Hahnenkamm This Weekend

[runethechamp]

Maybe a foam wall is cool when you're sitting in a car crashing into it and will fuck you up when you ski into it?

[Arty50]

I'd straightline the bitch...

...right into a net.

[Dexter Rutecki]

Question: Why are they still using nets as barriers? The gnar factor is cool and all, but take a look at what car racing leagues are doing to improve the safety of their drivers (e.g Haans device and foam walls @ Indy) and you can see that downhill is a little behind the curve.

Actually, I believe that if you look closely you'll see that in the areas where racers are (will be) travelling toward the netting, or where a crash would likely send them at high speed into the netting, it's not regular netting like on the rest of the course, but solid "A-netting"--that is, it's solid so skis won't catch, but it's also built up with some give to it to attenuate the impact. Behind that is probably the "B-netting", which is the more standard looking plastic netting with holes, but even that stuff is now on a sort of plastic hinged thing that will rip out if it's hit hard enough. They may double layer that stuff. In places where racers might crash and get airborne over the low netting they should have high netting, often suspended from metal posts that are permanently there.
Most of this stuff is a vast improvement over the old system, which in Kitzbuehel and other places included wooden slat fencing. Brian Stemmle is indirectly responsible for some of these changes, as he sued Kitzbuehel for the effects of a huge crash he had where that slatted fencing almost killed him by almost dismembering him.
I guess lawsuits against ski areas aren't always bad things.

[str8line]

How the hell those guys fit their gigando balls into their speed suits I'll never know.

Go Darron(although it might be prudent to sit this one out even if he feels better-I can't imagine steppin up to that course after a hard wreck) and Bode!

[ak_powder_monkey]

holy shiat how do they groom that thing? or do they?

[FNG]

Question answered.

Spank you Helpy Helperton.

[Dexter Rutecki]

Just spreading the love.

I believe most of that course could be groomed the normal way, but I know they also have the Austrian army out to help. Sometimes they use firehoses to spray water on it, too.

[splat]

Love that carve....

[subtle plague]

Ok guys i don't know steep they say the Mausefalle is, but 100% steepness are 45° . So it can't be that steep at all. The steepest run in Austria is not the Hahnenkamm it is in The Zillertal and is 70% steep so that makes amazing 31.5° of mindblowing steepness.
During the world championchips in St. Moritz the TV guys freaked out because the first 20m of the downhill had been made 100% steep. Ok 45° of ice is really annoying if youre descending 500m vertical , but hey if you straightline 20m of it it is not that glorious.

[FNG]

Personally, I think making precise turns on rutted out ice at 70mph is plenty glorious.

[DB]

The Harakiri at Mayerhofen Austria is 78%. It is groomed by a 480 hp piste basher which is attached to a cable for safety reasons.

[Bluebird]

I was in Kitzbuhel two weeks ago and saw them setting up the course. Not in a million years could you get me to ski that course at full speed. We did start at the top and leisurely make our way to the bottom of the course and it is just plain ridiculous. Never being a racer I don't think I fully grasped the steepness and difficluty of downhill or any race for that matter. Don't get me wrong, I always thought it was very, very hard, but nothing brings it out like seeing the real thing. I was just trying to imagine going top spead over one of the jumps just to have to land on hard, hard pack and make a wicked sharp turn with a huge wall of fencing right in front of you. They have balls of case hardened steel!

[subtle plague]

The Harakiri at Mayerhofen Austria is 78%. It is groomed by a 480 hp piste basher which is attached to a cable for safety reasons.

That's the one i meant.

edit: don't get me wrong ! going down 80mph on pure ice IS mindblowing, i just criticized the media for pointing out how STEEP those slopes are.

[runethechamp]

During the world championchips in St. Moritz the TV guys freaked out because the first 20m of the downhill had been made 100% steep. Ok 45° of ice is really annoying if youre descending 500m vertical , but hey if you straightline 20m of it it is not that glorious.

Well, the first part where they were straightlining there was 150 m long and they had a speed of approximately 85 mph into the first turn so it's badass enough Saw your last post too, and I agree with you there.

[CaddyDaddy77]

Not much for angles, just know it's pretty damn steep. Apparently so do the Canadiens.

KITZBUEHEL 2005: Canadians to focus on super G
Courtesy Alpine Canada
January 19, 2005
With the legendary Hahnennkamm races just a few days away, the Canadian alpine ski team has decided to stay out of the downhill race and instead focus on Friday's super G. As older members of the Canadian team have suffered injuries this year (Jan Hudec and Julien Cousineau, to name two), some rookies have stepped up for surprising World Cup results.

The team is composed of the circuit’s younger racers, namely Erik Guay, John Kucera, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Jeff Hume, François Bourque, David Anderson, and Brad Spence, arrived to Kitzbuehel with the ambition of partaking in the downhill training run to prepare for the super G race.

However, once the team’s coaches saw the racetrack, reflected upon their season’s strategy, and considered the poor weather that is being forecasted for the rest of the week, a decision was made to have the athletes inspect the course and train super G on another slope instead of racing in the first training run. The coaches deemed that training super G would be more valuable for the athletes than taking a single downhill run.

“Our strategy for Kitzbuehel was to have the guys focus on preparing for the super G,” said Alpine Canada Alpin’s Chief Athletic Officer, Max Gartner. “We have a young team, with lots of potential. The majority of them have never even raced on this track and this is why we wanted them to first aim for strong results in super G. We also have to keep in mind that we are looking for our athletes to peak at the World Championships in just over a week,” he added.

“Our guys got some excellent training today and both coaches and athletes are satisfied with the decision that was made,” he concluded.

The 7 Canadian athletes in Kitzbuehel are set to stick to their plan for the upcoming days, thus training Super G all the way up to the January 21 super G race, and missing the scheduled downhill.

The Hahnenkamm downhill race attracts 70,000 spectators coming from neighboring villages and countries. Starting with the infamous Mausefalle (Mousetrap) - a dizzying slope with an
85 percent gradient - competitors soon reach speeds of up to 130 km/h while having to negotiate jumps that can propel them more than 70 metres through the air.

First staged in 1931, the Hahnenkamm downhill is considered one of the top prizes in world skiing with past winners including Jean-Claude Killy, Franz Klammer, Pirmin Zurbriggen and Maier.





No results posted for today but here's the first day of training times.

Kitzbuehel Downhill
First training run
January 18, 2005
1. Christoph Gruber (Austria) 1:58.38
2. Fritz Strobl (Austria) 1:58.62
3. Werner Franz (Austria) 1:58.75
4. Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 1:59.08
5. Hermann Maier (Austria) 1:59.23
6. Bruno Kernen (Switzerland) 1:59.83
7. Marco Buechel (Liechtenstein) 2:00.14
8. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 2:00.32
9. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 2:00.39
10. Didier Defago (Switzerland) 2:00.41


Bode was 18th, but often stands in the last bit to throw his time.

[Dexter Rutecki]

Ok guys i don't know steep they say the Mausefalle is, but 100% steepness are 45° . So it can't be that steep at all. The steepest run in Austria is not the Hahnenkamm it is in The Zillertal and is 70% steep so that makes amazing 31.5° of mindblowing steepness.

I think you're confusing sustained pitch with steepness at a certain section, and trust me, 45 degrees is plenty steep when you're heading toward it from a relative flat at 60 mph. No matter what sort of a move you make over that jump, you're going to catch a lot of air. It's steep enough that if you take the wrong line you can air directly into the fencing on the fly, and before they introduced the really high fencing guys had actually flown over the fencing and into the woods (I think Fleischer or Bill Hudson was one of them). Some DH courses aren't that frightening, but Kitzbuehel scares the shit out of everyone.
I believe when Steve Porino was on the USST, he gave up his start for Kitzbuehel because it was just too dangerous. A lot of guys don't run it because it's too difficult and the risks are too great.

During the world championchips in St. Moritz the TV guys freaked out because the first 20m of the downhill had been made 100% steep. Ok 45° of ice is really annoying if youre descending 500m vertical , but hey if you straightline 20m of it it is not that glorious.

TV guys will hype anything, and I don't think the St. Moritz course has anything on courses like Wengen, Chamonix, Val d"Isere, or Birds of Prey. Personally, I think any WC level course is bound to be pretty glorious in some way, though.

Anyone catch the Wengen races on OLN? Guys were actually catching air in the SL. I've never seen that before.
I'm betting Bode gets a top five in the DH this weekend, as long as he doesn't screw up. Hope he finishes a SL, too.

[runethechamp]

TV guys will hype anything, and I don't think the St. Moritz course has anything on courses like Wengen, Chamonix, Val d"Isere, or Birds of Prey. Personally, I think any WC level course is bound to be pretty glorious in some way, though.

They said the St. Moritz course had the steepest start of all the downhill courses, but that the rest of it was relatively flat.

Here's the start:

[CaddyDaddy77]

Miller is looking strong, my guess is top 3 but I won't pin a 1st place on him for sure. Rhalves, maybe top 20.
Ghedina 2 or third, interchangeable with Maier/Strobl.




KITZBUEHEL 2005: Final training run cancelled after 33 racers
January 20, 2005
Today’s downhill training run at Kitzbuehel, the last one before racing begins with the super G on Friday, was called off after 33 racers today because of snow and poor visibility. Local weather forecasts do not bode well for the 65th annual Hahnenkamm races, which include the world’s most prestigious downhill.

Kristian Ghedina of Italy had the fastest time of those who finished the course. Like in last year’s downhill race, he pulled a spread eagle off the finish jump. His time was still standing when Thomas Graggaber of Austria, running 31st, crashed upon landing the Hausberg jump near the finish and tumbled into the nets, puncturing his lungs and breaking a bone in his shoulder.

American Daron Rahlves, who wants badly to race here this year, managed to run the course despite major pain in his leg. “I fought pretty hard through the pain today just to get a run,” said Rahlves. “Where I had a lot of trouble was the Carosel. Then coming into the exit of the Steilhang, it was pretty rough in there.” Rahlves says tightening his boot is painful, as is hitting the iced terrain features which are especially sharp this year.

Bode Miller finished 21st after intentionally slowing himself before the finish line, hoping to secure an early start position for Saturday’s downhill race. There, the start order will be a reversal of the top 30. But since today’s training run was ultimately cancelled, start positions will be determined by Wednesday’s training run, in which Miller was third.

[PaSucks]

Question: Why are they still using nets as barriers? The gnar factor is cool and all, but take a look at what car racing leagues are doing to improve the safety of their drivers (e.g Haans device and foam walls @ Indy) and you can see that downhill is a little behind the curve.

I don't know that foam walls would work for ski racing. You don't have a car full of crumple zones to absorb the impact.

Although I see your point, I am sure if enough [Homer Simpson] SMRT [HS] people think long and hard they could come up with something that would work for ski racing too.