FIS News
Kreischberg 2015 venue preview
KREISCHBERG, AUT - The first-ever combined freestyle ski and snowboard World Championships will take place from Jan 15-25, 2015 in Kreischberg, Austria.
Located in Styria, in the northeastern part of the Gurktaler Alps, Kreischberg has a long history as a venue for both freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
Being one of the earliest resorts in Europe to adopt and develop facilities for freeriding use, Kreischberg typically boasts one of the biggest and best-shaped halfpipes in Europe, an excellent terrain park, and the machines and equipment required to transform those day-to-day public slopes into the various venues required to host a event as big as the 2015 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.
The resort has a history of hosting World Cup events dating back to 1997, including its role as host for the 2003 Snowboard World Championships.
From boardercross and ski cross, to halfpipe, to big air, to aerials, and even parallel slalom, the resort has shown itself capable of putting on a show in a diverse range of disciplines - a distinction that will no-doubt be proven once again over the coming 11 days as the resort plays host to the latest incarnation of the world championships.
The venue layout at Kreischberg is about as compact as you can get, with the halfpipe, aerials, cross, slopestyle, and big air courses all funnelling into the same finish area. While snowboard parallel events will be held at nearby Lachtal, the only Kreischberg-based events that will not finish in the main area are moguls and dual moguls, with the finish area for those events located directly above the start gate for the ski and snowboard cross events.
The cross, slopestyle, big area, and aerials venues are at Kreischberg are all intertwined and designed to be modified and adjust several times over the course of the championships.
Aerials has been scheduled as the first competition of the championships so that, as soon as competition is finished, the aerials jumps can be knocked down and the venue adjusted to become the final jump of the slopestyle course. Meanwhile, the cross course, which traverses the slopestyle course at two junctures, will be modified following Friday's snowboard cross event to redesign some features to be more favourable to the ski cross athletes.
Further, the final jump from the slopestyle contest will be rebuilt and built up in order to accommodate the big air competition that closes out the snowboard portion of the championships.
It all sounds a bit complicated, and to it certain extent it is. But the preparation, cooperation, and work that has gone into coordinating the efforts of FIS Freestyle, FIS Snowboard, the Kreischberg 2015 organizing committee, and the staff and volunteers on site has been nothing short of tremendous.
With the committed talent now on the ground in Kreischberg, the transition from one world championship-worthy venue to another will be seamless.
While much of Europe languishes in another difficult snow season, Kreischberg – with it's north facing slopes and extensive snowmaking capabilities – has been able to put together the material for the network of top-level venues required of a gathering as huge as the 2015 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.
With all the pieces in place, all that's left now is to get started with competition. And, beginning on Thursday night under the lights on the aerials slope, we will do just that.
Located in Styria, in the northeastern part of the Gurktaler Alps, Kreischberg has a long history as a venue for both freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
Being one of the earliest resorts in Europe to adopt and develop facilities for freeriding use, Kreischberg typically boasts one of the biggest and best-shaped halfpipes in Europe, an excellent terrain park, and the machines and equipment required to transform those day-to-day public slopes into the various venues required to host a event as big as the 2015 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.
The resort has a history of hosting World Cup events dating back to 1997, including its role as host for the 2003 Snowboard World Championships.
From boardercross and ski cross, to halfpipe, to big air, to aerials, and even parallel slalom, the resort has shown itself capable of putting on a show in a diverse range of disciplines - a distinction that will no-doubt be proven once again over the coming 11 days as the resort plays host to the latest incarnation of the world championships.
The venue layout at Kreischberg is about as compact as you can get, with the halfpipe, aerials, cross, slopestyle, and big air courses all funnelling into the same finish area. While snowboard parallel events will be held at nearby Lachtal, the only Kreischberg-based events that will not finish in the main area are moguls and dual moguls, with the finish area for those events located directly above the start gate for the ski and snowboard cross events.
The cross, slopestyle, big area, and aerials venues are at Kreischberg are all intertwined and designed to be modified and adjust several times over the course of the championships.
Aerials has been scheduled as the first competition of the championships so that, as soon as competition is finished, the aerials jumps can be knocked down and the venue adjusted to become the final jump of the slopestyle course. Meanwhile, the cross course, which traverses the slopestyle course at two junctures, will be modified following Friday's snowboard cross event to redesign some features to be more favourable to the ski cross athletes.
Further, the final jump from the slopestyle contest will be rebuilt and built up in order to accommodate the big air competition that closes out the snowboard portion of the championships.
It all sounds a bit complicated, and to it certain extent it is. But the preparation, cooperation, and work that has gone into coordinating the efforts of FIS Freestyle, FIS Snowboard, the Kreischberg 2015 organizing committee, and the staff and volunteers on site has been nothing short of tremendous.
With the committed talent now on the ground in Kreischberg, the transition from one world championship-worthy venue to another will be seamless.
While much of Europe languishes in another difficult snow season, Kreischberg – with it's north facing slopes and extensive snowmaking capabilities – has been able to put together the material for the network of top-level venues required of a gathering as huge as the 2015 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.
With all the pieces in place, all that's left now is to get started with competition. And, beginning on Thursday night under the lights on the aerials slope, we will do just that.
Source: fis-ski.com
