0,700 guests celebrate and cheer during the FIS World Cup weekend in Adelboden

30,700 guests celebrate and cheer during the FIS World Cup weekend in Adelboden posted: 25/01/2016

by Reinhard Penzel

The Chuenisb rgli (also Kuonisbergli) is a mountain in the Bernese Oberland. It lies above the village of Adelboden and is known as one of the venues of the FIS Alpine World Cup races. The first Adelboden ski days took place already in 1955, before they became part of the FIS Ski World Cup in 1967.

The slope at Chuenisb rgli is considered as the most difficult giant slalom course of the World Cup for men. Both the starting piece and the final slope are extremely steep. Since the year 2000 also slalom races are part of the World Cup weekend in Adelboden.

The start of the giant slalom is 1,730 m above sea level, the one for the slalom at 1,513 m. The length of the giant slalom is 1,290 meters, the length of the slalom 622 meters. The finish area is located at an altitude of 1,302 m. With around 30,000 spectators along the route and on temporarily constructed stands at the finish area, the races in Adelboden are among the most visited ones in the world.

The Evening before the Race

At the traditional Longines media event on Friday evening, the Ski World Cup Adelboden AG bestowed the Media Award for the 9th time on the Tschentenalp. It was awarded to the Swiss Radio and TV broadcaster SRG and the related production house tpc.

The awards were received by Hansj rg Holliger for tpc Production, Beni Giger for directing the races since more than a decade and Karin Nussbaumer, deputizing for the SRG/tpc administration.

The tpc/SRG team receiving the Media Award

The presentation speech was held by Councillor Beatrice Simon-Jungi. She paid tribute to the SRG as a transmitter of the Ski World Cup Adelboden and to tpc and SRG as host broadcaster, delivering an excellent quality of the television signal and make it available to rights holding television stations world-wide.

The TV Compound in Adelboden

This year tpc installed 16 TV cameras to cover the races including one Sony SuperSlomo camera and one Ikegami HyperSloMo camera. Beni Giger was composing the world feed in tpcs HD2. Also the German broadcaster ARD and the Austrian broadcaster ORF were on location with their own presenter platforms and some additional ISO cameras.

Director Beni Giger at the Vision Mixer in tpcs HD2 OBVan

Adelboden giant slalom cancelled

From the initial Snow Control on 2nd January, the Adelboden team has worked non-stop to ensure the Chuenisb rgli course in Switzerland was ready for the weekend of races. They brought in snow by truck to make up for the warm temperatures and worked round the clock to ensure the conditions were optimal.

Unfortunately, a steady drizzle arrived on Friday afternoon and continued through the night, which alone still wasn't enough to dampen the chances of the giant slalom as the course was holding up well. But the racers woke up to a heavy fog and after the jury inspection concluded at 9:30, it was clear that there would be no chance to stage the giant slalom race.

Immediately after cancellation of the Giant Slalom the Adelboden team started to set up the slope for the Slalom race on the next day.

Setup of the Slalom slope

This also was true for the Longines team around Serge Carnal. Part of a first class TV production is a reliable timing control of the racers on the slope. For the slalom the time was measured at the start gate with 3 intermediate timings on the way down to the finish line. At every intermediate timing point a member of the Longines crew is positioned to open the photocell before the racer is coming and to close it as soon as he has passed (to prevent the system of receiving timing information when the people of the slope preparation team is moving in front of the photocell).

The Longine Timing Container at the Finish Area

Longine Timing Computers

The Longine team is then providing the timing information for the OBVan and where it becomes part of the TV signal in form of an overlay. The timing information is giving the worldwide TV viewers a clear indication of the performance of the racers on their way down the slope. The timing information always is compared with the timing of the current leader. The Longine system works redundant and uses fiber cables to transfer the timing information from the timing gates to the timing computers. Wireless transmission of this data is not allowed by FIS.

Longines Serge Carnal with one of the Timing Photocells

Example of the Interval Timing

Longine as one of the main sponsors of the FIS World Cup Races provides also the Startlist for each race, the ranking of each individual racer in the World Cup as well as results of each World Cup race. Also the score boards with the timing information for the spectators at the race slope are provided by Longine while the LED screens for the display of the TV signal are provided by the main sponsor Audi.

Timing Screen and TV Screen

The TV crew as well as the timing crew are operating and maintaining independently their own intercom systems. However for all the other teams on location (e.g. race jury, slope preparation, rescue team, security team, event team, etc.) Riedel has set up a redundant wireless communications network consisting of 18 channels for more than 300 radio talkback units.

Riedels Serkan G ner and Martin C r da explain the Intercom Installation in Adelboden

Riedel was operating this network throughout the event as a service and was also supplying the necessary batteries and chargers. In addition the video and audio connections to the LED displays along the slope and at the finish area (provided by Audi and hired and supported by NEP Faber) are integrated in Riedels MediorNet and RockNet backbone.

Riedel Operating Center at the Boden School House

Riedels Nelly Huggler controlling the Intercom System

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