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Ski tunnel opens in Germany
Tuesday July 14, 2009 - Email this article to a friend
It may look a bit odd but it means cross-country skiers can practice on real snow in the summer. It’s the first one to be opened in Germany.
The tunnel is 8m wide, 4m high and 1.9km long.
It comes with uphills and downhills, with a 12% incline in places to make it as realistic as possible for the athletes.
It is hard to train for cross-country skiing, the bi-athlon and the Nordic-combined events.
Summer training in TignesSome glaciers have a large enough area with suitable terrain but not many and they are, of course, difficult to get to.
Other practice is by roller skiing which is a FIS recognized event, as we reported here earlier in the summer onPlanetSKI.
The new ski tunnel is situated in Oberhof and is part of a snow centre complex that cost 14.5m euros.
It will be available to top athletes as well as members of the public.
The official opening takes place on August 24th.
The first ski tunnel was constructed at Vuokatti, in Finland, ten years ago. There is another one in Torsby in Sweden.
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