Hahnenkamm

Happy Hahnenkamm Weekend! The Super Bowl of alpine ski race takes place in Kitzbühel this weekend on the legendary Streif Downhill--arguably the most dangerous downhill in the world. A US Ski Team tradition is that rookies have to carry a brick in their duffel all winter, representing the load that the Streif weighs on your conscience, and can only take it out once they've skied the Hahnenkamm.

For spectators, the event is much more lively. Trains from across Austria fill with spectators before dropping them off in the middle of one of the winter's biggest parties. Last year's New Yorker article "The Wild Carnival at the Heart of Skiing’s Most Dangerous Race" captures the experience much better than I can.

In the past, self-guided Lumi trip guests have taken in the spectacle between days of cross country skiing.

On our guided group trip to the Dolomitenlauf & Marcialonga, we have a private shuttle that takes us from Munich to Lienz. Kitzbühel is located almost exactly half-way between and the Hahnenkamm is but a mere side-note to our guests as the bus cruises past the village. That's one of the wild things about traveling through the Alps in the winter. It feels like the being at the Olympics with World Cup events from all kinds of winter sports happening around you. Unfortunately, there's never time to catch them all.

On one of my favorite days at the Dolomitenlauf in Obertilliach wasn't even on Nordic skis. As a former collegiate Alpine racer, one of our guests really wanted to watch the Hahnenkamm, rather than Nordic ski. Rather than watch the Dolomitenlauf, we took the gondola to the top of the mountain overlooking Obertilliach. When we arrived, the whole alpine hut was filled with kids watching the Hahnenkamm Downhill on TV. They erupted when Austrian Matthias Mayer took the victory.

Rather than take the gondola back down, this particular ski area has a sledding track that takes you back down to the village. We rented sleds and cruised down the 5km long downhill back into town and arrived just in time to catch the first Lumi guest crossing the line at the end of the Dolomitenlauf. Only in Austria. Prost!