INSIDE THE GREATEST
SKI RACE ON EARTH
BY KELLEY MCMILLAN
All
Hail
the
On top of the Streif, on top of the world.
Fans watch the
Hahanenkamm
in 1955.
It’s the holy grail of ski racing, the ultimate
test of man versus mountain: the Hahenkamm,
a perilous two-mile streak of a course snaking
down the slopes of Kitzbuehel, Austria. Win the
Hahnenkamm and be immortalized in the pan-
theon of ski gods alongside Killy, Klammer, Kjus,
and Cuche.
Take it from Daron Rahlves, the first American
since Buddy Werner in 1959 to claim the Hahn-
RED BULL PHOTOFILES/ANDREAS GALL; KITZBUHEL SKI CLUB (KSC)
enkamm downhill in 2003. “It’s the Super Bowl
of our sport,” he says. “The feelings, the fans,
the danger — that’s what makes Kitzbuehel the
race.”
One weekend every January, Kitzbuehel be-
comes the pulsing center of the ski racing uni-
verse.
More than 80,000 fans descend upon the Tyro-
lean hamlet for a series of World Cup races — a
super G, downhill, and slalom — and Mardi Gras-
style revelry. Saturday’s downhill on the “Streif”
is the marquee event, when the competition and
party reach full throttle.
Loaded with huge jumps, treacherous fall-away
turns, and some of the steepest pitches in World
Cup racing — so steep that snow cats can’t
groom them and the Austrian army must manu-
ally boot pack parts of the course — the Streif, or
“Streak” in English, delivers a treacherous mix of
technical and speed elements that makes grown
men tremble.
Downhill legend and four-time Hahnenkamm
winner Franz Klammer regards Kitzbuehel as
the ultimate test for a downhiller. “It’s the most
challenging race, the most daring race of all,”
he says. “It’s like jumping into really cold water
— you either sink or swim. It requires all the ele-
