Preparing the perfect slope for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Saalbach 2025

Among the most important considerations for any World Ski Championships is the condition of the racing facility. In Alpine Skiing, the venue - or venues - need to withstand a number of races in quick succession and provide fair competition within those.

Saalbach in Austria is gearing up to host the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (WSC) having successfully staged last year’s FIS World Cup Finals despite significant weather-related challenges. And Saalbach 2025 Sport Coordinator Ulrich Hochkogler says his team is on track to have the Zwölferkogel - where all the races are being held - in perfect shape.

“We had good snow in December and the slope has been white ever since, so we have a good feeling,” says Hochkogler. “We also had snow during the Christmas holidays and we’ve had some teams training on the course. It’s going well and I hope it continues."

It remains a nervous time for Hochkogler and the whole team, but he is hopeful that the work done in recent months will stand them in good stead for the opening day of the World Championships on February 4.

Saalbach slope preparation: “It’s all about the base”

Preparing the slope for the ski season usually starts at the middle of November, depending on the weather, with the application of technical snow. But not just any technical snow...

“It sounds weird but we produce a very bad technical snow,” reveals Hochkogler. “It’s a very wet snow and we do it because if you have a lot of water in the slope, you always have more options. More water means less air so the slope becomes more compact. And then you have a solid base from which you can then start finer preparations.”

As a working resort, Saalbach has to balance its desire to prepare perfect racing conditions with its financial dependence on recreational skiers. While the general public is barred from competitive slopes a week before racing starts, to allow for specific preparations and the instalment of safety fencing, their presence can actually assist the groundwork.

“Normally if we have a World Cup, we produce about a meter to a meter and a half of snow overlay,” says Hochkogler. ”And public skiers are beneficial for the race slopes in the months before, because they also compress the snow base. So it’s good for us and all the skiers.

“On that base, you can stage European Cup or FIS races. Several times in previous years we’ve jumped in to hold World Cup races. In Hinterglemm, we have a speed training area which is used by the Austrian national team and others. And then you just need two cold nights for some fine tuning.

“We have big sprinklers, the sort that would be used in farming, if we need water for icier conditions. However, there’s not just one recipe. You always have to look at the weather, what’s in the forecast, how much rain and snow you have. Sometimes rain is very good because you then have more water inside the slope to make it more compact. But our goal is not to have a totally icy slope. We want to have a good, compact, solid slope where you have fair racing for all athletes.”

As well as the weather, the nature of any snowfall is key in determining the exact course of action to be taken in the run-up to a race. Fortunately, there is local expertise in abundance with the father and son teams of Manuel and Harry Gensbichler, and Fritz Steger and Fritz Steger Jr playing key roles in maintaining the slopes.

“If you have snowfall maybe two weeks before, we’ll look at moving it outside of the course with the snowcats (truck-like vehicle with tracks),” explains Hochkogler. “Otherwise, the new snow will isolate the good base and it will soften up which isn’t good for us. If the new snow is very wet, it might be better to prepare it on top of the base to allow those layers to connect and improve it. It depends always on the condition of the new snow.

“The Gensbichlers and the Stegers are in the Ski Club, and we have a bigger team of 10-15 guys to help with the final preparation for which we don’t normally need new snow. We also have a lot of help from our cable car company in Saalbach-Hinterglemm - they provide us with the snowcats and snowcat drivers for as long as we need them. I know other ski resorts have to invest in things like that, so we are very lucky.”

How global warming affects slope preparation

Climate change has had a major impact on ski resorts in recent times, and organizers are also finding race preparation tougher due to milder weather conditions.

“From around the middle of December, normally you have the amount of snow that you need for the races. We are preparing every night with the snowcats and, during the day, you have the public skiers on the slopes. They have good conditions - it’s not too icy - so we have a mix that keeps everyone happy.”

Ahead of last year’s World Cup Finals, a warm winter made life difficult for the Saalbach team. However, with a great deal of work, they managed to achieve good racing conditions as well as keep the slope open to recreational skiers.

“We did not know what the slope was going to do,” recalls Hochkogler. “Three weeks before the races, we were discussing, ‘What can we do if the snow level is getting too low and we don’t have enough? How can we manage public skiing and the races?’ Our goal was that the Zwölferkogel would also be open for public skiers, not least because having spectators along the slope looks good for us in photos for ski brochures.

“We had enough snow on the racetracks, but on the public slopes it was sometimes very challenging because the temperatures overnight were not good. The snowcat prepared everything, but the first layer on top didn’t freeze. So after maybe the first 100 or 200 people, you had good moguls! It was very challenging for our guests but we did everything we could.

“The warm weather in the downhill races was very challenging for us. Sometimes we had to use additional water. We now have about 140 snow guns at the Zwölferkogel with connections to flexible water pipes in the ground so if, say, turn 15 was getting soft, we could climb down, put the pipes up and turn the water on.

“And we had to use pretzel salt, which is a bit thicker than normal salt. It’s perfect for preparing the slope. If you put too much salt inside, then the snow will become ‘deaf’ as it won’t harden anymore. But if you have the right amount of water and a little bit of salt, it gets super icy again. And that was the recipe that helped us at the World Cup Finals with the super-soft conditions.”

Leaving nothing to chance

Even when the World Cup Finals got underway, the headaches were not over for the Saalbach team. “I think we had every condition that you could have in winter!” says Hochkogler. “For the first couple of days we had warm sunshine in the day with freezing temperatures overnight, which was perfect for us.

“That was followed by a bit of dry snowfall and, between the women’s and men’s downhills, we had very heavy, wet snowfall on the upper section and rain on the lower section. The wet snow was really challenging because it was so hard to move. We had to use a lot of shovels overnight to get the snow out.”

While he hopes there will be no repeat during the World Championships, Hochkogler is prepared for every eventuality. “We have staff hospitality up the mountain and the snowcat garage so, if we need a lot of staff overnight, we have food and they have somewhere to get warm. We have even more staff on the slopes. Last year we had one team for the women’s and men’s courses but this year we have split it up. We now have 90 on the women’s, 90 on the men’s.

“And if there’s really heavy snowfall, we have 21 snowblowers for the course, enough shovels, 12 ATVs with snowblowers, four snowcats with massive snowblowers, plus 10 additional snowcats for all slopes on the Zwölferkogel.”

The weather has also largely played ball in recent weeks and months, and the team may have had some assistance on that front from a higher power.

Saalbach has certainly left no stone unturned in its efforts to prepare the best possible courses for this year’s FIS Alpine Ski World Championships which run from February 4-16.