How come skiers are able to do those long jumps where they stay in the air for a few seconds and land unscathed while a normal jump that lasts that long would probably break your leg?
In: Physics
The landing ramp is so steep it’s nearly vertical at the point of landing. From the jumper’s perspective the ground slowly rises up to meet you, and the jumper lands at a very shallow angle to the ground. Only after the landing does the down ramp level out, also gradually.
[Here’s a full ski jumping hill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Lysg%C3%A5rd.JPG/800px-Lysg%C3%A5rd.JPG). The jumpers are landing halfway down that ramp, at the steepest part.
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