HISTORY OF SKI SPORT AND SKI RACES IN VAL GARDENA

1900–1930 /1908 first ski race in the Dolomites Skiing as sports activity in the Val Gardena is dating back to the end of the 19th century and in 1908 the first Ski Club was founded who became a charter member of the Tyrolean Ski Association. Its name was the Dolomiten Alpen Ski Club Ladinia, soon followed by the Ski Club Sella. Also in 1908 the first documented ski race is being held from the Grödner Joch/Gardena Pass down to Plan, a tiny village nestled at the end of the Valley. More races were following, not only in the Valley but all around the Dolomite Mountains. 1930–1939 In the thirties, races became more professional: In 1932, the Italian Ski Federation nominates the first ski instructors in the valley and the first lifts are being built: A cable car from Ortisei to the Alpe di Siusi in 1935, and two years later two different sledge cable cars of 20 persons each in Selva, one on the Ciampinoi, one on the Costabella. Also in 1937, the national ski school of Val Gardena is founded and the National Ski Championships are being held in the valley. In 1939, everything is being stopped by the eruption of World War II and after 1945 development would be slow due to the huge social and economic difficulties. 1945-1960 In 1948, race activity is being resumed and again National Ski Championships are being organised. Participants were also Zeno Colo, Rolando Zanni, Vittorio Chierroni, Hermann Nogler, Celina Seghi, and other champions who would become famous in the years to come. In the fifties, the economy is improving and so is the interest for tourism and winter sports. Scofone, immigrated into the valley, and Engelbert Senoner of St.Ulrich/Ortisei are again organizing international races and the idea of an Alpine Combine is born, the Coppa dei tre Comuni Ladini. in 1959, this race is classified as FIS B and it is with this award that the Gardena valley takes the road which 11 years later will bring her to the historical World Ski Championships. 1960–1961 In 1960 Tschucky Kerschbaumer, a keen and active sportsman was elected president of the Ski Club Gardena. His immediate aim was to organize high class international competitions such as the Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm and the Wengen Lauberhorn races. Young people from the valley were sent to these places in order to study how to efficiently and professionally run such events. Meanwhile, Edmund Dellago, Ski Club secretary, placed the candidacy of Val Gardena to organize two international events with the Italian Ski Federation, a downhill race on the Ciampinoi 3 and a slalom on the Ronce slope of Ortisei. 1961-1962 For the following year no men’s race were allotted to the Gardena Valley due to the rotation system BY FISI so a ladies’ FIS A race was organized on the Ciampinoi 4 and a slalom at S.Cristina. 1962-1963 No FIS A races for that winter, but the Valley’s enthousiasm is increasing and two FIS B races are held, one at Selva with Felix Denicolò as a winner and the other one on the Seceda mountain won by Carlo Senoner. A new local racers’ generation is surfacing: Gerhard Mussner, Ivo Mahlknecht, Giustina Demetz, and others, and a new idea by Erich Demetz is born – the organization of a World Ski Campionship in Val Gardena. in 1963, Erich Demetz is becoming president of the Ski Club Gardena. As he remembers, at the general assembly in October 22, 20 out of 22 people present had less then 20 years. These boys made their dream come true. 1964-1965 – Invention of FIS Ski World Cup by Serge Lang In 1965 the last FIS A race is being held, as in 1966 the Fis World Cup is being invented by Serge Lang. A very important event. Not only for the Gardena valley, but in general, as for the first time an Italian ski event is being televised by Eurovision. There is so much enthousiasm that the idea of a World Ski Championship is taking more and more shape. But Fabio Conci, president of the Italian Ski Federation, is skeptical about logistics, finances, and the naivité of these youngsters from the valley. These, however, are insisting and already during the FIS Congress of Mamaia in 1965 Tschucky Kerschbaumer and Erich Demetz are distributing candidature pamphlets during parties organized by world renown candidates like Kitzbühel, Davos, and Jackson Hole. 1966-1967 No race is being organized in 1966 and in the following year a delegation from the valley is bidding for the championships at the Beyrouth FIS Congress. The organization is perfect and "congress participants are surprised by the perfect candidature organization run by Demetz, Kerschbaumer, Sanoner, Dellago" (Sciare, June 1967). Nothing is left to chance and after the second votation the FIS president Marc Hodler announces Val Gardena as winner with 39 votes.. 1968-1969 In 1968, pre-championships are being held and in 1969 the first men’s and women’s downhill races are run on the newly built Saslong and Cir slopes. And there is a first rough time for the new Saslong slope: Karl Schranz refuses to start, pretending that the slope is "too easy". Infact, prior to the construction of this new slope, downhill racing was extremely difficulty and risky. Gates were being placed as few as possible and the racer put his life at risk on a slope which almost wasn’t marked. Typically, the winner was whoever found the shortest and most direct line. Gerhard Mussner, one of the local racers, remembers that once he had put a piece of wood in the snow so he would remember where to curve. Then he removed it so that his adversaries couldn’t "steal his personal line". The design of the Saslong slope was the result of a new philosophy of the FIS: No more horror-downhills, no more holes and mogus, no more dangerous rocks and extreme jumps (where Karl Schranz was undoubtly the best), but more safety in order that the race be won thanks to technique and not to the extreme risk. As a matter of fact, in the same Summer, the most extreme points of the "Lauberhorn", the "Hahnenkamm", and the "Tofane" would be shaven due to FIS instructions. The difference of the new Saslong slope towards the other "old" slopes is evidenced by its average speed of 111,600 km/h compared to 90,720 km/h for Kitzbühel, 84,240 km/h for Wengen, and 90,360 km/h for Cortina. World Ski Championships 1970 The 1970 World Championships have been an important mile stone not only for the history of Val Gardena - Gröden but also for the evolution of the organization of big sports events. They have been a work bench for new technologies, for experimenting new advertising means, but foremost for making this jewel of a Dolomite valley known all the world over. The Seventies The Post-Championships The 1970 World Ski Championships achieved a strong impact on the development of the Gardena/Gröden Valley. In the years right after the Championships, the (money and non) aristocracy of Europe (e.g. Sachs, Flick)flocked into the valley by helicopter. However, we were fully unprepared to be up to this elite level, as by the end of the sixties most of the hotels of Selva/Wolkenstein, due to refurbishing, were short of money and unable to offer top treatment. However, it took only a couple of years until they were able to double their room capacities. The 1970 had been financed, directly and indirectly, by the Italian Government, by the Trentino/South Tyrol region, and by the local South Tyrolean provincial government with a total of about 9.000 million liras and the local authorities of the valley hadn’t to come up but with 0,5% of the total expenditure. The 1975 Finals After the successful but tiresome organization of the Championships, it wasn’t that easy to begin from scratch again, until Erich Demetz, by founding a "Coordinatin Committee Gardena/Gröden) proposed to the FIS to organize a World Cup event which as of 1972 has become part of the yearly world cup circuit. The 1975 Finals became a historical event, when the three leading competitors Franz Klammer (21 years), Ingemar Stenmark (19 years), and Gustav Thöni (24 years) had to run the final event, a parallel slalom at Ortisei/St.Ulrich, all three of them with an equal amount of world cup points (240). Klammer was ousted right at the beginning by Helmut Schmalzl (at present FIS race director). The final race was run between Thöni and Stenmark. When they were ready for the start, 40.000 spectators held on their breath and when departed, a roar filled the valley. They did the run almost parallel until the third last gate when Thöni succeeded in beating Stenmark, to the delight of the public. These Finals also proved to be historic for the innovation of having for the first time a sponsor: Parmalat had bought sponsor rights for 25 million liras, thus opening new horizons for alpine ski race sponsoring. 1975-1980 With Thöni’s victory, the "blu avalanche" of Italy showed a steady decline and also showed the end of technical events in the valley, where mainly downhill talents were promoted. There was, though, and italian victory 1977 with Herbert Plank, but it took twenty years to see another italian racer on the podium (Ghedina 1996, 1998, 1999) while Peter Müller also ahd three firsts (1979, 1980, 1988) and only "emperor" Franz Klammer succeeded four times (1975, 1976, 1976, 1982). "Lost times" A strange thing happened in 1978 when after competitor No. 9 (Sepp Walcher) the time taking equipment went out of order. The event was repeated and won by Erik Haker (NOR) who already in the first run was first when interrupted. Second was Peter Müller who in the following year would win the Saslong downhill. The Eighties The big jump Uli Spiess’s (AUT) long jump over the Camel Hunches on December 15, 1980 was considered sensational. With a speed of 100 km/h this athlete made a 70 m jump right over the last two hunches, "flying" 10 m high. (For more details, click here). Lots of competitors tried to copy him and ran into bad accidents, like Peter Müller (SUI), Anton Jimmy Steiner (AUT), "Much" Mayr (ITA), and Giorgio Piantanida (ITA). As a consequence, the OC, backed by FIS, decided to to shorten the jump to 50-60 m "only". The great Marc Girardelli, however, was never tempted to try the jump and created his own line which to this very day is called the "Girardelli line". (more over the jump) Club 5 In 1987, the Saslong race was the second event (after Val d’Isère) to open the circuit of the 5 "classic" downhills, i.e. "Big 5", after Rich Demetz’s and Herwig Grosch’s (Kitzbühel OC) idea. Their intention was to put these five races on Europe’s most famous slopes (Daille – Val d’Isère, Saslong – Gardena/Gröden, Lauberhorn – Wengen, Streif – Kituzbühel, and Kreuzeck -- Garmisch-Partenkirchen to top level world wide. After a FIS intervention, the name "Big 5" was modified into "Club 5"). For more information of Club5+ click here. The Nineties When in 1993 a genuine outsider, Markus Foser (LIE) had won the downhill, the starting time was definitely delayed to 12.45 when virutally identic light conditions would be available for all the competitors. The most outstanding fact of the past ten years was certainly the technical and the technological development: Competitors improved their performances, manufacturers their hard-ware and the organizers the slopes. A direct consequences of these improvements was the necessity to "defuse" some of the fastest and most insidious parts of the slope by slightly changing the line, by enlarging the "walls" and the entering of the "Ciaslat". By doing this, the track has been brought back to its natural morphology, increasing the technical demands of this classical course. Thanks to these achievements, the Saslong has remained one of the few courses world wide where the running time has stayed above the two minutes. The Future The Saslong Cable Car Company wants to complete its plans of enlarging the slope, including the finish schuss. Once completed, together with the new electronically-deviced snow making equipment and the completed finish building inaugurated in 1998, the Saslong will be one of the most complete and reliable courses of the entire World Cup Circuit. 40th anniversary of the Ski World Cup In 2005 the International Ski Federation FIS celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Alpine Ski World Cup. Alto Adige/Südtirol was the centre of attention as it played host to this important celebration. The World Cup winners of all times were invited to Val Gardena and Alta Badia for the "Champions Celebration", which took place during the world cup competitions (Super G, Descent, Giant Slalom) on the 16th, 17th and 18th of December 2005.