U.P. Legacy Leaps Forward – The Story of The Ishpeming Ski Club
“The Ishpeming Ski Club is the physical manifestation of heritage and innovation coming together not in tension, but in harmony, to move forward.” That’s what Peter Copenhaver, Vice President of the Ishpeming Ski Club, shared when asked what the Ishpeming Ski Club represents to him.
Nestled within Marquette County with a history that embodies resilience, innovation, and a strong, supportive community is the Ishpeming Ski Club. Here, cherished traditions that define the U.P. ‘s history, a welcoming community, a wholehearted embrace of winter, and a mindset of resilience and grit all intersect.
The Ishpeming Ski Club (ISC), whose homebase is the U.P. Nordic Ski Complex (technically, in Negaunee!), has both ski jumping and nordic ski programs that see participation from community members of all ages. With 10 kilometers of nordic skiing trails and five ski jumping hills including its famous K90 hill (known as ‘Suicide Hill’), the ISC has created an epicenter for skiing and winter activity right here in Marquette County.
For those outside of the ISC, the club is perhaps most well known for its cherished Annual Ski Jumping Tournament, which hosted its 139th annual tournament in January 2026. The tournament is a true marvel of athleticism and the most extreme of winter sports. It’s also a striking display of how a community comes together in the U.P.–at a lively gathering, in the cold, in January, where all ages gather to watch in awe as skiers fly above heads with hot chocolate, steaming pasties, and the company of neighbors to keep warm.
For those that are a part of the ISC, this is just one part of the ISC’s identity and story. To better understand the mark that the ISC has made on our community–now and in decades past–we spoke to two individuals who embody the heart and soul of the ISC: Peter and Kaija Copenhaver.
Finding Home in Ski Jumping
Peter serves as the Vice President of the ISC whose deep involvement in the club is thanks to his daughter Kaija’s participation in the club over the years.
Kaija, 16, has been a member of the ISC and has been ski jumping for 12 years. Having been on skis for most of her life, she has a deep connection to the ISC and the sport of ski jumping that only few can understand. She shared, “I feel more comfortable when I have my skis on in the air than when I do on the ground at this point. But it’s such a crazy feeling. It’s so hard to explain to other people because it’s not like anything else.”
She may not come from a family of skiers, but she managed to find a home in the sport at a young age in a way that no other sports could.
“I remember when she came home from school in kindergarten, and she was crying, and I was like, ‘What’s wrong?’” Peter recollected. “And she goes, ‘I don’t want to do sports with other people anymore because I want my own sport.’”
Determined to find a sport for his daughter to find belonging in and enjoy, Peter found ski jumping and the ISC. So, they decided to give it a chance.
“I remember the first time she went down [the hill] and all I could hear was just laughing and giggling,” Peter recalled. “So I ran down to meet her and she turned around. She looked at me and she goes, ‘This is my sport.’ […] And that was 12 years ago. And here we are.”
Since finding ski jumping, Kaija has gone on to compete in national and international ski jumping competitions, including Intercontinental Cups in Notodden, Norway, Oberhof, Germany, and Eisnerz, Austria, as well as Lillehammer, Norway, where she also competed in a Junior World Championship. She hopes to make the U.S. National Ski Team once she’s 18 and even go to the Olympics someday.
The dedication she has toward her training has opened many doors for her in her ski jumping career, and it’s the confidence and resilience she’s gained practicing the sport that have helped her take those steps through.
“Ski jumping has given me an incredible amount of confidence through competition and traveling the world, sometimes by myself,” Kaija said. “It has made me so confident in myself and my abilities. And that’s something I’ll carry on with me for the rest of my life.”
Kaija’s story of finding the Ishpeming Ski Club and falling in love with ski jumping is a prime example of the transformative impact a welcoming community like the ISC can have. In fact, it’s this community-centric, inclusive approach that has allowed the club to evolve and remain active to this day, 139 years since its incorporation.
Riding the Wave of Change – the History of the Ishpeming Ski Club
The story of ISC begins long before Peter and Kaija get involved. True to the U.P.’s history, the ISC, or as it was originally called–the Norden Ski Club–was formed in 1887 by miners in the area who were seeking a recreation hobby to enjoy during their time off while above ground.
“The birthplace of organized skiing is here in Ishpeming. It was largely a club of gentlemen who spent time ski jumping. It’s the original extreme sport,” Peter explained.
It was not long after the club’s formation that one of its hills used for jumping got its commonly known name of ‘Suicide Hill’– a title that was given back in 1926 in stories written by local newspaper reporter Ted Butler when reporting on Walter Anderson, a skier who was injured on the hill a few days before a meet, according to the ISC’s website. The name is not one the club was particularly interested in being associated with, yet it gained enough momentum that it’s still around a century later and is cemented in its historical legacy. Today, the club takes care to highlight all of the features and hills at the U.P. Nordic Ski Complex.
The U.P. has changed significantly during the more than a century since the club’s formation. Its workforce, industries, population, and recreation activities all look significantly different than they did when the club first started.
And over the years, this change took its toll on the ISC. As the years went on, membership numbers in the ISC began to decline, and the club came close to ending. There seemed to be two choices–leave the ISC in the U.P.’s history, or adapt to allow the club to grow and thrive.
Peter knew this story well. He shared, “This club was so close to dying out, which would have been a travesty. And in large part it was innovation and technology that gave us the leverage. They gave a handful of people the power to lift this club up.”
The Tech Behind the Flight - How Technology has Kept the ISC Alive
Technology has been nothing short of transformative for safety and performance in ski jumping. From equipment control, closely monitoring snow conditions and wind speed, checking ski suits before jumps, watching jumps frame by frame, and more, all of these advancements work together to give ski jumping an element of control before, during and after jumping that did not exist at the club’s formation. The advancements over the years in ski jumping have been driven by a desire to keep skiers safe and performing at their best.
“There’s so many different things that have happened just in the last, you know, I would say a couple of decades to advance the sport,” Peter said. “It’s amazing how far these skiers are going.”
For the ISC, they’ve driven a large part of that innovation themselves. As Peter described it, “It’s that get it done, can do SISU sort of philosophy that, ‘We can’t buy it. We have to create it. We have to make it.’”
Tom Sodogrin, Chief of Hill and longtime supporter of the club, has been one of the biggest drivers of innovation for the ISC–and not for any other reason than he knew it was what the club needed.
Among his innovations includes a snow carriage to carry snow up the track that’s been copied by clubs throughout the midwest, as well as a track cutter to cut the track skiers follow on their path to jumping. The device perfectly cuts the right depth and width of the track and runs using a drill that follows on a guide on the side of the track. While Tom originally created it out of necessity for the club, the design was so well-done that it’s even being used on ski hills in Europe. Peter remarked, “Tom is an innovator. Tom is the very spirit of SISU.”
The ways in which the ISC has adapted over the years encapsulates the true spirit of innovation. Necessity and a belief in a better way has caused remarkable change in the club over the years–not only in the sport, but also in who’s come to be a part of it.
Innovation Driving Inclusivity
If you look at the members of the ISC compared today versus more than a century ago when the club began, you’ll notice some remarkable differences. Beyond the advanced technology, gear, expanded terrain and sports, the makeup of the club casts a much wider net. You’ll see people of all ages involved. You’ll see both men and women practicing and competing. You’ll see people from all over the country coming to compete at the U.P. Nordic Ski Campus, and community members coming from all ages background watching in support.
The innovations in ski jumping embraced by the ISC did more than help ski jumpers improve performance. It also opened up the sport and the club to more people to participate in. The shape of the ISC today took more than improvements in safety and performance technology. It also took a willingness of the club to embrace change–through the way it practices the sport, as well as those who are able to be a part of it.
The result? The club has expanded to both ski jumping and cross country skiing and skiers of all ages and genders–including skiers like Kaija. The history of the club, the uniqueness of ski jumping, and the mentality of the club and its members to work together to keep themselves going has created a sense of community you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
For Kaija, who’s been ski jumping with the ISC since she was five years old, it’s been a foundational part of her life and has made growing up in the Marquette area all the more special.
She shared, “The community is great, especially in this area. […] Now, I have so many lifelong friendships, especially being in this area. I mean, from my house, it’s like a 20 minute drive.” There’s not many places in the world where you can find community around such a novel sport like that.
Though not a ski jumper himself, Peter’s deeply involved as a member of the Board and his daughter’s participation on the team. He understands what the community of the club means
and is part of the spirit and dedication that keeps it alive. “It’s a big community. It’s a big family,” Peter shared. “You know, if it wasn’t for ski jumping, I think we would all be friends anyway.”
Whether you attend the Annual Ski Jumping Tournament or are spending time at the U.P. Nordic Ski Jumping Complex, it doesn’t take long to witness just how tight-knit this community is–and how eager they are to welcome others into it. It’s this strong community that defines the club, the novelty of ski jumping, and appreciation for the ISC’s part in U.P. history that the broader community shows its immense support for the ISC–mainly through the club’s Annual Ski Jumping tournament.
The Big Event – The Annual Ski Jumping Tournament
If there’s been one constant throughout the existence of the ISC, it is the club’s ability to bring people together. There’s no better example of this than the Annual Ski Jumping Tournament.
Held annually in January, the tournament is by far the biggest event hosted by the ISC and serves as its primary fundraiser. It includes three days of competition with junior and adult athletes participating in competitions including U.S. Cup, JWQ (Junior World Qualifier), Junior National Qualifier (JNQ), Paul Bietila Memorial Tournament on Suicide Hill, a Target Jump event, and Junior Ski Jumping Tournament, as well as multiple nordic ski races. It draws skiers from all over the country, and spectators from the community and beyond to show their support.
The 139th consecutive tournament was held in 2026. Just like every year, it is a remarkable display of community coming together to not only put every single detail together to make the tournament possible. With months of preparation by the club and countless hours dedicated to ensuring the event’s success, the club puts in the work for each other and for the community.
“It takes a village. Everyone from the retail outlets selling buttons for us, to the volunteers who come out and help build the hills for the vendors that show up, you know, food trucks, the beer tents,” Peter described. “It’s a process. It’s a love. It’s a commitment.”
For many in attendance, the Annual Ski Jumping tournament is the first opportunity to see ski jumping in person, and the ISC makes the whole experience worth it. Not only has the number of volunteers who run the tournament increased, but so has the number of visitors–both from the local community and beyond. The organization and care put into the Annual Ski Jumping tournament has made it a must-see event in Marquette County.
The way the tournament welcomes people into the sport has helped inspire others to see ski jumping as a sport they can do and the ISC as a club they can belong in.
This was certainly the case for Kaija, who fondly recalls how magical the ski jumping tournament was for her growing up. She recalled, “I remember the huge bonfires, the fireworks, eating pasties with my parents while watching jumpers and waiting at the fence for every single jumper to get their autograph.” It’s truly an event, a sport, and a community, like no other.
The Ishpeming Ski Club Lands Close to Home
From getting to know the Ishpeming Ski Club, it’s clear that it is a true embodiment of history in the Upper Peninsula and has been an anchor of activity and camaraderie for over a century now.
Our region has changed, and it’s been by the club’s willingness to adapt and welcome everyone with open arms while honoring the sport’s roots and the club’s legacy that the ISC is stronger than ever. Peter elaborates, “We include anyone who wants to get involved, who you are isn’t important. But if you want to be part of us, we would love to have you.”
It’s often understood that people in Marquette are resilient. They have grit. They embark on adventure and the unknown boldly and with courage. They have a love for winter so great that it causes their sanity to be questioned. They have a strong sense of community and show up for each other–constantly. And if you’re looking for who truly embodies these ideals, look no further than the Ishpeming Ski Club.
To learn more about the Ishpeming Ski Club, visit https://ishskiclub.com/
To watch the full video about Ishpeming Ski Club, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGF_7sD-pX0
Photos by Aaron Peterson Studios