Alpine Skiing: Men’s World Cup season opener in Sölden wiggles

The start of the Alpine Ski World Cup season on the weekend in Sölden could be affected by the weather. As the ZAMG (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik – Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics) in Innsbruck explained to the APA on Thursday, the men’s giant slalom could be in danger this coming Sunday due to wind gusts in hurricane force. For the women’s race on Saturday, the weather experts see less problems.

On the national holiday, splendid weather dominated the Sölden Rettenbachferner, where the start of the 2017/18 World Cup season is planned for the weekend. After a cold air break-in on Friday, it is expected to improve again quickly during the night on Saturday.

The ladies’ giant slalom is scheduled for Saturday:”There will be fair weather with reasonable visibility and it will be dry,”said Simon Hölzl of the weather service in Innsbruck. Only the wind could be a disturbing factor here, as Hölzl expects wind peaks of up to 50 km/h for the starting area on this day.

“But the weather will deteriorate sharply very quickly in the night from Sunday to Sunday,”the expert fears. A massive cold front from the north then pushes in, Austria will be exactly in the jetstream.

“At the Rettenbachferner I expect hurricane gusts (more than 120 km/h, note). The weather forecast also indicates that the weather will be very poor,”said the meteorologist, adding that “Sunday will be marked by a sharp drop in temperature and will be bad”.