The historical city of Maribor, is home to Slovenia's largest ski resort - Mariborsko Pohorje, noted as being one of the first areas for Alpine Skiing in Slovenia, it has been hosting the Alpine World Cup event for almost forty years with fifty five races to date, and was named as an Alpine city in 2000.

Maribor is renowned for it's exquisite scenery and  fantastic slopes, boasting 60kms of sparkling pistes, with the longest night skiing trail in Europe. Accommodation at the resort comprises of 1,300 beds, most of which are in hotels. The resort features an array of non-ski activities including an ice skating rink, indoor swimming, horseback riding and curling. Along with a range  of entertainment facilities which consist of a cinema, theatre, casino and various bars and nightclubs.

One of the longest standing events and greatest sports events is the formidably watched Golden Fox competition which makes up the World Cup event. A event which was established by the president of the ski club Smucarski klub Branik Dušan Sencar, in 1964, whom had set out to the Olympic Games in Innsbruck persuading the best women Alpine skiers to compete at Maribor after the games, and in doing so, formed the first Golden Fox contest in 1964.

The competition was held on what was deemed a difficult course, but has taken shape to become the world's lowest starting and finishing post among World Cup competitions, as well as the most visited Ski World Cup contest, with no less than a thousand spectators and a record of up to two thousand visitors. Local heroes who have claimed their first ever World Cup victories here, include  Mateja Svet, Natasa Bokal and Urska Hrovat. The Golden Fox has only ever been cancelled on two occasions since it's running once in 1998 and in 2007.

Though the Pohorje piste is not incredibly steep, the conditions however are often very demanding. Some of the contenders at the Women's 2008 slalom World Cup contest found it difficult to clearly see the course due to the poor weather conditions. Even so the Austrians and Slovenians have dominated the top spot for the past three years and this year was the same with the Austrian  Nicole Hosp managing to claim her first victory in Maribor, making it her second win of the season.