Kitzbuehel highlights danger after fatal season begins

KITZBUEHEL, Austria: The hosting of Kitzbuehel’s famed, white-knuckled downhill on Saturday will be particularly poignant after two deaths this season, but a top official stressed that the high-octane sport will never be without danger and racers must handle their own risk management.

The start of the ski year was marred by the death on North American slopes of France’s David Poisson and German teenager Max Burkhart.Now eyes will turn to the Streif piste in the glitzy Tyrolean resort, widely considered the most testing on the World Cup circuit.

The Hahnenkamm mountain has a history, having been the scene of many a gruesome crash.Sliding bodies, flailing skis and helicopter evacuations have become a regular feature.In recent times, Switzerland’s Daniel Albrecht and Austrian Hans Grugger had crashes which brought premature ends to their careers. And crashes are not picky: in-form favourites to back-of-the-pack no-hopers have all come a cropper.

“There is nothing bigger in the ski world than racing on the Streif,” argues American Daron Rahlves, winner in 2003.But Bernhard Russi, the designer of Olympic downhill courses for the International Ski Federation since 1980, having previously won a gold and silver in the Olympic downhills for Switzerland in 1972 and 1976, warned that complete safety could never be guaranteed.

“In skiing, and downhill in particular, there is a permanent risk. We all put on a helmet when we go skiing. That means that we take a risk,” Russi told AFP. “A ski racer’s risk management is the same as a Formula One driver’s. If the latter goes full tilt into a chicane and he crashes, he cannot complain, it’s his fault.

“If a ski racer doesn’t open up his body before a jump (to slow himself down) it’s not the jump’s fault but his alone.”Russi added: “Kitzbuehel is a massive challenge.“At the end of the day, it’s a choice to take the risk or not. We’ll never be in a situation of ‘there’s no more danger’.”

By anyone’s standards, the Streif is testing.“From a course perspective, the Streif will always be the Streif,” said chief of piste Herbert Hauser.“We always incorporate a few improvements and innovations with regards to safety and technical facilities.”

Dressed only in a skin-tight catsuit, back support and helmet, begoggled racers must negotiate course falls, snakes and rolls, throwing up a wide variety of terrain, in parts propelling racers 60 metres in the air, only to quickly re-align for icy traverses that severely test technical ability and mastery of well-honed equipment.

The thrill of seeing racers pushing themselves to the absolute limit down the 3.3km-long course is not lost on crowds of more than 50,000 packed into Kitzbuehel to watch what is dubbed the sport’s own “Superbowl”.

Man and material are tested to the max as racers fight not only creeping exhaustion but also a 3.5G centrifugal force to change direction into the final descent.The gasps of a shocked crowd following a crash are quickly replaced by a raucous, gladitorial roar for more: the attraction of the ultimate alpine skiing speed event remains its inherent danger.