Behind the scenes: The start track at Bergisel is being made competition-ready

Today Thursday early the ice approach track at Bergisel in Innsbruck was prepared for the Four Hills Tournament to be jump-ready. Founder Peter Riedel gives an insight into what it takes to prep the approach track for competition and which steps are necessary.

“We are usually the first at the hill. Today, for example, we started preparations at 8:00 this morning. Two of us are removing the covering sheet which protect the track from precipitation and other external influences. The track is put into a ice block milled, that is 7.5 cm thick and 13.5 cm wide and here at the Bergisel has a length of 105 meters. The base for the ice block is created by applying a snow-ice mixturethat is applied into the track and kept cold by the cooling system at a constant -12 degrees is held. This causes a block of ice to freeze into which Track the international ski federation (FIS, ed.) states that for a World Cup the spur depth minimum 3 cm must be met. After that we also set up our milling machine; it is milled as often as necessary until we reach the required 3 cm spur depth. In both spur channels, each is milled five grooves that run lengthwise along the track. The grooves are 1 cm deep and their purpose is to drain rain in wet conditions or to collect snow in snowy conditions and to prevent dust formation. This is particularly important to ensure all athletes the the same starting conditions to ensure. After milling the track is cleaned and the excess ice that was milled away is swept away with a broom. Afterwards the track is ready for jumping. The entire procedure from covering to the jump-ready track takes about one hour, according to the founder Peter Riedel

With Garmisch, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen three tour locations are equipped with the Mastertrack ice-start track from the Peter Riedel company. Since 2007 the Riedel ice track has been in operation in Garmisch; Innsbruck and Bischofshofen followed in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Peter Riedel GmbH ensures, at these venues, in addition to groove construction, also as a service provider in the groove service area, a smooth operation during the tour.