SF Skiers Set Up for ICER AIR 2005 photo copyright: Rugged Elegance, LLC

The sun rose and the snow fell in San Francisco on Thursday, September 29th 2005. It was a day like no other.

On this quintessential Indian Summer day of the year, 1998 Olympic gold moguls medalist Jonny Moseley showed up on Fillmore Street with a band of buddies who love to jump.

Ski jump that is.

But they needed 200 tons of snow to make their dream a reality, as well as support from The City by The Bay, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood of residents, schools and merchants.

While you might say, "Impossible," the organizers of "ICER AIR 2005" led by Glen Griffin, Trevor Hubbard, Arne Morkemo, Erik Gordon, Kristian Akseth and Jonny Moseley, said "Dream."

And dream they did.

They dreamt the impossible until their dream became reality.

ICER AIR 2005 San Francisco photo copyright: Rugged Elegance, LLC

After eight months of undying effort, the ICER AIR production team got their sponsors led by Jeep, PlumpJack and CharitySmith, to name just three. They got their television coverage led by Fox Sports, Spike, MTV2, FusionTV, HD Networks and OLN.

They got their athletes lined up.

They got lots of helicopters overhead.

And they got the community support they needed to do something never done before in the city of San Francisco.

They also got their live audience.

An integral part of an ICER AIR 2005 ski jumping competition were the thousands of snowboard and ski enthusiasts excited to see ten snowboarders and ten skiers fly and flip down Fillmore.

The streets of San Francisco were alive with onlookers on Fillmore Street all the way from Broadway down to Union Street.

From 7am - 5pm they oohed and ahhed.

First, it was the awe of seeing snow on one of the steepest streets in San Francisco.

Then it was the amazement and adrenaline rush of seeing twenty-one athletes in the air.

The top prize? $6,000 and a two-year-lease on a Grand Cherokee Jeep.

In all, $100,000 in cash and prizes would be awarded by the end of the day.

Who would win?

ICER Air Male JUMPERS

One of ten gutsy snowboarders:

#1 Brent Meyer
#2 JJ Thomas
#3 John Jackson
#4 Christ Rotax
#5 Jimi Tomer
#6 Cory Cronk
#7 Yale Cousino
#8 Eric Jackson
#9 Travis Parker
#10 Jamie Anderson

or

one of the ten wild-and-crazy skiers:

#11 TJ Schiller
#12 Kye Petersen
#13 CR Johnson
#14 Sean Field
#15 Rory Silva
#16 Tanner Rainville
#17 Andy Mahre
#18 Simon Dumont
#19 Corey Vanular
#20 Chris Benchetler

Early in the morning, the snow began to be blown from the snowmaker out onto Fillmore Street.

The only other athletic competition that has taken place on this street is an annual race called the Grand Prix.

However, in that competition it is a group of cyclists climbing up one of the steepest hills in San Francisco.

In this case, on September 29th 2005, the ski jumpers took flight in the air down the hill.

Mt. Fillmore

The take off from "Mt. Fillmore" was set up at Broadway. The landing was to be nearly two blocks below -- just before Green Street -- on the road that leads to the Balboa Cafe.

No matter where you ended up standing on Fillmore to watch, the sight would be spectacular.

After dropping the girls off at school a half-block away from the "take off" point I took my camera and captured the "before" of the day.

I had planned on attending the last day of the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment Conference at Moscone, as I had last year.

However, the spirit of the ICER AIR volunteers, ski enthusiasts and jumpers swept me away. It didn't take me long to get into it.

After Tim and I worked out with our new trainer Antony Thier, we headed straight to "the mountain".

Dana Wuerfel was one of the hundreds in the crowd early in the day. She wore her Vail 99 shirt as she shot pictures of the ski jump being built.

"I used to ski at Vail all the time until the flights from SFO became few and far between," she said.

San Francisco Resident, Dana Wuerfel photo copyright: Rugged Elegance, LLC

Dana added:

Vail 1999 was one of my favorite years on the slopes.

Today, I still ski. But when it comes to jumps, I live vicariously through guys like Jonny Moseley and company.

A group of Sacred Heart moms gathered around the top of the slope and talked about how they could leverage Jonny's upcoming pep talk to the boys at Stuart Hall.

Sacred Heart Moms

"Let's see if Jonny will sign a bunch of shirts this morning that we can auction off at our school fundraiser next spring," one of them suggested.

And that Jonny did! Thanks Jonny!!

Trevor Hubbard's dad, Glen, was on the scene volunteering his time early in the morning and throughout the day.

While dozens of kids helped shovel snow as it came out of the snowmaker, Hubbard was busy handing out the eclectic "In Flight Magazines" created by his son, who was one of the "pilots" behind the event.

Glen said:

This is awesome. The people of San Francisco are amazing to support this kind of event. I'm proud of my son Trevor and his buddies. And I'm glad to help out.

San Francisco's Rugged & Elegant

Two ICER AIR 2005 Ski Jumpers

The images of the day offered a fascinating juxtaposition of the "grunge" guys on top of Mt. Fillmore against the backdrop of some of the most expensive properties in the country.

2300 Vallejo - Before The Snowfall

One of those homes was a property for sale on the corner of Vallejo and Fillmore.

2300 Vallejo Street, marketed by Coldwell Banker Preview's Nina Hatvany, was the beneficiary of thousands of San Franciscans strolling by from sun-up to sun-down.

2300 Vallejo - Snowed In

The beautiful $5 million brick home with bougainvillea draped down its sides was sun-drenched on one side and snowed in on another.

Just a couple of blocks away a Coors billboard stands tall. The illustration of the cyclist cruising by a snow-capped mountain is the perfect illustration of the adventuresome "good life" available in Northern California.

Skier #14 - Sean Field

On site, at ICER AIR 2005, the skiers were all smiles.

And so was the crowd!

Tomorrow ...

The jumps.

The jumpers.

The winners.

The bride and groom.

Our host, Jonny Moseley.

Jefferson Lilly on Top of Mt. Fillmore

And last but not least, we'll introduce you to a guy from the city by the name of Jefferson Lilly, who successfully skied down Fillmore, after the competition was over -- who not only didn't get busted, he lived to talk about "Mt. Fillmore" in comparison to Gstaad, Val d'Isere, Aspen and Alta.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "in flight" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC

P.S. For some of the best photographs of the day, go to:

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