Graham Bell’s Wengen Course Run

The Lauberhorn race in Wengen Switzerland is the longest downhill on the tour.  It is a classic downhill that has certain sections that would not be allowed if the course were designed today.  The Hundscopf (Hounds Head) is basically just a cliff drop with some snow stuck onto it. 

Then there is the Bruckli S, which is a chicane in the forest, not a favourite section for me, as it was where I dislocated my shoulder back when I was racing.  You go under the train track, and head towards the Hanegg Schuss the fastest part of the course, the racers should get up to 150kmh. 

Finally just when most courses would have finished you have to ski two tight turns before dropping into the finish area.  Many racers do not have enough power left in their legs for stopping and will just throw themselves onto the snow to stop.

I had the chance to ski the course with a camera for BBC Ski Sunday, and took the opportunity to wear the Garmin Forerunner 310XT with a heart rate monitor.  My stats are on my Garmin Connect page: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/62970443

Max heart rate 176 max speed 65mph.  It shows just how much the adrenaline is pumping at the start, my heart rate was touching 120 just before I pushed out of the gate and actually drops down slightly for the schuss to the first turn. 

We lost two days due to very warm front that blew through bringing rain up to 1900m, all but the highest resorts were sure to have suffered.  Let’s hope we can get a cold front soon and another large dump of snow would be welcome.

After Wengen we hotfooted it to Munich in the Ski Sunday Land Rover for the Red Bull Crashed Ice event.  If you have never seen it imagine skiercross with ice hockey players, down a steep narrow ice track with jumps banked turns and rollers.  Ed and I were allowed out on to the ice, which was dangerous and comical in equal amounts, look out for it on Ski Sunday in a couple of weekends time…