Beat the best to Andorra

This isn’t the first time the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) has chosen Andorra to host World Cup races. The women’s super G and alpine combined (one downhill race and two slalom races) were held on the very same slopes above El Tarter in 2012 and in 2016, both to great success.

It is easy to see why the FIS have chosen the Grandvalira area though. With 210km of runs to choose from, they weren’t short of potential venues. The area above El Tarter however is particularly perfect for racing. The slopes are challenging, the snow is good and even the finish area is a natural amphitheatre making it perfect for spectators.

The FIS Alpine World Cup really is for the best and bravest (some say insane) skiers in the world. It’s been going since the mid-sixties and has four disciplines; slalom, giant slalom, super G and the downhill. Men and women compete separately from November to mid-March at over 25 resorts around the world, from Croatia to North America and Finland to Korea.

For every race, points are awarded to the top 30 finishers. The racer with the most points at the end of the season gets to lift the World Cup. The annual event is considered more difficult than the Olympics and the World Championships as racers need to perform at a high level all season rather than just in one or two races.

One memorable moment in World Cup history came in 2008 when Bode Miller of the USA was attacking the formidable Hahnenkamm course in Kitzbühel, Austria. Just 27 seconds in to his run, he ran wide and ended up skiing off the snow and on to the safety netting at the side of the course! He finished the turn, skied back on to the snow and ended up in second place. He went on to win the overall World Cup. Legend!

Slalom skiing is the most technical of the four disciplines. Each race has two runs on a short course about 500m long with 55 to 75 closely spaced blue and red poles that skiers need to ski between. The athletes make short, quick turns on short skis whilst knocking the poles out of the way with body armour. They need this as they can reach speeds of up to 25mph.

The slalom course in the Grandvalira will be set on the Àliga run above El Tarter. It’s a black run (average 38% gradient) to us mere mortals, but to the racers, they charge down it like it’s a nursery slope! It’s a north facing slope too which is good news for slalom racers as it makes it icier. Icier means faster and the slalom is all about keeping the speed up and the rhythm smooth.

Being the most technical of the alpine events means you need to be very powerful and confident with an excellent technique. The carving turns needed are extreme and edges of your skis need to be razor sharp to literally carve a path through the snow and maintain as tight a line as possible through the gates. It’s great fun and well worth trying out.

The giant slalom is exactly as it sounds, a giant slalom course. There are roughly the same number of gates as in the slalom, but they’re slightly more spaced out. The courses are longer (about 1300m) and tend to be an extension of the slalom course or on a section of the super G course (more on that later).

This is the other technical event in alpine ski racing. Racers need to make wider turns yet have a lower stance with the legs flexed at the knee for the carving turn. Speed is still key and keeping your movements smooth yet aggressive will make you faster.

Super giant slalom, or super G is a bigger course again with gates spread out even further. Technique still comes into this event, but it becomes more about power and keeping your speed up around wider turns.

The course is longer at just over 2km, and it’s on a different run (the Àliga SG) back down into El Tarter. It’s not quite as steep overall as the slalom, but there are sections which are 53% gradient, which is most definitely a black run to most of us!

It’s a really fun run and one you’ll feel a lot more comfortable doing as your turns are wider and smoother like a normal pisted run.

The downhill is the main event, a bit like the 100m at the Olympics. It’s the fastest World Cup race on the mountain where skiers reach speeds of up to 100mph! On skis!! There’s clearly an element of insanity needed to be a downhill racer!

Downhill courses vary from resort to resort. One of the toughest is the Lauberhorn in Wengen, Switzerland. It’s the longest on the circuit at 4.5km making it a leg-burning monster of a race. Another classic is the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel with its 85% gradient and 60 metre jumps. Downhill racing is not for the faint-hearted!

Luckily for those heading to Andorra, the downhill isn’t quite as gruelling as those. It’s still tricky as it uses the super G course, but starts from higher up the mountain so racers can achieve higher speeds throughout the rest of the course.

The beauty of these disciplines is that if you’re a good intermediate, you can easily get yourself down any of these slopes in El Tarter. You may not have the speed or style of the pros, but you can ski the same ground as the Lindsey Vonns of this world, just without the lycra… maybe!