Demolition of the inrun tower of the Inselberg ski jump

In Brotterode in the district of Schmalkalden-Meinigen in the Thuringian Forest in July 2025, for a change it was not “tree falls”, but “ski jump falls”. A replacement construction of the Inselbergschanze had become necessary.

On the evening of 28 June 2025, the ski jump, also known as the “old lady”, was given a ceremonial send-off. 1,000 spectators came to the Werner Lesser Ski Arena to watch the tower fall.

DA member company MB Spezialabbruch from Breitungen was tasked with bringing down the 56-metre-high steel tower on this day.

Testing of innovative process

The team had deliberately opted for a new type of procedure. A few minutes after the originally planned collapse time, the meticulously planned “demolition party” unfortunately only proved to be a dress rehearsal, where things can go wrong. A technical defect in the induction unit threw a spanner in the works.

Instead of viewing the failed attempt as a setback, the MB Spezialabbruch team learnt important lessons from it. Then it was time for a second attempt. The experience gained from the first attempt was to contribute to actually bringing down the inrun tower. By analysing the data from the first attempt, a few things were optimised. Instead of induction, this time a remote-controlled flame-cutting process was used in combination with a remote-controlled excavator.

Five minutes after 8 p.m. on the evening of 4 July 2025, the old steel inrun tower of the Inselberg ski jump finally collapsed with a loud roar.

Once the ski jump was in place and the steel supports had been broken open, it quickly became clear that the “old lady” was more more stable than expected.

You can read more about this exciting dismantling project in the next ABBRUCH AKTUELL, which will be published on 26 September 2025.

Photos: MB Spezialabbruch GmbH

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