Wind net for the Olympic Hill

More safety for New Year’s ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The traditional New Year’s ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the second stop of the Four Hills Tournament, will be held with wind protection for the first time this winter. On behalf of the German Ski Association (DSV), the Austrian specialist Alpina is constructing a wind net totaling 1,500 square meters along the new Olympic Hill to secure the event on January 1.

The association and organizing committee respond to the experiences from the previous year, when the competition had to be halted after a wind-delayed first round.

“The Four Hills Tournament is the absolute highlight of the Nordic ski season every year. Ensuring the event can take place is, of course, our duty. We owe that to the athletes, the fans in the stadiums, and the millions watching on television,” explains Thomas Pfüller, Secretary General of the German Ski Association.

The new Olympic Hill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen thus becomes the second stop of the Four Hills Tournament to have a wind net. For three years Innsbruck, the third tour stop, has already been jumping with a wind net. This facility also comes from the Austrian specialist Alpina.

“I’m glad that we have now found a solution together with the DSV and the market municipality; that motivates our whole team enormously,” says Michael Maurer, president of the Partenkirchen Ski Club and chairman of the organizing committees for the New Year’s ski jumping.

The new construction in Garmisch-Partenkirchen will be installed from early December between the judging tower and the hill, i.e., on the Gudiberg side. It is three-part, ten meters high each, and is supported by seven steel masts and the most modern guying systems. The new wind net is intended to protect the New Year’s ski jumping from the afternoon thermals on Gudiberg, which typically develop from around 2 p.m. This afternoon wind had troubled the jury of the FIS since the new Olympic Hill was rebuilt in 2007/08, because the hilltable of the new facility sits more than ten meters higher than that of the old hill and is therefore more wind-prone. The first test run with the new wind net will take place on December 17 and 18 at the FIS Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

For the tour colleagues from Innsbruck, installing a wind net has long been standard. “We have had absolutely good experiences and will continue to rely on this solution to secure our Bergiso jump. I’m pleased that we now equip the second Four Hills Hill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a wind net as well. It also shows how important we as organizers, but also the two ski associations from Germany and Austria, view our claim to guarantee top-level sport at the Four Hills Tournament,” says Alfons Schranz, president of the Four Hills Tournament and head of the organizing committee in Innsbruck.

At the two other hills of the Four Hills Tournament, the Große Schattenbergschanze in the Erdinger Arena in Oberstdorf and the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen, wind-net installations are not necessary. “We jump there in the evenings under floodlights, so there are fewer thermals problems; moreover the facilities are better protected from wind influence due to their location than the hills in Innsbruck and Garmisch-Partenkirchen,” says Tour organizer Stefan Huber.

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