why are there little trees on the ski jump

They aren’t actual little trees growing out of the jump — they’re mostly short pine branches stuck into the snow to help the jumpers see and land safely.

What those “little trees” really are

• They’re usually small pine branches or artificial green markers placed in rows along the landing hill.

• Organizers stick them into the snow before events; they are not full trees buried under the surface.

The main purpose: depth perception

When you’re flying 90+ meters through the air, a flat white slope is surprisingly hard to read.

• The green branches break up the all‑white snow surface so jumpers can judge how fast they’re dropping and where the ground actually is.

• They function like visual “rungs on a ladder,” giving the brain reference lines for distance and slope angle during the approach to landing.

• The contrast and the shadows cast by the branches in sunlight make it much easier to tell how high you still are above the hill.

Imagine trying to park a car on a completely white, featureless surface — no lines, no edges, nothing. That’s what a ski jump landing hill would feel like without these markers.

Safety and performance benefits

• Better depth perception helps jumpers time their landing position so they can touch down in a stable telemark stance instead of “dropping out of the sky.”

• Clear visual cues reduce the risk of bad landings, crashes, and knee injuries, which are a big concern in ski jumping.

• With more reliable visual feedback, athletes can commit fully to their jump technique, which also supports longer and cleaner jumps.

Are they required or just tradition?

• Using branches is a long‑standing convention in ski jumping, seen at World Cup events and the Olympics.

• Modern venues sometimes mix natural pine with synthetic markers, but the core idea stays the same: high‑contrast, repeating visual elements on the landing hill.

TL;DR: The little “trees” on the ski jump are deliberate visual markers (usually pine branches) added to break up the white snow so jumpers can judge distance to the ground, improve depth perception, and land more safely.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.