Sleepless on the Saslong: This is the hardest job in Val Gardena

The colossal cloud of mist creeps down the steep finish slope, ready to cover the tip of the Saslong in a gray dress. The sleet, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, serves as a kind of protection and does the rest to ensure that the weather in Val Gardena is really bad. The 100th World Cup race was actually supposed to take place this Friday on the legendary Saslong, but under these conditions that is of course unthinkable.

It's 14 p.m. and the finish area is almost empty. The athletes have long been in their cozy hotel rooms, the journalists are hitting the keys in the gymnasium in St. Christina, which has been converted into a press center, and the fans are dancing to the Ballermann beat in the après-ski tent. Only one person is now looking forward to something that most others probably don't think about at this time of day: sleep. At least a little of it. Horst Demetz is the slope manager in Val Gardena and is therefore responsible for ensuring that the Saslong is in a World Cup-worthy condition. Last night demanded a lot from him.

Awake for 33 hours “On Thursday I got up at 5 a.m. and haven’t gone to sleep since,” says the Wolkensteiner early on Friday afternoon, i.e. with around 33 hours in his legs. The 53-year-old's tired eyes show that this is getting to the point. But that's just how the life of a slope manager works. Demetz has been doing this job in Val Gardena since 1999 and, year after year, he and his team ensure that Camel Humpback, Ciaslat Wiesn and Kleine Mauer are optimally prepared. And that also includes nights like the last one.

No race: The Super-G could not take place on Friday. © ANSA / ANDREA SOLERO

“The problem came out on Thursday evening,” says Demetz, meaning: It started snowing. And neatly. “I went up to the slopes around midnight and sat there a bit, like a fox, so I watched how the weather developed,” smiles the father of the family. “Around half past two in the morning I contacted the two race directors Hannes Trinkl and Raimund Plancker and then the snow cat drivers arrived.” “We just have no chance against nature.” Horst Demetz Now the 2,4 kilometer long Super-G track had to be cleared of all the fresh snow. “You have to act carefully and carefully so that the slope underneath is not damaged,” says Demetz, who is always on board the snow cats. In the early hours of the morning, the 90 volunteers arrived to fine-tune the track and make it race-ready. But it wasn't going to be this Friday: the high temperatures in the morning, the resulting sticky snow and the walls of fog ensured that no race could be held.

This is what it looked like at the finish area in Val Gardena early on Friday afternoon.

Of course something like that hurts, explains Horst Demetz. “But that’s just the way it is. We can create the technical requirements, but we just have no chance against nature.” The piste manager can cope with it because he is now as knowledgeable about these things as an old hand. Demetz has been working in Val Gardena since he was 19 years old. He was initially responsible for the middle section of the route for eleven years, and since 1999 he has looked after the entire Saslong. “It’s a year-round job. I have to make sure that the right material – i.e. shovels, nets and so on – is available. Things get really intense from October onwards, because that's when the A-safety nets are installed, and after that it's quick and easy," says Demetz, who also works as a ski instructor and occasionally helps out with his sister in an alpine hut.

Full of adrenaline The Saslong is a fascination for the Val Gardena piste manager. “We have different conditions every year. Sometimes there is a lot of snow, sometimes there is little, sometimes it is dry, sometimes it is soft. “It’s always a great challenge,” says Demetz, who has to leave quickly after this conversation. “I have to lie down for a moment, three hours is enough. Then it's time to get back on the slopes. It's supposed to snow again, so there's a lot of work ahead of us tonight." How does he manage to stay so focused for so long? “It’s the adrenaline,” says Horst Demetz. “I’ll probably sleep for three days after that.”

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Sleepless on the Saslong: This is the hardest job in Val Gardena

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