WENGEN, Switzerland—Günter Hujara and Andreas “Andy” Fischer zig zag across the famed Lauberhorn course here in the Bernese Alps. It's 7:30 a.m. and the sun is just rising over the famous mountaineering peak—The Eiger. They left the hotel at 6:55 for the 7:05 train. It takes 30 minutes for the train to reach the Wengernalp stop, just below the massive shadow of the 3,970-meter (13,025 foot) Swiss peak.
Hujara, the FIS Race Director for 21 years, and Fischer, a 20-year FIS Technical Delegate—banter like brothers but are serious when safety of athletes are at stake. They ski fast—down the 4.5 km (2.76 mile) course—zig zagging from net to net looking for issues involving safety installations. With all of their experience, they can complete the jury inspection in 20 minutes. As they ski, they talk to each other, team coaches, and course workers as they move, pointing out issues and offering solutions. They are the keepers of safety. They stop occasionally if there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Overnight, course workers had left a pile of poles in between the A and B nets. Hujara spotted it from across the course, B-lined to the pile, then radioed his team to remove it immediately. The course crew was already beginning the task by the time Hujara got off the radio.
Those poles hadn't been there the day before, a reason the jury inspects prior to every race. “It's never the same situation,” Hujara says. “It always changes. “Something always happens or there is something new—like the conditions changing.”
Hujara says he has inspected about 1,500 high-level alpine race courses, which is why he knows how to inspect a course fast and efficiently. He has those course hot spots dialed in his head—those places known to be dangerous like the Lauberhorn's Kernen-S (Brüggli-S) section. It's a narrow road on the top third of the course meant to slow the racers down.
On Tuesday, the jury met after inspection and the coaches asked Hujara to move the Kernen-S air fences back so the turn could be wider—allowing the athletes mores speed. Hujara said, no way.
“An opening of the section means that the athletes immediately realize this and use that part where we want to slow them down for an acceleration,” he says. “This is in their mind, they are trained for that.”
Athletes will adapt and go faster and faster if given the chance, and it's Hujara's job to keep the course safe, first and foremost.
“A small pilot error with the wrong line or action will cause a lot of time loss in the [Brüggli-S],” he adds. “They know that. They hate this section. On race day, they know 'either I win through this section or I will lose.' For us, we have to focus on safety and operation and how we can offer them the best situation there.”
Air fences (state-of-the-art fences inflated with air) have been installed in that section, which also presents a problem. “Every safety installation is an obstacle in itself,” Hujara says. “At the end where we expect them to come out of the turn, the surface of the entrance has a harder pad on it so you can lean against it and come back to the slope. They know it, they do it. They go for it, they touch it and go.”
He says the officials and crew always struggle with how much room to give the racers, as once they have it, they change their line to go faster, which can also be more dangerous.
“There are so many locations or spots on a downhill course where you always have to consider the angle—how they approach a net,” Hujara says. Will the racers impact a fence head on—take a “frontal” impact as Hujara says—or slide into it? According to Hujara, it's the difference between life and death and just a limb injury.
Along with safety concerns, he also has to deal with how snow conditions impact safety. The Lauberhorn is 4 kilometers long with a 1,028 meter elevation change. Its average steepness is 14.2 degrees, with the steepest pitch being 35 degrees. It's the most enduring, grueling downhill on the tour.
“With a racetrack of this length, there is a lot, a lot to do,” he says. “From the morning inspection, temperatures will change. Conditions may change completely from during inspection to the start of the race. All of this must be considered. You could also say there are different climate zones. Conditions will never be the same ever. It's an outdoor sport. Everyone has to accept these conditions. These are our terms of condition and we have to work with it, adapt to it, and we have to our best with it.”
With that, Hujara and Fischer get the call that athlete representative Christof Innerhofer had discussed with the athletes that the course was good and the downhill training run should commence. With radio in tow, he goes to work juggling the many variables of the living and breathing race course.
The downhill race is scheduled today (Saturday) at 12:30 p.m. local time.
By Vanessa Pierce
Click here to view a video of jury inspection on the Lauberhorn
