Podkoren 3 is a black World Cup technical ski course on Vitranc mountain in

Podkoren Podkoren (, german: Wurzen) is a settlement in the Municipality of Kranjska Gora in the northwestern Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. Geography It is situated in the Upper Sava Valley. The Zelenci nature reserve, at the source of the Sava River ...

, Kranjska Gora,

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, opened in 1983. It was constructed by Peter Lakota, a successful Slovenian skier. It has been hosting

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

and

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

for Vitranc Cup (Pokal Vitranc) since then. It replaced previous slopes; Bukovniški smuk (1961–70) and old gas station slope (1971–83). With 59% incline at start of giant slalom, it is the ski slope with the steepest part in Slovenia. It is located close to Planica and

Rateče Rateče (; it, Racchia, german: Ratschach) is a village in the Municipality of Kranjska Gora, in the far northwest corner of Slovenia. It is located in the upper part of the Upper Sava Valley, between the Sava Dolinka and Ziljica rivers, a tri ...

(near the Italian and Austrian borders). This slope is considered one of top three hardest giant slaloms in the world, together with

Alta Badia Alta Badia is a ski resort in the Dolomites of northern Italy, in the upper part of the Val Badia (german: Hochabtei) in South Tyrol. It is part of the Dolomiti Superski ski area. It is included in the territories of the municipalities of Corvar ...

(ITA) and Adelboden (SUI). The slope is part of "Podkoren I" section, one of four, right in the middle of

Kranjska Gora Ski Resort Kranjska Gora Ski Resort is Slovenia's oldest ski resort at Kranjska Gora, Upper Carniola, opened in 1948. It is divided into five different sections under the Vitranc Mountain, streched throughout the whole valley of the Kranjska Gora Municipalit ...

History

On December

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, this course was officially opened with women's and men's slalom (20,000 people), replacing the old previous course above the nearby gas station. In

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, total of 40,000 people has gathered in two days. 30,000 alone at slalom where

Rok Petrovič Rok Petrovič (5 February 1966 – 16 September 1993) was a Yugoslav and Slovenian alpine skier. Petrovič was born in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, the son of Zdenka Steiner and Krešimir Petrović, a well known sports psychologist of Croatian o ...

won in front home crowd, one of the most iconic and most visited and events in Kranjska Gora. In

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, total of 20,000 people have seen another home win for the second year in a row, with Bojan Križaj and

being first and second in SL. They were at the peak of their fame and absolute national heroes, icons, with alpine skiing, especially slalom as the far most popular sport in the country in the eighties. Swiss

Joël Gaspoz Joël Gaspoz (born 25 September 1962) is a Swiss former alpine skier. Career He competed in the slalom and giant slalom at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympics with the best result of seventh place in the giant slalom in 1980. He came close to winn ...

won the giant slalom a day before for the third year in Kranjska Gora a row.

World Cup

Men

Vitranc Cup held since 2 December 1983 on this course which hosted total of 77 World Cup events for men ( 6th of all-time).

Women

On 1 December 1983, official opening with first ever event on this course held and the only "Vitranc Cup" event in women's history. The 60th edition (2024) of Golden Fox will be first time originally scheduled (and not replaced as usual) in Kranjska Gora.

Club5+

In 1986, elite Club5 was originally founded by prestigious classic downhill organizers:

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...

, Wengen, Garmisch,

Val d’Isère Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Sov ...

and Val Gardena/Gröden, with goal to bring alpine ski sport on the highest levels possible. Later over the years other classic longterm organizers joined the now named Club5+:

Cortina Cortina may refer to: Things * Cortina (tango), a short piece of music played during a tango dance event * Ford Cortina, a medium-sized family car built by Ford of Britain from 1962 to 1982 **Lotus Cortina, a 1963–1968 performance variant on the ...

, Kranjska Gora,

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, Lake Louise, Schladming, Adelboden, Kvitfjell,

St.Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality i ...

and Åre.

References

External links

Vitranc Cup
(official) {{Ski World Cup pistes Alpine skiing in Slovenia Skiing in Slovenia