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Wengen: Beauty and the beast….

Wengen is really a beautiful spectacle. After the party going that Adelboden witnessed and the astronomical price charged for rooms, coming round the corner to Wengen brings a sense of peace, quiet and the odd British voice.  OK so today was a blue sky day and in every sense of the word, this was a great day at the office.

Wengen will change over night however.

The teams have been arriving slowly and surely; the stands and the commercial side of the World Cup circus has been building up and with this, the atmosphere and the anticipation is also rising. I sat and had coffee with a colleague from the APA (Austrian Press Association), Alex Hofstetter. With Kitzbuehel next week we sat and compared the two classic events and through Adelboden in to the equation as well.

Wengen is serene, quiet (no cars, just electric vans) and a traditional classic all senses of the word. So the rose tinted spectacles are a tad blurred by the weather but we came to the conclusion that the alcoholic impact that Kitzbuehel and Adelboden are suffering from is starting to affect ski racing’s image. Wengen, maybe due to its accessibility, does not have as great a problem with the drinkers or maybe it is due to the fact that people coming up on the train have their bags checked. Still it does make for a quieter atmosphere.

As the crates of gadgetry arrived and the helicopter kept on bringing staging up on to the hill, Wengen is coming alive. First training starts on Wednesday and after the storms that passed through here last week, the place is looking white, pristine and like a picture postcard.

Such is the lure of Wengen and Kitzbuehel, many head to these two resorts for their only stop on the World Cup. While races carry just as many points as the other stops for the winner, 100, Wengen and Kitz are unique in their own ways. A couple of years ago Carlo Janka, who is considering taking a mid season break we learned today, described Wengen and its people as “slow!” He was not far off the pace with that …

Yet another race this year and there will be no British participation. The days of Finlay Mickel racing in the speed races and Alain Baxter in the slalom with Chemmy doing the girls races, seem a distant memory. The new generation are on the way up but it will be some time before they are racing week in and week out on the World Cup. They need to learn the ropes and get the points down before they are living on the World Cup tour. With Dougie Crawford injured and Ed Drake out of form, 21 year old TJ Baldwin is flying the British flag on the speed events and Dave Ryding in the Slalom.

The World Cup beast is in town and from the ride up the train to the longest course on the tour... This is Wengen!