The final of the Four Hills Tournament is traditionally scheduled to take place in Bischofshofen on January 6th. An avalanche severely damaged the ski jump. The boss of the ski club is still optimistic on Tuesday.
It is a picture of the destruction at the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen. Due to the rain of the past few days, an avalanche broke out and severely damaged the upper area of the jump slope. The nets that were supposed to stop the snow were too weak, explains Thomas Wallner from the Bischofshofen Ski Club in an interview with the Austrian TV station ORF.
Repair is difficult
The tension straps that secured the nets to the concrete on the ski jump tore off. The repair, which has been underway since Monday, is proving difficult. “The problem is that the straps are mounted under the mat,” explains Wallner. You could do something like that very well in the summer, but now the difficulty is that “it’s completely iced over” and therefore “not ideal for working with.” Mountain rescue was also in action, reports ski club president Manfred Schützenhofer in an interview with Sportschau.
Workers attached to ropes repair the slope of the damaged ski jump.
“You have to strap the workers in, so that’s very laborious,” says Schützenhofer, outlining the work. According to the president, the affected part of the jump has a gradient of 76 percent. The snow in the ski jump exit also has to be removed with excavators and the boards have to be replaced. The snow in the run-out of the ski jump is “like concrete,” explains Schützenhofer. “It is now being pushed out and we are now putting new snow on the take-off hill.” Schützenhofer announced that this should happen on Tuesday.
Excavators are used to remove the snow from the outlet of the ski jump.
Help from Klingenthal and Innsbruck
Help came from the World Cup locations of Klingenthal and Innsbruck. Three new safety nets were brought from Klingenthal in one transport, said Schützenhofer. The third tour stop, Innsbruck, provided ropes for attaching the snow nets. The President is correspondingly confident about the final of the Four Hills Tournament, which traditionally takes place on Epiphany.
Four Hills Tournament not in danger
“Everything is possible in terms of time”. Although one can never rule out another avalanche, it is “rather unlikely on a prepared slope because the load distribution is completely different.” The ski jump must be operational again by January 5th at the latest. Then the qualification for the last competition of the tour takes place. However, the organizers are confident that this deadline can be met.