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Luis on Ski Jumping Hill Tournament: Berchtesgaden
on 2013-05-19
Now it has finally arrived, the first episode of the second season of our column „Luis on Ski Jumping Hill Tournament“! Destination is Berchtesgaden with Kälbersteinschanzen.
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Luis on Ski Jumping Hill TournamentBy Ski Jumping Hill Archive author and photographer Luis Holuch |
This is the first episode of the second season of Luis Holuch’s column „Luis on Ski Jumping Hill Tournament“. Except from the title, everything is almost the same. But of course, the destinations of the Ski Jumping Hill Archive-author and –photographer are different. Enjoy reading the article about the hills in Berchtesgaden in Upper Bavaria and give us some feedback!!
Berchtesgaden: Kälbersteinschanzen (K90, K62, K27.5, K18)
Top summer 2012: My (officially) last summer holidays as college student start. One last time 6 weeks in a row no school and I have the will to be active during that time to achieve some power for the last grade of school. Our destination this year is Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. I have never been in this part of Germany, just crossed it while travelling to Adria cost in Italy. So, two weeks Berchtesgaden now – like we thought.
But as we arrived at the town border of Berchtesgaden, there were still 10 kilometres on our GPS. After driving these 10 km, we notice that we neither live in Berchtesgaden nor in a civilized area. Our holiday house is placed above Oberau, at the Rossfeld-Höhenringstraße, which is the highest street with charges in Germany.
This place is very beautiful, about 500m above Berchtesgaden downtown and with view on the (unfortunately) very popular Obersalzberg. Secretly, I am hoping that we will not spend much time here in the house, because there is no internet and also no mobile reception. On this day, our arriving day, we packed out our clothes and stuff and went for dinner to Bräuhaus Berchtesgaden. It was almost the only time we went out for dinner, because we did not want to miss the Olympic Games London 2012, who had the suspense mostly in the evening. I can just recommend the Bräuhaus, because the food is very yummy and the beer is very tasty.
Later on this evening, I am thinking about my plans – without internet – for the next 13 days. My wishes for hills are: Berchtesgaden, Ruhpolding, Reit im Winkl, Bischofshofen, Ramsau am Dachstein, Villach, Tarvisio and Planica. In review, I can say that I visited all ski jumps (except from Reit im Winkl, but that is not so important). And that was just great.
The first day here is all about getting the place to know. On 10 a.m. we are driving to downtown with our Lexus. The weather is quite fine and it is not too cold. You cannot walk around without sunglasses. Some small city maps are a good help to orient ourselves. We find a parking slot near to the congress house and start our walk in the main shopping street.
This part of the street ends into a central place. There, we see a bank, two restaurants and a confectionary. We go directly to this confectionary for having cups of coffee und some pieces of cake during studying the city maps about where to find tourist attractions. Naturally, I am looking for the ski jump on the maps and find it quickly. It is not far away from our actual point on the map. So, I suggest continuing the walk by visiting at first the castle and then, the ski jumping hills. It is also a good idea, because the cake we are eating right now, should not get the chance to be part of our body.
After paying for coffee and cake, we start our walk. We pass the confectionary on the right-hand side. In this street are on both sides shop next to shop and everybody could be successful, no matter if you are looking for shoes, souvenirs or antiques. Under an arch, we come to the next central square, which is located right next to a highway. Particularly striking in this place are a huge ice cream parlour, the great motorcycle parking, and a costume shop where you could buy leather pants or Dirndl. But, because it is Sunday, we only had the chance to take a look through the windows.
Diagonally opposite a second Archway, as well as several signposts were located. Behind the small Berchtesgaden Castle was so. We passed through the arch and saw this building in front of us. There were no tours and so we watched the whole thing only from the outside. Directly at the fountain, a memorial plaque to the victims of World War II, there was with a large wreath.
The next signs appear and this time you could also read “Kälbersteinschanze”. The road went right up the mountain. The hills are so needed in the forest. First of all it was climbing stairs until we reached a small settlement (including with accommodations). From here you have a wonderful view of the mountain, especially on the Jenner, the ski mountain had Berchtesgaden, located near the Königssee again.
The stairs we went, ends in a small, smooth road. On this we came to a turn -developed two-lane road. This was the shuttle to the path that led to the hills. This was very much characterized by a DSV shield and a mailbox. We were not the only ones who walk this way, a couple with a dog, and two cyclists were before us. First, the road rose (synonymous with the way) strongly and then levelled off again slightly. It soon emerged into a clearing - so there had to be the jumps.
The first thing we saw when stepping out of the forest, were wooden railing and a car park. A jeep was standing there. Diagonally behind this is an information board with all the basic information about the jumps. In this we headed to and aligned with those from the data on our website. “K-point of 27.5 m is very strange”, says my dad. I answer: “Yeah, I never saw it before, too. But if you look at the way of construction, it is not really a miracle”.
This hill, which is directly behind the panel, is in fact composed of three parts: the start, the artificial slope that is glazed on the side and the outlet, which is naturally again - as a quasi- modular. The site offers the option of a walking tour, you can go anywhere good. The three larger hills are right next to each other, so we decide to look at the firstly.
The K27.5 - do not try you get used to the name - is accessible by a small stone staircase. When I stand up, I still feel quite well and say to my father. "Now, if I had skis under my feet, I would go down, no question." He says dryly: "You can do it, but I still need my bones." But as we assume here of theoretical scenarios, the whole has little relevance anyway. An interesting feature of this hill is next to their construction, the lead-in track, which is made of ceramic. Here, you can also jump without irrigation.
With duration of the visit is getting warmer and I have put off my sweater, but a dark blue jeans, in which the heat stores – is very unpleasant. From our point of view (head of K27.5), I suppose for the first time really true the house of the DSV vertex on which a portrait of Michael Neumayer - a son of the congregation Berchtesgaden - and a signature "Silver Medalist, 2010" emblazoned. And if you have signboards, one should not also avoid advertising - no question.
We make our way to twice as large K62, which already has a proper start tower of wood. The stone staircase leads to an asphalt road on which it is much more pleasant to walk. The design itself is quite powerful, especially when you consider that it is still a "child"- jump. Then jump 12 - 14 years who are talented normally.
At such towers, always the difficulty to come, because some plants are closed and opened only for training guests into is for tourists. Here, we are lucky: because even though depends on the door a sign with on "Please close the door", it is open and we are entering the tower. About us appears a huge staircase with felt 400 steps on. We have also counted the steps, but my memories leave me on the number in the lurch.
At the top we see a small crack of light that the sun from the opening causes. And apparently, there appears to be no hill that has no specificity. For here the top hatches are still up in the house in it. Small wooden steps with devices in order to set the bar there. Everything is very close and raises the question of how the organizers manage this when jumping. We go out of the house and a few steps down the start-up.
The view is a bit scarier than flat and I would probably think twice before I rush down here. The sun, which has now supplanted the clouds completely, but makes the look much more beautiful. Moreover, even easier wind comes up, which cools the whole thing and makes something very pleasant. Is almost 900 meters above the sea you here and yet it has around 20 degrees - a perfect day. We make ourselves back on the way down and go down the stairs.
Coming down, it is immediately left (as seen from below right) up the mountain to the normal Hill. From our position, one can observe the excellently the different types of the inrun-towers (slope, slope and length). You can see immediately that the K90 again is a completely different calibre than the K62. This was unfortunately also all what you could see, finally, the tower was completed and thus only the view from the take-off was us down into the valley.
On foot, it went down the stone stairs of the K90 into the valley, passing ski storage, snow cannons and the water pump. We did not want to walk anymore and so we climbed over the fence at the exit and walked across the meadow. On the other side was even a goal, so we did not again try our climbing skills. At the end it was still in K18, which is a very common small hill and is on the right of the house.
So that is the first plant for the holidays was ticked off. As in Oberstdorf we visited something on the first day. 13 more days were still ahead of us in Berchtesgaden. I recommend to you - this is allowed - again, as for Oberstdorf some destinations. There are now so still my top 10 (in any order) and then hopefully very soon the next episode!
Your
Luis Holuch
My personal top 10 for the region of Berchtesgaden:
- Go and visit the Obersalzberg (if possible in two days, because it is really a lot to see).
- Go and visit the Kehlsteinhaus (birthday gift to Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday 1939).
- Go and visit the Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden and the “Saline” in Bad Reichehnhall (that is where the German foof salt has its origins).
- Go to Königssee!
- Visit bobsleigh- and luge run-track Königssee!
- Visit the historic section of town Salzburg!
- Do a ride on the Rossfeld-Panorama-Straße (best opportunity is after 8 p.m., when you do not have to pay dor using it)!
- Do a hiking tour on the Kneiflerspitzen (a beautiful 360-degrees-panorama)!
- Drive on Jenner with the cabin car!
- Exclusive tip: Summer toboggan run in Bad Dürrnberg (A)!
Ski Jumps:
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