Rettenbach is a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

giant slalom ski course in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Rettenbach glacier The Rettenbach glacier (german: ''Rettenbachferner'' or. ''Rettenbachgletscher'') is a glacier in Europe, located near Sölden in the Ötztal Alps of Tyrol, Austria. During the winter, the glacier is accessible by cable car and from spring time ...

above

Sölden Sölden is a municipality in the Ötztal valley of Tyrol, Austria. Geography At c. , it is the largest municipality in the country. The population of 3,449 (as of 2003) is outnumbered by tourists, of which 15,000 can be accommodated. With tou ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. Located on

Wildspitze Wildspitze () is the highest mountain in the Ötztal Alps and in North Tyrol, as well as the second highest mountain in Austria after the Großglockner and in terms of prominence (2261 m) is the fourth summit of the Alps and the fifteenth of Euro ...

mountain in the

Ötztal Alps The Ötztal Alps ( it, Alpi Venoste, german: Ötztaler Alpen) are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the State of Tyrol in western Austria and the Province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The Ötztal Alps are arrayed at ...

, the race course debuted in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. This course hosted total of 21 World Cup events for men ( 19th of all-time) and total 24 World Cup events for women ( 19th of all-time).

World Cup

Since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, it is the traditional opener for the World Cup season, with a

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 both genders in late October; previously, it had alternated with

Tignes Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good tr ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, from

on. The women's race in October

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

was one of only two triple wins in World Cup history, as

Andrine Flemmen Andrine Flemmen (born 29 December 1974 in Molde) is a retired Norwegian alpine skier. Her favourite discipline was giant slalom. In this discipline she won three World Cup races. Her career highlight was a silver medal at the WC 1999 in Vail, ...

(NOR),

Nicole Hosp Nicole Hosp (; born 6 November 1983) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. She competed in all five disciplines and was a world champion, three-time Olympic medalist, and an overall World Cup champion. Career Born in Ehenbichl, ...

(AUT), and

Tina Maze Tina Maze (; born 2 May 1983) is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. Career Maze is the most successful Slovenian ski racer in history with a career that culminated with two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was awarded t ...

(SLO) shared first place. The races start at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above the Adriatic (

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

) and finish at , yielding a vertical drop of . This slope is widely regarded as the most difficult giant slalom on the women's circuit, with a maximum

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

of 68.2 percent (34.3 degrees) at "Eisfall".

Course sections

* "Rettenbachjoch" * "Gletschertisch" (Glacier table) * "Gletscherkante" (Glacier abreuvoir) * "Eisfall" (Icefall) – the steepest part (68.2%) * "Gletscherzunge" (Glacier tongue) * "Elefantentränke" (Elephant potions)

Men's giant slalom

Women's giant slalom

Fatal accidents

On January 5, 2015, two prospects of the

United States Ski Team The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and a ...

, Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle, were killed by an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

they triggered near Rettenbach glacier. On 17 November 2015, Slovenian ex skier

Drago Grubelnik Drago Grubelnik (15 January 1976 – 17 November 2015) was Slovenian alpine skier and coach. Born in Radlje ob Dravi, Grubelnik made the podium in one event on the Alpine Skiing World Cup, a third place in slalom in Wengen, Switzerland (January 2 ...

died in a car accident on the seventh curve (elevation ) on the road descending to Sölden, not far below the World Cup finish area.

References

External links

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
– Soelden, Austria
Ski-db.com
- Soelden men's races {{Ski World Cup pistes Glaciers of Austria Glaciers of the Alps Ski areas in Austria