There is a great article in the New Yorker on the Hahnenkamm , bit of a long read and there is an audio recording of it which is 45mins long if you're into podcasts etc.
Translation: Due to the current weather situation and the condition of the racetrack (my italics), the Jury decided to cancel today’s downhill. A decision regarding tomorrow’s program is expected by 12 noon today.
@ster, Vor runners have been standard practice for many years. In my earlier post I mentioned that the 'new' step jump on the ziel schuss, at the ziel jump point, was new and it's purpose seems to be to carry ads. Problem is that this is causing the skiers to catch air under the skis thus lifting the tips as they negotiate the run in.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I wonder whether the jury will decide to have today's planned DH ( which is Kitzbühel's most famous big event) tomorrow and bump the GS which was due to be held tomorrow?
After all it is free
After all it is free
DH tomorrow and GS Monday confirmed.
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Monday's race is SG not GS
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@stewart woodward, yes you're correct, my mistake. I typed the right letters but not necessarily in the right order....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I seem to remember seeing these forerunners but arent they really to give the coaches a view of someone going down the course and to clear the snow off the line (not sure really how effective that is). And if its just before the race then the pressure is on to have the race.
I was thinking if they were reforming this jump that had already proved somewhat fraught that they might have a technical/organised test of its new shape as far in advance as possible to assess and redo if needed.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Re - skiing the race course, I have been to the races on numerous occasions, though not in recent times, and the course was open to the public post race though with fencing across the piste at various points to stop some wannabe splattering themselves across the piste. at these point skiers are directed back to the normal piste but can rejoin further along. Apart from the Steilhang, the course is no big deal taken in the short sections at recreational speed. But the Steilhang is formidable, usually boiler plate making turns down it extremely difficult and hazardous, embarrassment wise, for recreational skiers with less than razor sharp edges, the racers of course take it straight only making one right turn at the bottom of the Steilhang. Recreational skiers could try to take it straight but then you are faced at the end of the drop with a very important, albeit just one , very tight right turn, lifesaving even.
No doubt many on here will have, at some time, skied race prepared courses, so will appreciate the unforgiving nature of the surfaces.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@davidthornton, watching this makes you question if it is really no big deal if people can't even get out of the start house
Sunday at 10.20am & (SG) Monday 10.45am (CET) respectively, something to get up for on Sunday then.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
extremerob wrote:
@davidthornton, watching this makes you question if it is really no big deal if people can't even get out of the start house
We were in Kitzbühel on the Monday after the races a couple of years ago. I was there for the day getting my Daleboots refurbed so didn't have skis and while we waited we went up the Hahnenkamm and had lunch and a wander through the start hut etc. All very interesting but Mrs R was literally clinging onto me and peeking over as we stood at the start gate. Its seriously steep, much steeper than it looks on TV. It must be another of these TV illusions, a bit like the actual speed of the racers compared to how it looks on TV, as anyone thats actually been at a race will know.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@robboj, in the New York Times article I posted earlier there is a line that goes if they say the camera adds ten pounds, it also takes off 10 degrees
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
davidthornton wrote:
@ster, Vor runners have been standard practice for many years. In my earlier post I mentioned that the 'new' step jump on the ziel schuss, at the ziel jump point, was new and it's purpose seems to be to carry ads. Problem is that this is causing the skiers to catch air under the skis thus lifting the tips as they negotiate the run in.
That could be what's different. IIRC its not been a particular problem since the backlash after the McCartney and Albrecht crashes in 2008 & 2010, so something must have changed this year?
I love the HKR weekend and have been about 5 times and never miss it on TV otherwise but I sometimes wonder if there are commercial pressures at play there that we just don't get at any other race.
IME they are normally witnessed in the form of the race going ahead when it shouldn't. IE the farce that was the 'half race' below the fog in 2015 and the carnage on a too soft Hausbergkante in 2016, both perhaps the result of the Media and Advertisers squealing after the KSC cut the Hausbergkante out in 2014 and re-routed the finish down the Ganslern.
Yes professional ski racing has by definition a very fine line between triumph and disaster but that shouldn't be moved too far the wrong way by advertisers wanting labels everywhere nor for that matter the Red Bulls of this world looking for stunt potential. If something like another advertising opportunity is causing these accidents yesterday that then IMHO that's gone too far.
@extremerob, Yep, exactly.
@ster, Thanks for the update.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
ster wrote:
I was thinking if they were reforming this jump that had already proved somewhat fraught that they might have a technical/organised test of its new shape as far in advance as possible to assess and redo if needed.
They have had a piste basher reforming the Zielsprung (the final jump) today, so hopefully things should be a bit safer for tomorrow's race.
I was thinking if they were reforming this jump that had already proved somewhat fraught that they might have a technical/organised test of its new shape as far in advance as possible to assess and redo if needed.
They have had a piste basher reforming the Zielsprung (the final jump) today, so hopefully things should be a bit safer for tomorrow's race.
What surprises me is that with the technology we have today we are able to design in 3d the park sections - you would think they put the jumps they build for the world-cup through some form of model to ensure from a safety perspective stuff we don't have what happened on Friday.
The other question like in all sports you end up with the question you have to ask yourself would you build or certify such a race course today or are we only still racing it because it is a classic. F1 is a great example of where Imola, the Old Hockenheim, the old Osterreichring or the Nurburgring Nordschleife where racing stopped due to safety concerns.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
holidayloverxx wrote:
RC-S has a minor cervical spine fracture.
Oh, no, it's catching! You are Nick Fellows and I claim my £5 .
Arsey S is not a nice name to call anybody .
After all it is free
After all it is free
@maggi,
Now that I’ve seen it as Arsey S it can’t be undone - you have tainted my innocent mind
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Despite that obvious change in the profile they still seem to be going a good distance off that last jump.
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Who heard the fake crowd noise? ZDF and Eurosport Deutschland both had it.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Masses on Eurosport UK. Just for us watching at home. A bit of a bugbear of mine, this thing with the sports events where they now do this, even the BBC, reporting on something that didn't happen.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Spoiler
Another great performance by Beat Feuz. Two wins at Kitzbühel, will he make it 3 from 3 in tomorrow's Super-G?
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@ster, interesting on the ziel sprung today - some of the earlier skiers were getting considerable air but then it looked rather tame - I guess they fed feedback up the hill and the rest adjusted for it.
So good to see Johan’s performance today
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Alastair Pink, awesome....and then commentator made a proper mess with his comments at the end, got his mucking words fuddled.
We also had the German skiers father mentioned.....comedy gold.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
what about snowboard?
SBX live on Youtube about to start
Watching the women's SG on repeat now - the blue gate after La Bosse du Président is a nightmare - it is like an accident waiting to happen, some very close calls on it - and also on the final jump into the finish line - i'm 20 racers in hoping that there were no casualties in the late starters!
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@extremerob, you’re spot on. It didn't look much defanged early on but after the first few down it suddenly didn't look so menacing.
But again with the women’s the jumps looked a bit worrying, set to hold the advertising hoardings which are just too tall? If you came slightly off the line when off the last one you weren’t making the next gate.
Will be interesting to see if Pinturault or any of the other technical focused skiers still race the SG tomorrow and then the Schladming night slalom on Tuesday.
With Kilde out Pinturault doesn't have the pressure for overall points, it is hard to see the logic to make the 2hour journey from Rieteralm where his "Austrain" training base is this evening and then back again tomorrow. There is always the risk of injury as well for him which is arguably greater in an SG than a technical event
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@extremerob, Pinturault is in the draw for tomorrow. It's really not much of a journey from Reiteralm to Kitzbühel, under 2 hours, and I'm sure he doesn't have to drive. Most of the racers are based near Reiteralm for the season.
@queenie pretty please, yes you're right he won't drive - a coach will do that - but the question is will he race - its more than the 2 hours - its the psychological prep for the course - sleeping in a hotel and somewhere different for tonight (studies show that the first night of sleep in a new location is not very restful) - and then after the race its the journey back, likely fatigued - is he doing it for the points, or because he feels like skiing an SG run to get some practice in - interesting to see the strategy and if he has pressure from sponsors to race either directly or indirectly via bonus payments for every race etc.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@extremerob, I think he will race. He'll probably be training on Reiteralm on Tuesday morning too. I think it's under 2 hours. I can get from home (15 mins from Reiteralm) to Jochberg in an hour and a half. In a Skoda!
After all it is free
After all it is free
queenie pretty please wrote:
@extremerob, I think he will race. He'll probably be training on Reiteralm on Tuesday morning too. I think it's under 2 hours. I can get from home (15 mins from Reiteralm) to Jochberg in an hour and a half. In a Skoda!
How would that fit with competing at Schladming on Tuesday night?
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@davidthornton, he's in Kitzbühel now and attended the draw. So he races at Kitzbühel tomorrow morning, gets back to Reiteralm area tomorrow afternoon. Trains on Reiteralm on Tuesday morning, races on Planai on Tuesday night. Reiteralm is two mountains along from Planai.
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@queenie pretty please, Just because he entered the draw doesn't mean that he'll start. Schladming, IMHO, is higher up the priorities. Sponsors Red Bull would choose that, Tuesday night peak viewing. I know locations are close but it's the recovery time, also the mental and physical preparation.
FAQ
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