his dad helped him built in a practice-ramp in the backyard called "Oslo 1"

grandpa Morley Nelson, who also used to ski jump years ago, created the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area and brought the World Center for Birds of Prey to Idaho

likes fiddling, falconry, flying and building r/c model airplanes

started skiing at 5 and then jumping at the age of 9

names Alan Alborn and Simon Ammann as his role models in ski jumping

personal record: 126m in Steamboat Springs, CO, winter 2001/2002

October 2001: 2nd in Lake Placid, NY, Flaming Leaves

Fall 2001: 2nd at Gold Cup tryouts, 1st at World Junior tryouts

Winter 2001/2002: COCs in Lahti/FIN and Vikersund/NOR - best result: 22nd in Norway

January 2002: he competes in his first Junior World Championships in Schonach/GER

Summer 2002: training camp oversea, COCs in Calgary and Park City, placing 11th in Canada on the second day

Winter 2002/2003: COCs in Slovenia and the U.S.

Summer 2003: COC in Park City, 32nd and 39th in the end

Fall 2003: broke his nose "performing a backflip in sandals", according to his teammates, which kept him from training for only a short time

Winter 2003/2004: he finishes 2nd overall in the new USSA Super Tour behind Schwall, competes in COCs in Westby, WI, and Iron Mountain, MI

Summer 2004: struggling with his jumping in the summer months, doesn't compete in Chicago's Super Tour and is disappointed with his jumping in most other competitions.

December 2004: 2nd and 3rd in Calgary/CAN, Super Tour

January 2005: first COCs after a long time of absence from international competitions - finishes 47th and 49th in Sapporo/JPN

his role models (in '02): "Just recently I now look up to Simon Ammann because he represents to me where I am coming from and where I am going to end up like him, 2-time Olympic Gold medalist. But also Alan Alborn because he also has achieved so much and is showing the world that America is going and starting to bloom new and very elite ski jumpers."

his little brother: "I have one brother who's awesome at playing the drums and is going to be a rock-star!"

his first COCs: "My first COC experience was very educational. It was in Westby, WI, in the Midwest with horrible conditions, but it was something that I needed to be exposed to because that's how it often is in Europe. Also it was fun to see the other athletes of that level that I will be competing with and beating in the future."

World Juniors '02: "World Juniors was even better because I saw all the kids that I would be competing with throughout my ski jumping career and got to experience what European conditions, hotels, jumps, weather and life was all like. It really exposed to me how tough Europe was going to be like and what the competition level was going to be."

Corby Fisher (in '02): "I like to jump with him sometimes and other times he gets on my nerves."

commitment: "Follow your dreams despite what anyone else has to say about them. You just have to be working, you have to be really patient with what you're doing and what you're working with and sooner or later you'll reach your goals. So keep fighting."

training and living in Park City: "It's a pain in the ass. You have to struggle with school and your family. Your parents are like 'You're never with us' and all that stuff. I like training in Park City because that's what I wanna be doing and I'm missing my family and my friends sometimes, but I know that I am having fun and it hasn't bothered me that much yet. But it's a pain in the ass."

retirement (in '02): "Quitting ski jumping hasn't hit me yet because I am freakin addicted and it's so much fun. What's definitely frustrating sometimes is just thinking about, you know, my friends going to college and doing the college-thing. I was like 'I wanna take the road less travelled and go down ski jumping'. So quitting hasn't hit me yet, I'm still loving it."

media recognition: "I'd like to be on TV in the United States for more than 5 seconds! I would hope that if I set a new american record, people would know what I was actually doing. Like when Alan went 221.5m the people at the U.S. Ski Team or like the leading people of the U.S. Ski Team didn't really have an idea what 221.5m was. And they are working for the Ski Team... "

Oslo 1: "Since there are no jumps in Boise, which sucks, and it's hard to train, I built a roller jump out of wood. We finished it in 1997 and got some foam rubber, so there's a big pat and called it "Oslo 1". And when I go home for school I train on that and it helps me a lot, I think. I'm very happy that we built it, because it's a good roller jump and it helped me technically."