Peter Riedel GmbH starts into the new World Cup season

After the successful World Cup opener for ski jumpers last weekend in Wisla (POL), from Thursday at the big Nordic Opening in Ruka (FIN) the cross-country skiers and Nordic combined athletes are also entering the Olympic season. The weekend in Ruka is traditionally also the start for Peter Riedel and his team into a long winter season. We spoke with managing director Peter Riedel.

As the saying goes, winter sports athletes are made in summer. How about the start tracks on the world’s ski jumps?

After winter is before winter, a cliché but also true for our ski jumps. After the season end we basically have little time to relax and go straight into preparations again. This year maintenance work was planned for 12 hills worldwide. Twice a year—in spring and autumn—a complete check-up is carried out. In March, we also began rebuilding the hill in Granåsen, Trondheim. After ten years a new rail system and a completely new milling technology were installed. The latter sets new standards for ice processing, and with this upgrade we can continue to guarantee a high-quality and fast preparation of the take-off in Trondheim.

This summer you also upgraded the Bergisel hill in Innsbruck. How is the track performing?

First of all, I must say it was a dream for me because the Bergisel hill is one of my personal favorite hills. We had perfect working conditions in fantastic weather, but again noticed that every hill has its own peculiarities. We raised the almost 100 m long approach track by 39 cm and evened out irregularities in the approach of up to 11 cm. In addition, we had to lay a new pressure water line outside of plan because what arrived at the top of the approach would not have been enough to meet our quality standard. The response after the first jumps by the Austrian ski stars was absolutely positive, and that is enormously important for me and my team. With the new approach system Innsbruck has created the best conditions for fair competition in the International Ski Federation’s Four Hills Tournament and for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2019 in Tirol.

In the Olympic season the World Cup will jump at 13 hills, which are equipped with a track from the Riedel house. On how many events do you and your team also take over the competition support?

We will be on site at at least ten World Cup weekends and will provide the complete service for hill preparation. Per hill we are six staff members, five days each. If you add the maintenance work already mentioned, we easily reach 100 travel days per year. And new projects are not yet included.

Speaking of new projects. Is the installation work at Holmenkollen going according to plan?

Yes, definitely. We’re lucky with the weather again. Apart from the short snowstorm last week when we were surprised by snow for a day, our work has been blessed with sun and a dream view of the Oslofjord. Of course Holmenkollen also has its little quirks and in reality does not always correspond to the drafted construction plans, but we’re used to that. We will probably complete the installation of the track elements by mid-week and start installing the cooling lines. In any case, we will complete our work on schedule and are already looking forward to the big ski festival in March 2018 at Holmenkollen.