The 171-foot tall Nansen Ski Jump in New Hampshire, was once the highest ski tower in the world. Built in 1936, the Nansen hosted the first Olympic ski-jumping qualifiers in 1938. It was, however, shuttered in 1985 and the ski jump, nicknamed the "Sleeping Giant," has sat abandoned and in disrepair for more than 30 years.

But the "Sleeping Giant" has been awakened when American ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson, 22, took flight on the iconic and restored landmark, soaring almost 55 feet off the massive ramp. The leap was the first jump at Nansen in 32 years. The jump also marks the comeback of Hendrickson after a devastating knee injury put her out of World Cup competition for 18 months.

Hendrickson was officially the first woman to jump in Olympic competition (the 2014 Sochi Olympics were the first to include women’s ski jumping). 

Women’s Ski Jumping junior team member Anna Hoffmann joined Hendrickson at Nansen as a jump tester.

"Two years ago, we proposed this idea and a couple of days ago, we really didn’t know if it would come together," Hendrickson told Red Bull. "It was so cool to ski out at the bottom and see the community at the bottom of the hill, everyone happy and telling their family ties at this jump. It was a priceless day."

Fortunately, the day of Hendrickson's jump offered a brief window of calm weather.

"That’s one of the main things that people told me when we came up with this idea. They said, ‘You better watch the wind. It gets quite windy up there,'"Hendrickson added. "We’ve been watching that and knew that could have happened, but the weather cooperated with us quite well for that window and we got it done. We’re pretty fortunate."

View the slideshow above for photos from Hendrickson's jump at the "Sleeping Giant."

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