Telemarking and snowboarding in Kitzbühel The Hahnenkamm race Skiing the neighboughring resort General info about Kitzbühel Videos of Kitzbühel

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The next day, we watched the race itself. As previously mentioned, i was impressed by the atmosphere and the amount of drunk people that early in the morning. By 11h00 though the race was over, Herman had not won, but an Austrian had and the crowd was therefore just as cheerful and we took advantage of most people drinking to go and head for the main Kitzbühel area. The crowds were non existant, but the weather was not so nice, overcast with a flake every 10 minutes, not enough to bring some freshies. We went up to the summit of the Hahnenkamm, the lift where the race starts from, headed to the starting hut to look at the view the racers have, and this is when i beleived the rumors that these guys accelerate faster than a Porsche...Steep, icy, the do water the run down at night..., and a nice turn just when you have about your maximal speed. No wonder most racers choose yellow coloured suits.......

From there we headed to the summit of the Herenbachhöhe and tried going on the trails towards Kirchberg. These were a bit of a disapointment as the trails are quite flat, especially towards the bottom and the in between trails area was covered with some decent snow, but not enough to cover the rocks and grass. Back up the lift, we headed towards the Steinbergkogel, which seemed more promising and as attractive as the areas from the previous day. From this summit, the trails and off piste is very promising, steep, wide open, some attractive gullies and tree bashing, easily accessible, but it had all been tracked out and we didn't get much good snow. See the videos shot in this area.

This area would be really interesting, if not better than the areas we had skied the day before, after a nice dump though. So in the end we rode and telemarked some normal snow all the rest of the day, and when the lifts were about to stop, we took one last one up to the summit of the Hahnenkamm, to stop for a beer and some more...The beauty of skiing in Austria is that even after the lifts have closed, the bars remain open on the summits and you can enjoy quite a few beers before going back down at twilight (or night when you have had more than a few...). We skied back down the 800m vertical a bit tipsily and got back to the bottom just in time for the medals ceremony. Big outside party right at the base of the hill where the racers were arriving earlier. After this was over, about 200 feet from there, soem dancers and musicians were warming up for the concerts and mega party to come. We decided to go home, get ready and head back there as soon as possible to enjoy the festivities.