The descent from the Matterhorn? The doubts of the athletes, from Paris to Feuz: "Weather conditions too risky"

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Work continues between Italy and Switzerland for the project of the first trans-national descent in the World Cup, but precisely the two axes of world speed cast doubts on the feasibility. The "Blick" investigation.

Friday 13 August 2021 4 minutes reading time

It is an ambitious project to say the least, which has already received a series of important approvals, in terms of economic guarantees from the bodies involved and technical feasibility, from the FIS and the experts involved. FISI and Swiss-Ski continue together in the desire to create a legendary descent, to be included in the World Cup calendar in a couple of years (in November 2023, after the first FIS races to be played in the 2022/23 season), for an extraordinary “Speed Opening” on the Matterhorn. It would be the longest race in the world, even more than the 4300 meters of the Lauberhorn in Wengen, and the first trans-national descent in history, starting from the 3899 meters of the Gobba Rollin, south of the Piccolo Cervino in Switzerland, to finish at an altitude of 2814 Cime Bianche lakes, on Italian snow. The Olympian Didier Défago is working on the construction of the track, but doubts are not lacking on the part of the athletes themselves, consulted by colleague of the “Blick”, Marcel W. Perren. The situation is analyzed in the Swiss newspaper and the opinions of the two axes of world speed in recent years are proposed, namely Dominik Paris and Beat Feuz. "Domme" warns: "We continue to talk about how to make our sport safer, but I don't think that starting a descent at an altitude of 4000 meters at the beginning of a World Cup winter, with a race duration of two minutes and half, go in this direction ”, underlined the jet from Val d''Ultimo, referring to the enormous physical fatigue to which they would be subjected. Feuz emphasizes in particular a risk in terms of weather: “I think it is very difficult to find a day with the right conditions, as we find ourselves in November at an altitude of 4000 meters. Even in good weather, the wind would play a fundamental role and it must be a regular race ”. For another Swiss downhill skier, Urs Kryenbuehl, “already when we train on the glacier in Zermatt, due to the altitude, we are out of breath after just one minute of testing. It is difficult for me to imagine how we could do it over a much longer distance under these conditions ”. Finally Felix Neureuther, a great ex who openly takes sides against the super descent of the Matterhorn. "We have to make skiing sustainable, I simply think that building such a long descent does not lead us towards the future".

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