Bill Harris is a ski instructor who waits for warm weather.
His specialty, aerial freestyle, requires a safe landing for kids somersaulting 20 feet in the air.
That safe landing is a lake, built by Harris to train the next generation of acrobats on skis, many of whom are right here in Geauga County.
The Chesterland resident has been teaching the sport for 30 years, but passion for it began when he was general manager of Alpine Valley, a job he held for 17 years.
Harris noticed something during staff meetings: the ski patrol always complained about kids building jumps on the hills, a hazard to downhill skiers. So he decided to build a jump on a part of the hill that wasn’t being used.
When he held a meeting to gauge interest in a freestyle jump team, 100 kids showed up.
“It really happened by accident,” said Harris last week, wearing a black USA Olympic jacket.
Harris, 71, is a West Geauga graduate who skied at Mont Chalet, a small former ski area on Caves Road in Chester Township.
When he was young, the sport was called “hot dog skiing.” Now aerial freestyle is an Olympic sport.
From those first 100 interested kids, Harris narrowed the group to 20 and began learning more. And by the end of his first season, he wanted to continue coaching in the summertime.
Harris left Alpine Valley and went to work for Bill Flesher at Mr. Excavator. Then he had the idea to build a lake on his 5.5 acre home on Lake Forest Drive.
Aerial freestyle skiing is dangerous for those not properly trained, and training requires a safer landing — water.
Flesher, to Harris’ surprise, was the project’s biggest supporter.
“I came home and there was a bulldozer at the end of the driveway,” Harris said. “There was no charge. Everything was paid for.”
Twenty-two years ago, Harris carved the half-acre lake 12 to 15 feet deep specifically so skiers could jump into the water.
Now a United States Ski Assocation Freestyle Coach, he estimates he has trained about 500 students in his career.
Kids typically start between 11 years and 15, with the most athletic jumpers getting a shot at 10.
Harris sends athletes directly from his Mt. Chalet program to Lake Placid, where they try out for the national team.
Two of his trainees have gone to the Olympics, both from Chesterland: Brian Currutt to Salt Lake City in 2002, and Mariano Ferrario to Nagano in 1998.
He has sent many more to the US Freestyle team. Zach Surdell, 16, from Michigan, currently on that team, is a likely contender for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and started with Harris when he was 10.
Skiers who qualify for the US Freestyle team receive four-year scholarships to college, Harris added.
Harris also has two boys on the US Freestyle Development team, which trains at Lake Placid, NY.
Chardon’s Brad Garlak, 17, is starting his third year with Harris. Will Stief, 14, of Kirtland High School, worked with Harris and has received physical education credit for school.
Harris said the first thing trainees learn is a back flip in a tuck position, a jump they perfect by practicing 1,000 times. But even on water, if you land wrong, it hurts — you can get the wind knocked out of you.
Once certified in a jump by a coach at Lake Placid, skiers can move to snow, a process that usually takes at least a year, often times two.
Skiers also train on a trampoline, practicing flips and lands, with instructor Tim Bilicic, a former and national and world champion.
Competitions are the ideal end result. There, skiers head down a 100-foot ramp and attempt jumps of varying difficulties. Judges based scores on the positioning of arms and legs and the landing — the landing being very important, Harris said.
Harris’ Mt. Chalet program accepts students all summer long and also has three camps: June 8-12, June 22-26 and July 13-17. Email montchalet@att.net for more information.
There are three or four openings for his program this year for girls or boys aged 11 to 15. Former gymnasts and divers make strong candidates, he said. Being a good skier is a must. Harris mostly teaches kids from Ohio and Michigan.
“But the most important thing is the desire to want to learn,” he said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity because there are very few privately owned water ramps in the whole country.”
As part of his program, Harris is also looking for straight skis, which are not made anymore because of the popularity of parabolic skis, which turn. Because aerial jumpers do not want skis that turn, Harris applies coats of fiberglass to them to keep them breaking when they hit the water.
He said straight skis in sizes 140, 150 and 160 centimeters are becoming harder and harder to find. If you have any you are interested in donating to the program, please call Harris at 440-570-6676.
“Some people go golfing, some people have a boat,” Harris said. “You always spend money on what your hobby is. This is my hobby. It’s what I love to do, it’s my passion. I’ve had a lot of success.”