Efforts made by man and machine
There are complex and countless undertakings required on the Streif: with piste grooming machinery weighing several tonnes and the handling of high water pressure, as well as a talent for knot-tying and needlework.
Excellent conditions prevailed along the Streif racecourse on Wednesday – no wind, no snowfall and ideal temperatures. Busy preparations were already underway at the Mausefalle section, where the “Karussell - Curve” at the approach to the Steilhang was being groomed – with the help of water and a piste basher from the Bergbahn Kitzbühel Cable Car Co. Water helps soften the compacted subsurface, thus preventing lumps from forming when the snowcat redistributes the snow (a combination of artificial & fresh). After this has been done, the snow is tilled and rolled to create a race-ready slope. After completing the Karussell-Curve, the Piste Team turned their attention to the Steilhang section
The equipment used to spray water on the Streif and Ganslern slopes never fails to attract attention. It is a converted liquid manure sprayer, a Kitzbühel creation by Andreas Schipflinger (details here). So why can’t a classic hose be used to do the job? “You’d be hard pressed to keep hold of it without taking off, as water jets through at pressures of up to 20 bar”, explains Tom Hauser, Steilhang Section Manager.
Work is being carried out at the same time on the Steilhang exit, albeit without the help of extra horsepower and bar pressure. The Safety Team are working on the A-nets here – a crucial boundary between the racing line and forest. To achieve this, nets that have been in place since autumn are connected to a baseline cable to ensure their safe anchorage and optimum tension for the Downhill event. This manual task is an arduous one, as the baseline cable must be dug out of the snow and knotted to the A-nets (under tension). The Team then mount (advertising) tarpaulins over the top, the kind of which Bode Miller in particular has had regular encounters with. “His skis even cut through them once,” remembers Herbert Voithofer, Section Leader of the Steilhang Safety Team. “And when that happens, one of our team has a window of only a few minutes to sew it up, while the race is interrupted.”
The next major milestone on the road to Race Week is on Friday when FIS officials arrive in Kitzbühel to complete official snow checks.
