Toni’s Downhill gates
Toni Ehrensperger is responsible for setting the course on the Streif together with Hannes Trinkl from FIS. Thanks to a GPS device, the gates are positioned almost identically year after year.
The days of setting downhill gates on the Streif with the help of handwritten plans, plenty of experience and a good memory are long gone. Distinctive way-markers, such as decades-old trees, also helped with orientation. This is now (almost) history, as this year marks the tenth anniversary of GPS (Global Positioning System) course setting. And with it Toni Ehrensperger, the man who is never (!) seen on the course without his two-metre-long GPS device in his hand in January. He has been plotting the course with centimetre precision since 2015, just as he did in previous years. The amiable Kitzbühel native is reluctant to be praised: ‘The device does the work,’ says the KSC cross-country coach modestly.
Many winter sports enthusiasts were amazed to see that the Streif racecourse had already been set last week. This was thanks to the ideal weather conditions (with no fresh snow) and the race-ready grooming. The downhill had 30 gates at the first training session and each of these poles was installed by Toni Ehrensperger (with the support of his staff from the Oberhausberg section, for which he is responsible). However, he is not listed as the official course setter, that title is reserved for FIS Race Director Hannes Trinkl: ‘That's right. The course is officially set by the FIS. But we prepare everything before we go through it with Hannes Trinkl.’ Thanks to GPS technology, the ski association can also rely on the gates being exactly where they belong. Nevertheless, changes almost always need to be made.
There are limits, however, as to how many changes can be made: they can’t be done between the final training session and the race, nor during the race itself. By the way, almost identical courses only exist in the downhill discipline, whereas in super-G, giant slalom and slalom it is always different coaches, who set the courses and there are no training runs in these competitions.
Kitzbühel Ski Club uses the GPS measuring device all year round. This is because on the Streif and Ganslern, key points or locations are often covered by snow or tall grass: ‘These can be for instance snow shafts, technical shafts or anchor points in the middle of the traverse. Anchor points are dug out, for example, when we groom the traverse with the snowcat.’ On steep sections such as Mausefalle, Steilhang or Querfahrt, piste machines are always secured with a winch.‘ The GPS device also helps us when it comes to determining where the B-nets begin and end or where the grandstands, coaches or camera towers should be located.’
Toni Ehrensperger and his team, however, are responsible for more than just the gates and the Oberhausberg section: they also create the chamois on the Oberhausberg, which they carefully arrange by hand using fir branches. For this task, the team has always relied on a blueprint.
Photo © K.S.C./alpinguin
