchy drawing, when talking about a "35ft jump", what measure on this picture is that 35ft?

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12 years ago
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~Gotama~
Posts: 821 - Karma: 3,160
from the lip, or tippy top of the jump, to the knuckle of the landing.
12 years ago
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SpliffyJ
Posts: 778 - Karma: 565
Click for larger image
12 years ago
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Miomo
Posts: 4302 - Karma: 14,137
I'm pretty sure it's to the sweet spot.
12 years ago
3 45
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~Gotama~
Posts: 821 - Karma: 3,160
im pretty sure youre wrong
12 years ago
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homestar
Posts: 2124 - Karma: 4,197
I though it was to the knuckle too
12 years ago
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corona
Posts: 12845 - Karma: 33,290
technically it's from the lip to furthest you can go without overshooting the jump. pretty sure that's how they're measured in ski jumping.
12 years ago
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corona
Posts: 12845 - Karma: 33,290
lip to knuckle is best and common for park jumps though
12 years ago
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TACO-DOG.exe
Posts: 11990 - Karma: 12,272
Some people measure to the knuckle some measures to the sweet spot. Usually they specify which when they tell you.
12 years ago
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Blurst
Posts: 13577 - Karma: 10,169
I always thought that it was the height of the takeoff.
12 years ago
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Tacocat
Posts: 658 - Karma: 356

So you thought that Big Bertha was 40 meters high?

12 years ago
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Blurst
Posts: 13577 - Karma: 10,169
nig nertha?
12 years ago
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thesoloist
Posts: 71 - Karma: 145
thanks all. Just an idea, maybe they(the mountain) can put a number on each jump?(They do put flags/poles/whatever to show the boundary of kicker) This could help ppl(that's not high on sth) know before they try things too big for that jump...
12 years ago
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will_powder
Posts: 3194 - Karma: 5,445
MSLM does this. Not that I've ever been there.
12 years ago
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will_powder
Posts: 3194 - Karma: 5,445
At 2:08

12 years ago
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Merrill
Posts: 253 - Karma: 71
When ever I talk to someone about jumps I always specify either 20 feet to the nuckle or its 30 feet to the sweet spot.
12 years ago
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first_rodeo
Posts: 2385 - Karma: 7,781

im from albany,  but go to school out in CNY and

all these mountains actually label the jumps with 30, 35, 40 ........

i think its more for claim than anything but they measure lip to knuckle

 (the actual length of the gap) if you think about it

12 years ago
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SKIU4EA
Posts: 2388 - Karma: 2,086
I think it's this generally


Click for larger image
12 years ago
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TristonHall
Posts: 194 - Karma: 564
^this
12 years ago
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90053
Posts: 2565 - Karma: 3,728
how d'you measure that, pythagoras? lol
12 years ago
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7-3instacall
Posts: 1000 - Karma: 1,007
almost, but just straight line i think
might be wrong too
12 years ago
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Crispy.
Posts: 6126 - Karma: 7,753
Almost always measured from lip to knuckle unless otherwise specified...

example:

[URL=http://s1103.photobucket.com/user/iamaskibum247/media/ScreenShot2013-04-12at34602PM_zpsf14096be.png.html]Click for larger image[/URL]
12 years ago
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bigkicker
Posts: 1270 - Karma: 87
Lip of the takeoff to the knuckle of the landing. You can find the exact spot on the knuckle by taking two pieces of bamboo. Lay one on the deck of the jump and hold the other on the top of the landing. Where they intersect is the your knuckle
12 years ago
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FuckAllOfYou
Posts: 3864 - Karma: 2,518
It's lip to knuck unless they're stupid. So if a jump was 35, if you knuckled you'dve gone 35 feet. If you actually clear the jump to the sweet spot, that's usually another 5 or even 10. So a 35? 40ish. a 40? 45. You get the idea.
12 years ago
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JahLiam
Posts: 2322 - Karma: 7,831
Ski lengths from base of lip to the knuckle + the height of the jump itself
12 years ago
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Nate.Dog
Posts: 1672 - Karma: 2,098
this
12 years ago
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Barefootin_Fiend
Posts: 7618 - Karma: 4,727
you guys forgot the step where you add an additional 20-30 feet to the real number to make yourself sound more bad ass. see it all the time on here....

12 years ago
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Crispy.
Posts: 6126 - Karma: 7,753
That is what my mountain does with their "55" footer
12 years ago
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edai
Posts: 4995 - Karma: 4,705
qfe

I usually just measure from knuckle to flat, you could say i send it
12 years ago
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joelski
Posts: 1014 - Karma: 736
this except if you nuckle and its a step up/down it would be more because you would travel up/down as well
12 years ago
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Parks.
Posts: 5612 - Karma: 1,093
good post...cannot forget to take he yaw into account
12 years ago
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22738 - Karma: 77,008
With years of experience as a park builder, I can vouch for the fact that this is correct.

Jumps should be measured from the lip of the jump to the knuckle - but define the knuckle as the start of the first point you could legitimately land without 'decking'.

Sometimes the kuckle of a jump - especially if its old - can be super rolled. Note, knuckle is the spot where the deck turns into the landing.

In the case of a very rolled knuckle, its abit of a black magic. Personally I measure right to where you could start landing it without hating your life.

Anyone that measures to the 'sweet spot' is incorrect. Anyone who guesses or uses their feet to judge is incorrect. The only time you should ever trust the length of a jump is if it was measured with a tape measure.

People almost always estimate the size of a jump wrong by eye. So when you show up at a place and everyone is all "bro, I just slayed the 65 foot-er" if you actually slayed some tape on that bitch, it'd probably be 55'.

I always refused to build jumps without tape. Guessing at the size is just plain stupid, and is the greatest way to ruin the flow of your park. Especially when building, its almost impossible to get the measurements right without some pieces of bamboo and a sweet tape measure.

12 years ago
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gusestomp
Posts: 1377 - Karma: 746
This is my contribution to this thread....

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12 years ago
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buttrapinpirate
Posts: 497 - Karma: 225
Big Air Dave I see... Takin it to the Gucci Plateau
12 years ago
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Black.Bird
Posts: 2566 - Karma: 684
Click for larger image
12 years ago
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Anathema
Posts: 21048 - Karma: 5,062
i always figured it was the lip of the jump to the knuckle of the landing in a straight line. so you're not measuring the hypotenuse of the triangle, but rather the base.

so if it's a step down you dont measure all the distance you'd be going down as a part of the length of the jump..
12 years ago
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edai
Posts: 4995 - Karma: 4,705
Yeah this is the best way, nice use of vocab
12 years ago
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corona
Posts: 12845 - Karma: 33,290
Measuring to the sweet spot is incorrect for park jumps maybe. but for actual ski jumping (which has been around for almost 200 years longer than park skiing) the size of the jump is either measured from the lip to the furthest you can go without overshooting or the lip to the sweet spot. It is never ever measured from lip to knuckle.


also I measure a jump without a tape measure and get it +/- 6" every time. My ski is 189 cm. pretty straight forward math.
12 years ago
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Miomo
Posts: 4302 - Karma: 14,137
Click for larger image
But then again, everyone that runs the X-Games is pretty retarded
12 years ago
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BrownBomber
Posts: 675 - Karma: 446
Lost.

And to the post above, of course the people at X games are idiots. Picture invalid.
12 years ago
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Z-Juice
Posts: 3151 - Karma: 1,504
I think that jump is close to 65 feet from lip to knuckle, and the tv graphic is wrong.
12 years ago
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Crispy.
Posts: 6126 - Karma: 7,753
Yeah that's incorrect on there part, I'm sure that jump is at least 65 to the knuckle.
12 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
I'm pretty sure they measure the size of the jump by how many gapers can fit in the gap.
12 years ago
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icon1234
Posts: 3081 - Karma: 1,474
You actually measure the hypotenuse of the jump with respect to the knuckle? Wouldn't you just do the horizontal component so the base of the jump to the knuckle? Interesting...
12 years ago
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