News Photo — Grace McIntyre A little after 7 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, volunteer hill stompers began preparing the hill for the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. The hill needs to be packed down to make a smooth landing for the ski jumpers.

LAKE PLACID — How many volunteers does it take to host a ski jumping World Cup? At least this year, the answer is 182.

This past weekend, the state Olympic Regional Development Authority hosted the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup for the third time at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid. This included a women’s competition, making Lake Placid the first venue in North America to host a women’s ski jumping World Cup.

ORDA relies on a loyal army of volunteers, some who live locally and some who travel long distances, for each of the large competitions it hosts each year.

They have some volunteers who have been serving for more than 20 years, said Eric Paul, an employment manager at ORDA who also helps oversee volunteers. The grand total of volunteers at this weekend’s World Cup included 36 sports management students at SUNY Cortland.

Lake Placid resident Kathy Critelli is among the volunteers who have been volunteering with ORDA for more than 20 years. She says her fellow volunteers are characterized by their commitment.

Hill stompers pack down the snow with their skis towards the bottom of the 128-meter jump at the Olympic Jumping Complex prior to the World Cup competition on Friday, Feb. 7.

“The people that I have met, and many of them are retirees, are giving, hardworking,” she said of her fellow volunteers. “You can ask them to do anything. They withstand the cold, and they withstand the wind and they withstand the heat.”

Speaking of cold and wind, the first full day of competitions this weekend got off to a very snowy start. The first volunteers started arriving at the jumping complex at 5:30, but one of the first tasks of the day — stomping the hill — was delayed.

Justin and Stacey Cox, along with their younger son, Cirrus, were among the volunteers huddled in the staging room at the top of the hill.

The family is from New Hampshire and their oldest son is a ski jumper. Justin said they are used to helping out on this hills. It comes with the territory.

“All the parents, all the coaches are out on the hill getting the hill ready before even practices. It’s something we’re really used to,” Justin said. “When you go ski jumping, you bring your skis and you help out.”

News Photos — Grace McIntyre At right, volunteers transport athletes’ bags from the gondola to a staging area at the bottom of the outrun so that athletes can change into shoes and warm clothes after their jump during the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup at the Olympic Jumping Complex on Friday, Feb. 7.

Justin has volunteered at other World Cup events in Lake Placid, but this weekend was a first time for Stacey and Cirrus. Cirrus, who is a cross-country skier himself, was one of the kids working as bag runners for the athletes. His job was to collect bags from the top of the hill and place them on the gondola so athletes can change into shoes and warm clothes at the bottom after they jump.

Stacey, who was one of the volunteers stationed at the bottom of the outrun, said she was just excited to be involved.

“I like being actually in on things, instead of just a spectator,” Stacey said.

Scott Johnson, who hails from Plattsburgh, has been volunteering at ORDA events for 20 or 25 years. He started at Whiteface as a slipper — someone who goes down the hill in between skiers at a competition to try to level out the snowy surface. Johnson has been working ski jumping events for the last few years. He’s done a variety of jobs, including working as a hill marker. As a backup for the technology that measures the distance of each jump, about 15 hill markers are spaced out along the side of the landing area to watch where each jumper lands.

“First-time people, you just sort of break them in,” he said, describing how volunteers often jump into a role and learn from more experienced workers. “You confer with the person above you and below you and kind of come to a consensus.”

This year, Johnson tried out a new role as one of two bar/backdrop movers. This put him at the top of the 128-meter hill, right where the athletes are lining up and getting ready to jump. When instructed by the jury, the bar movers adjust the placement of the starting position for the jumps. An example of when this might be done is if jumpers are landing too far down the hill, which can be a safety hazard.

This job was not as fun on Friday as on the other days — the cold wind repeatedly caused athletes to back off the bar and wait for conditions to calm. The Friday morning competition ended up being postponed until evening. However, Johnson said he liked the job so much that he has already signed up to be a bar mover for the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships this coming weekend.

Maureen Onyon has been volunteering with ORDA events since 2016, starting a little after her husband, John. They are from Clifton Park, and their son recently bought a place in Lake Placid, which has made it even more convenient to volunteer. They’ve volunteered to help with crowd control and other miscellaneous tasks at the bottom of the outrun. Maureen said she loves getting to meet people and meeting enthusiastic international fans who “love their jumpers.”

“It was a lot of fun meeting those people and seeing how excited they were,” she said. “It was like having Taylor Swift come through.”

This year, they are helping hand out awards, which also means keeping track of them throughout the day and then holding the trays at the award ceremony.

“It’s real fun,” Maureen said. “Everybody’s excited — obviously — because they won.”

Critelli, who has lived in the area since 1998, has been a faithful member of the VIP team since 2003. She and a small group of volunteers used to set up events at all of the ORDA venues.

“I’m the type of person who comes early in the morning and I don’t leave until it’s over,” she said. “I like that people can depend on me to be there because I love the sports community.”

Working in VIP, she interacts with athletes, coaches, officials and other guests from around the world, an experience that she says is a “gift.” Ski jumping tends to have a lot of loyal Polish fans, so she learned how to say “Welcome to Lake Placid” in Polish. Her days can involve everything from cleaning up spills to holding crying babies, but the goal is always to make people feel at home — and make sure they want to come back.

“It’s basically like inviting someone into your home,” Critelli said. “Whatever you would do for a guest who rings your doorbell, that’s what we do.”