This weekend in Davos, Switzerland the World Cup returns for the high life. Many World Cuppers consider Davos to be a high elevation venue and with the thinner air comes a tinge of lung burn as skiers pace themselves around the 5-kilometer loop used for distance events. (Davos sits around 5,000 feet in elevation.) The 5 k loop features a long and steady climb up and out of the valley. Then a technical descent with a few dicey turns ensues when skiers tip down over the high point.
On Sunday, the women race a 10 k skate individual start, while the men ski three times around the course for 15 k.
The sprint course is simple enough. Skiers loop twice around a mostly oval circuit with a few climbs and turns thrown in before diverting from the loop for the burn down the final straight. The sprints are scheduled for Saturday.
In this Davos World Cup preview, Andy Newell gives the low down on how to thrive on the sprint course and keep the effort in check on the Davos distance course.
Jason Albert
Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.
