Happy Halloween everyone!
Episode 7 is a Halloween special which covers the Hahnenkamm Rennen down Die Streif course in Kitzbuhel in Austria. A race about as scary and spectacular as one can get it on a pair of skis.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Episode 7 is a Halloween special which covers the Hahnenkamm Rennen down Die Streif course in Kitzbuhel in Austria. A race about as scary and spectacular as one can get it on a pair of skis.
Happy Halloween, and welcome back to Ski Heroes! My name is Eivind, and today is Monday October 31st 2022 as I’m recording episode 7 from the ski lodge in Houston, TX, the skiing capital of the world.
Today is Halloween, and those of you who thought that this podcast is not going places were definitely wrong because we are doing a Halloween special! The skiing history is full of scary stories. The state sponsored doping program of East Germany that we kinda touched on in the previous episode would definitely qualify as one. Cross country skiing could also easily qualifying as another. The 50km cross country race is full of stories about skiers who hit the wall on this over 2hr race, and barely making it to the finish line. Another cross country story I came across was actually from the men’s 30km race in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. The German skier Johann Mulegg, who prior to the games had changed nationality to Spain due to his differences with the german skiing federation absolutely dominated the games winning gold in pretty much every event he participated. Swedish skier Per Elofsson had dominated cross country skiing prior to the 2002 games, and especially the 30km race which was his favorite distance. As the skiers set out on the 30km Olympic, Johann Mulegg came blazing out of the gates and was skiing at a crazy pace. Olofsson was in the shape of his life and he knew from previous competitions that he was the far stronger skier of him and Mulegg. As the race continued, Olofsson was the only one who was keeping up with Mulegg’s super-human pace. What Olofsson did not know was that Mulegg was doped on the kidney medicine NESP which stimulated the production of red blood cells. And at the high altitude of the 2002 olympic games this was pure rocket fuel for Mulegg. Olofsson tried his very best to keep up with Mulegg, knowing deep down that he was the better skier. At 15km, Olofsson hit the wall so bad that he wasn’t able to finish the race. In fact, Olofsson never really recovered from this race and his career ended shortly thereafter. Mulegg more or less came out of nowhere for the games winning gold at the 30km race, the 10km race + the following 10km pursuit. And also the 50km. All before his doping tests came back about as positive as they could get and he was stripped of all his medals and expelled from the games. But aside from this story, perhaps the most scary stories are found in alpine skiing, and then downhill skiing in particular. And of all the downhill races, the scariest of them all takes place in January every year in Kitzbuhel in Austria. The course is infamously called Die Streif. And the race is called Hahnemkamm-Rennen, of the Hahnenkamm race in English, named after the Hahnenkamm mountains where the ski resort in Kitzbuhel is located.
The first Kitzbuhel race I ever saw on TV, at least that I remember, was in 1991. The one thing that stuck with me from that race, even today, was the extremely steep and icy hill toward the bottom of the course where none of the skiers dared to be in the tuck position, instead they were kinda squatted down with their arms out for balance as they held on for dare life as they skied down at over 130 kph. Kitzbuhel is not that high up elevation wise, the town where the finish area is located is only 800 meter, about 2600 ft, above sea level. With that, snow conditions can vary quite a bit in Kitzbuhel, and 1991 was not a great winter snow wise which further contributed to the icy and extremely bumpy conditions.
So let’s talk about the course itself for a minute. Die Streif. From the start at 1665m/5463ft elevation and to the bottom at 805m/2641ft elevation it’s 3.3 km, right at 2 miles long. The vertical drop is 860m/2821ft, and I have to say sorry to my American friends now, but from here on I will use metric measurements for distance and speed. And it usually takes right under two minutes for a ski racer to complete the course. And what a two minutes it is for a racer. Canadian ski racer Rob Boyd finished third at the 1991 race that I talked about earlier. And when asked to describe Die Streif he said "The first 30 seconds are sheer terror” and "The last 30 seconds are sheer terror.” And it’s all about the names of the various passages of the course too. Startschuss, Mausefalle, Steilhang, Hausbergkante, Zielschuss. Each one enough to chill the spine of any a good ski racer.
The start area of Die Streif has been described as the calmest and quietest start area in the World Cup circus. It’s a very special atmosphere, where the air is filled with nerves, anticipation, and shear terror amongst the skiers. There is no time to relax on this course. Right from the start gate the racer launches himself into the Startschuss, an average gradient of 51% right from the start. After only 8 seconds of skiing, the skier is already facing the Mausefalle, the mousetrap, immediately followed by the first jump on the course, and also the longest one. Racers often fly 60-70-80 meters at the Mausefalle. And immediately following the jump the racer faces the Karusell, a 180 degree turn where he must endure centrifugal forces over 3G. What a welcome to Dei Streif! And it doesn’t stop there. Immediately following the Karusell the racer enters the Steilhang, considered one of the most technically challenging passages on the entire world cup circuit, and the steepest part of the course logging a whooping 85% gradient. Perfect edges and perfect timing is required for the skier to get through this compact and challenging part of the course and for the racer to take as much speed as possible with him onto the least steep part of the course. At this point the skier is about 30 seconds into he race and he’s already been through a lot. For the next 60 seconds or so the skier mostly remains in the tuck position, this where he needs to be able to glide and not lose any speed as he goes through the Brückenschuss and Gschöss sections. After a small jump, the skier enters the diagonal “Alte Schneise” and approach to the “Seidlalmsprung” jump. It’s not that this part of the course is not difficult, the skier logs speeds upwards of 120kph/75mph through the Alte Schneise diagonal, it’s just that relative to the rest of the course this part seems a lot easier. After the Seidlalmsprung, the skier goes through the S-curve at Oberhausberg. And then starting at about 1:30 into the race it’s back at it again.. With 30 seconds to go, the racer jumps over the Hausbergkante. This is the first time the spectators in the finish area can see the skiers, and the audience typically goes wild, especially when there’s an Austrian skier racing. And to revisit Rob Boyd’s quote, the final 30 seconds of shear terror have started. Over the Hausbergkante, the skier easily jumps 30-40+ meters, and he’s going about 90-100 kph as he lifts off. Going over the edge, the skier does not see the landing area until he’s in the air, a landing area that is at an 69% incline. Immediately upon landing the racer skis straight into a compression, and at this point going about 110 kph the skier must immediately make a sharp left turn and jump into the traverse. Any imbalance at this point and the skier immediately wipes out. The traverse is at a sharp incline, and rarely do you see skiers in the tuck position across the traverse, rather they have their arms out to the side to keep balance and they hold on for dear life as they end the traverse at a speed of around 120 kph and enter the final stretch down toward the finish line called the Zielschuss – the finish shot. If Die Streif is well prepared, and/or if the snow conditions are good you see skiers dear the tuck position down the final stretch. If the course is icy or bumpy the skier will just squat down with their arms out to the side and hope for the best as they accelerate to speeds over 140kph/90mph and approach the very final challenge, the Zielsprung, or the Finish Jump in English. And what a final challenge it is. Going over 140 kph the skier goes airborne one final time, easily flying 50 meters, and a lot longer if you don’t time the takeoff right, and the skier finally crosses the finish line, being cheered on by over 50,000 fans.
That’s Die Streif, the race where the Hahnenkamm Rennen takes place every January. One hell of a ride as the movie about it is rightfully titled. I was also gonna call it the widow maker, but in all of my research, and to my surprise, I could not find anyone who had actually died while skiing Die Streif. A much more appropriate name is therefore The Caregiver Maker. Because A LOT of skiers have gotten seriously injured on Die Streif. And a lot of careers have also ended here. A quick YouTube search on Kitzhbuhel crashes will give you just about an endless supply of crashes that have happened on Die Streif, one more spectacular than the other. It’s almost poetic to watch some of the footage. It’s like a predator chasing it’s prey and the prey realizing that it’s over even though the chaser has not yet caught up to him yet. Some times you can even say the predator is playing with its prey, letting it think it will get away, just to brutally catch back up with it again. The predator of course being Die Streif, and the prey being the poor skier who dared to ski her. So often you can see the skier fighting with everything he’s got to stay alive, even though as a spectator you can so clearly see which direction this is going several seconds before he actually wipes out. Other times Die Streif hits immediately and the skier doesn’t know what hit him before he ends up in the fence, severely bruised hurt if he’s lucky, severely injured with broken bones and career ending trauma if he’s not.
Hahnenkamm Rennen have held annually ever since 1931. And starting in 1937 the race was held on Die Streif, when Austrian Haddäus Schwabl won with the time 3:53.1. As mentioned, skiers now ski Die Streif about a minute faster than they did back then, the fastest time recorded down Die Streif being Fritz Strobl in 1997 skiing it in 1:51.58.
Kitzbuhel is a scene the entire winter with its legendary skiing and maybe even more legendary apres ski parties. And ever more so during the Hahnenkamm race when spectators travel to the town for the greatest race of the season. Celebrities are always spotted in the crowd. From my own memory of watching the race, Arnold Schwartznegger is there every year. And former Formula 1 racer Niki Lauda attended every year until he passed away a few years ago. And Kitzbuhel has always been like this, a lovely mix between rich and beautiful see-and-be seen people, ski racing fans, and the greatest downhill ski race on earth. And what a race they all get to see.
In the 60s, Karl Schanz was the biggest star, winning four times, a record that would last for many years to come. Franz Klammer, the Austrian daredevil was the star in the 70s, winning three times in a row from 1975 to 77, and tying Schanz’s 4-time win record in 1984 when he won the Hahnenkamm Rennen a fourth time.
Pirmin Zurbriggen, the legendary Swiss skier won the race three times in the 1980s. And Swiss skier Franz Heinzer copied Franz Klammer’s achievement, at least sort of, by winning three Hahnenkamm Races in a row when he won every year from 1990 – 1991. In 1991 two races were held in Kitzhbuhel as one replaced a cancelled event in St Anton that year. So he won the race in 1990 and both races in 1991, including the very first Hahnenkamm race I ever saw on TV, or at least that I remember I watched.
Many of the other great downhill racers in the years after have won the race, including Fritz Strobl, Hermann Maier, Dominik Paris and Beat Feuz. And then of course the greatest Die Streif racer of all time, the Swiss skier Didier Cuche who won the race five times from 1998 until 2012, including three times in a row from 2010 to 2012. And the greatest run down Die Streif ever may be Didier Cuche’s race from 2011. You can just tell when he’s at the start gate that he’s in charge of this and he is going to win. And he races with such conviction through the entire course and wins by almost a full second down to the next skier, an ocean of time in alpine racing.
But this episode is not about the ones who made it. It’s about the ones who did not. Because skiing Die Streif is not primarily about victory. It’s about making it down alive and in one piece. And Die Streif has a long list of victims. Ever since the race started, people have been fascinated by the spectacular skiing, and the spectacular crashes. This episode is far too short to cover all of the crashes that have occurred since 1937. That is, the list of crashes is far too long to be covered and given proper justice. And Die Streif does not discriminate, it’ll take out world cup leaders as easily as those who are a bit further behind.
The 1981 version of the Hahnenkamm race was a crash orgy. The bumpy course combined with poor visibility and flat light caused many a skier to wipe out spectacularly already at the Mausefalle jump, less than 10 seconds into the race. For the ones who made it past the Mausefalle and the Steilhang, Hausbergkante was waiting for them. Among the victims who fell was Yugoslavian racer Bojan Krizaj. Coming off the Hausbergkante he loses control through the compression leading onto the traverse he goes airborne doing a spectacular flip in the air before he cartwheels through the snow until the stops right in front of the picket fence. He courageously attempts to get back up on his feet, like a boxer who’s been knocked down, but he can’t as he keeps falling over as his head is spinning too fast.
Soviet skier Dagib Guliev was another one who fell victim to the Hausbergkante this year. Losing control at the same compression after the Hausbergkante where Bojan Krizaj fell, he fights with all of his might and manages to stay on his feet for 7 seconds in a wild ride onto the traverse before he finally falls prey to Die Streif and wipes out. But at least he is able to walk away. Of the 56 skiers who started the 1981 Hahnenkamm race, only 39 made it to bottom, meaning that 17 crashed.
Moving on to the 1987 Hahnenkamm race, having made it all the way through the Hausbergkante and onto the traverse Canadian skier Tood Brooker was eying the finish line when he loses control at the very end of the traverse, crashes into the gate that marks the end of the traverse, and tumbles like a rag doll down the final stretch and finally stops in the fence laying on the snow unconscious and looking far more dead than alive. Although he had won the 1983 Kitzbuhel race, the 1987 race would be his last one. In the fall he suffered a concussion, a broken nose, facial injuries, and a knee injury. And, well, it ended his career. And I guess Die Streif has a thing for Canadians. Because just two years later, in 1989 she decided to take out Brian Stemmle. And this crash is a bit what I was talking about earlier, Die Streif playing with its victim before deciding to take it out. Coming out of the Steilhang, Stemmle is in serious trouble. Going into the Steilhang, Stemmle is out of balance. Not to the point that he’s falling yet, but he's not in control as one needs to be going through the Steilhang. For several seconds Stemmle is fighting with all he’s got, while the centrifugal forces is getting the best of him. He’s getting closer and closer to the net while he’s keeps trying to get away. Finally he crashes into he net, and does so in a brutal and spectacular way. Following the crash, the Canadian is in mortal danger, spending several days in intensive care. Suffering a smashed pelvis, he had to spend three months in a hospital and underwent 18 months of rehabilitation. Cudos to the guy, he did come back from the injuries, and he even skied Die Streif again, only to crash again in 1999, and that ended his career.
A lot of the Kitzbuhel crashes happen during either the first 30 seconds or the last 30 seconds of the race. The majority may actually happen during the last 30 seconds, at some point from when the skier jumps over the edge at the Hausbergkante and crosses the finish line either standing up or sliding as a result of a wipeout over the Zielsprung. I won’t say it for sure, as I don’t have the statistics on it, but my guess is that the skier is getting pretty tired and mentally discharged at this point and the combination of that with the fact that the course just gets crazy at this point can be quite dangerous.
In 1995 during training, Italian skier Pietro Vitalini, now there’s an Italian name for you if I ever saw one, jumps onto the traverse and immediately loses control. Going 120kph he wipes out and crashes into the net, and not just into the net, but through the net, and he tumbles down in the deep snow below the net. The saving grace was that it had snowed about 3-3.5 feet the night before. Without this snow, the area that he crashed into would have been more or less bare, and he would have cartwheeled over rocks and bolders, likely with a deadly outcome. But Pietro walked away from the crash unharmed. And he even finished 5th at the actual race a couple of days later.
In 1995 it was the American Chad Fleischer’s turn. Having won the US national championship twice in downhill skiing, Fleischer was ready to make his mark on international skiing. Chasing the first world cup victory of his career, he saw Kitzbuhel as his chance. In training he had been one of the fastest skiers in all the test runs. Fleischer races through the course with everything he’s got, and he’s neck and neck with the best time. Onto the Zielschuss, the final stretch, he’s the only skier who dares to maintain a tuck the whole way. Going 150 kph on to the final jump, the Zielzprung, his skis catches air as he goes airborne about 7meters, 20 ft jup in the air and he completely loses control. For the spectators, all they can see is the underside of two skis pointing straight up in the air as Fleischer flips backward over the Zielzprung and lands on his neck, with both skis exploding upon impact. He severely injured his knee in the fall, and miraculously is not paralyzed from landing on his neck.
The year after, in 1996, several racers fall during training. Austrian skier Andreas Schifferer crashes so bad he was in a coma for three days after his wipeout.
And like I said, Die Streif does not discriminate. She’s an equal opportunity destroyer when it comes to careers. In 1999, the Olympic downhill champion from the 1992 Albertville winter games, Austrian Patrick Ortlieb suffers a horrible crash which injuries his knee and left hip, and breaks his right hip. He is forced to retire as a result of the injuries.
And of course, the list of crashes did not slow down just because we entered a new millennium. In 2005, Austrian skier Thomas Graggaber does a huge jump over the Hausbergkante. In reality, his crash starts here even though he still has a few seconds left to ski. shear fear he must have felt as he went airborne over Hausberg the moment he realizes he’s jumping further than he should is something I never hope to experience. And you can kinda see it too as he waives nervously with his arms toward the end of the jump as he lands very close to the compression that leads the racer onto the traverse. When he lands he only has a split second to try to make the turn onto the traverse, but he’s not able to. The compression causes him to go airborne for two seconds that must have felt like an eternity before he crashes to the ground and cartwheels through multiple layers of safety nets. Suffering broken ribs and severe damage to both his shoulders and his lungs, Graggaber is forced to end his skiing career.
In 2008, American skier Scott Macartney makes it almost all the way through the course. But just like his country man Chad Fleischer had done 13 years before, he loses control at the final jump and in a spectacular way flies sideways through the air and lands on his right hip, losing both skis and his helmet on impact, and his lifeless body slides on the snow through the rest of the course and crosses the finish line. Scott Macartney suffers a traumatic brain injury and has to be put into an artificial coma, but against all odds he can leave the hospital three days later without any further injuries and makes his comeback the following season in the season opener in Lake Louise.
And as mentioned, Die Streif does not discriminate. Perhaps it’s appropriate that it is that way. Death and Die Streif come to us all, regardless of social status, income, or world championship titles.
In 2009,Swiss world champion skier Daniel Albrecht is almost there. Going 140kph down the final stretch he goes airborne much like Chad Fleischer did on the final jump. His skis catch air and he is flipped backwards landing on his neck after a 60+ meter flight suffering severe traumatic brain injury and crushed lungs. Over three and a half weeks later he finally wakes up from the coma. And he’s able to make a comeback on the race course in December of 2010. However, the trauma from the crash has had it's impact and he is never again able to return to the levels of competition that he was once at. He retires from international racing in 2013.
2011, the year of the near perfect Die Streif run by Didier Cuche, was another crash orgy. Austrian Hans Grugger misses the Mausefelle jump and is smashed to the ground. The crash did not look as dramatic or as spectacular as some of the classic Kitzbuhel crashes do. It just looked like it hurt. A whole bunch. And indeed he suffered career ending head, chest, lung and rib injuries. Another one bites Die Streif dust.
And the list goes on and on, but quite frankly I’m getting quite sick from describing all of these bone-crushing crashes and career ending injuries so I think I’ll just point out two more and then stop.
In 2016, the Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal was a force to be reconned with on the race course having won multiple world championship golds and Olympic medals already in his career. Indeed, he was also among the favorites to win the Hahnenkamm race this year. As he races through the course he is neck and neck with the leader and going over the Hausbergkante he is chasing the lead by only 24 hundreds of a second. But as so many before him, as he lands he loses control for one split second. And then he enters the compression that leads toward the traverse and jolted into the air and does a dramatic spin before crashing through several layers of safety net. Needless to say, Svindal did not ski more that season having torn ligaments in both knees. Impressive enough, he did come back to win the Olympic downhill gold two years later in Peyongchang in South Korea.
We’ll feature one more crash, just cause it’s a good reminder of never taking anything for granted. In 2021 swiss skier Urs Kryenbuhel was one of the favorites to win given his strong performance in previous downhill races that season. During the race however, he is not living up to the expectations, and he’s chasing his country man, and ultimately the winner of the race, Beat Feuz by over 1.5 seconds by the time he finishes the traverse and goes in the tuck position down the final stretch. Fast snow and excellent conditions cause him to accelerate to 147 kph as he enters the Zielsprung jump. And contrary to the previous crashes we described by Americans Chad Fleischer and Scott Macartney, Urs Kryenbuhel’s skis do not catch air causing him to flip backward. Instead, he leans too far forward and takes off almost like a ski jumper, flying what must have been 50-60 meters through the air before crashing on his face, and his body eventually slides across the finish line. Although he recovered, he suffered a concussion, a fractured collarbone, and a tear in the cruciate and inner ligament in his right knee.
And I could have continued with this for several more hours it seems like, but I’m getting pretty sick at this point so I think we’ll stop for here. Wanting to do a Halloween special episode, writing about the Hahnenkamm Rennen seemed like a brilliant idea as it was about the scariest thing I could think of. Researching the story for the episode was a lot of fun up until a point, but then you start realizing the massive consequences this course has had for so many skiers, and you read about and subsequent watch one career ending crash after the other and,, eh.. I don’t know.. Safe to say, this episode had the desired Halloween effect at least on me..
Die Streif is a force to be reckoned with. Why some people dare to tempt fate and challenge her year after year is beyond me. But hats off to those who do. And for those who don’t make it, at least we can take some comfort in that they did it on their own free will..
I want to say a big thank you to Flynn for providing the super spooky intro to this episode! This being a special episode which was more about a particular race than individual ski heroes, it also broke a bit with the format that I’ve laid out for this pod cast so far. But fear not, I hope to be back with the next episode in a few weeks and then we’ll be back at it, meticulously dissecting the story of a new ski hero in the most nerdy way.
Until then, I hope you get to enjoy some fun ski time if you happen to live in an area that has already received some snow. And for those who don’t, myself included, please continue your snow dances.
As always, you can stay up to speed on the latest and greatest from Ski Heroes on the Instagram account, and I hope you’ll tune in next time!