RASCHAU/HINZENBACH, 14 May 2013 – At the beginning of summer, the ski jumps in the Upper Austrian town of Hinzenbach are a place of lively and colourful activity: namely the days during which the systems are modified and, while the operators are at it, also modernized. And so, this also took place this year. A few weeks ago, the K90 m jump, which is already state-of-the-art, was given an additional coat of paint.
Wolfgang Riedel, employee of the company, and his team disassembled the base plates of the inrun and its nubs, mounted two new plates, and installed the latest and best porcelain nubs available at Peter Riedel GmbH – nubs, that represent the current ne plus ultra in the field of ski jump inrun technology. This also included a modification of the irrigation system. The cooling system is the only installation that was not modified. “But this system is also maintained regularly according to the legal standards”, explains Bernhard Zauner, chairman of the Union Volksbank Hinzenbach.
Zauner is looking forward to a labour-intensive and exciting summer. “In comparison to the jumps in Villach, our jumps here in Hinzenbach are the second most frequented of Austria during the months of summer”, he says. “Our disadvantage is that we cannot offer a complete stadium because of the lack of a K65 m jump. Therefore, clubs cannot visit us with all their ski jumpers.” However, this is complaining on a high level, Zauner is “very happy with the capacity utilisation.”
Yet the closer we get to autumn, the more teams are coming to Hinzenbach until there are 30 days with complete capacity utilisation in late autumn: jumps in the morning and in the afternoon by various club teams and association teams, or also by (mostly female) national teams. The Summer Grand Prix on 29 September is not yet casting its shadow ahead; however the preparations have already begun. “We have already organized this competition several times, we are an experienced team, and we have the know-how”, Zauner says. “It is getting easier from year to year; but at the same time we are still broadening our knowledge.”
He can be sure that the inrun will not break, as the ice track in Hinzenbach, manufactured by the company Peter Riedel, has established the “heat record”. At almost 30° Celsius, the Austrian championships were held on 9 October 2010. And the inrun didn’t break!
