C. N. PROCTOR '28 WRITES OF OLYMPICS
The captain of the winter sports team of the Outing Club, Charles N. Proctor '28, son of Professor C. A. Proctor 'OO, has been representing the United States as a competitor in the Olympic winter sports held at St. Moritz, Switzerland. In the jumping he ranked fourteenth, one of the other Americans placing sixth and the other eighteenth. We are permitted to quote from some of his letters home telling of conditions at the meet. -Shortly after arriving at St. Moritz he was attacked by mountain sickness and it was not until some days later that he could start his practice jumping. To quote from one of his letters: Have had five jumps on the hill (spread
over three days). It is without exception the easiest hill I ever saw. You float into the landing with no jar at all. The only thing is to get forward because it is very steep. I would say it is an ideal hill up to 230 feet. 246 feet is too close to the bottom for comfort. Nobody has been able to hold 230 feet yet though several of the Norwegian boys have jumped that far. Ander- son and Rood are the best—Rood better than Anderson. Anderson sprained his ankle yesterday badly at about 230 feet. Several have been hurt and a fall is almost, sure to be dangerous at this speed which I should guess about 80 miles per hour at the bottom of the hill. There are not many spills but this morning the hill was in bad shape and I saw four fall—broken skiis each time and two of them fixed themselves so they won't jump for quite a while. However, it is a sweet hill and when in shape there is no reason why anybody should fall at any distance under 65 meters.
There is no take-off on the jump at ail- that is, no length of even grade. I haven't quite been able to catch this take-off yet though it is not bad. Once I get on to it and can get forward into a dynamic style of jumping I will be O.K. and can get distance. Haven't been able to get more than 196 feet yet, but will soon. It certainly is lots of fun on this hill, for you land easily and it is miles wide—l am afraid the narrow hills at home will look rather bad after this.
Had tea with Koenig, the German representative of Norgski, yesterday and he seems like a very nice fellow. He thought my ability to stand up when falling over backward in the air rather remarkable. I missed the take-off altogether yesterday and my skiis were on my nose. I guess I curled up in a knot and got down some way —from the way it felt not graceful but effective.
The Norwegians can all walk under my arm but how they can jump! The Germans are good but not up to the Norwegians.
A letter written somewhat later tells of the frequent injuries and of the discussion relative to bringing the winter sports events of the 1932 Olympics to America.
It gets the knees every time or nearly so. The hill is so steep you gain speed after falling instead of slowing down and though the hill is hard as rock on the surface the snow is so deep the skiis dig in and the ligaments on the insiite of the knee give way apparently before the ski breaks. They get hundreds of knee injuries over here due to the deep snow—not only in jumping—quite as many in general skiing.
Personally I don't see how either country (the United States or Canada) can expect to get the Olmypic winter sports when you stop to think about it. It is
absolutely impractical. The countries over here have all they can do to finance teams Only going a few miles. And then again as a Swiss, Muhlbauer, told me yesterday it is impossible from the standpoint of time to send men over. He says they can't leave their jobs for the length of time necessary for training in the United States without automatically losing them. We might get teams but I doubt if we would get anything
but second rate men in most cases. They all would love to come and think it would be fine for the sport but they just say "Impossible, how can we?" And there is a good deal in it though I surely hope the games do come to the United States or Canada.
Following" the meeting at St. Moritz Proctor did some ski touring among the winter resorts of Switzerland and Germany and met with an accident at Miirren that, while not resulting seriously, interfered with skiing plans for some time. To quote from his letter: Got here (Miirren) just yesterday noon and entered a race for the afternoon. Took it a bit too straight at the top and crashed after a couple of hundred yards with the result that I am on crutches now with my left ankle pretty much torn to pieces. I wrenched both feet clear from the bindings. Had x-rays taken and apparently no bones are broken. Just badly torn ligaments and muscles. Rather discouraging and disappointing to get smashed up the very first day I was here. It was a marvelous race. Walter Amstutz won with Brochen a close second.
