Looking at the Streif upside down
The idea that the Ski World Cup races take place on snow is somewhat bizarre. The surface on which the athletes race and slide their gear has nothing to do with snow as we imagine it – no soft, light and airy flakes. Downhill athletes ski down specially prepared slopes, battling it out on a hard, icy and translucent surface on which a regular skier on a pair of skis purchased from the shop would struggle to even stand.
Of all the downhill races in the World Cup circuits, Kitzbühel, in Austria, is certainly the most eagerly awaited, prestigious and feared. The Streif - that's the name of the most famous downhill slope in the world - is a 3312-metre-long serpentine with a difference in altitude of 860 metres. In some sections the gradient is as much as 85% and skiers take just under two minutes to cover the entire slope. The highest peak speed ever recorded by one of the speed-traps on the route is 153 km/h, but if that wasn't enough to understand the difficulties of the track, it's important to know that the slope is littered with jumps, compressions and counter slopes.
The Mansuefalle is the most famous and steep section of the slope with a gradient that exceeds 40°, with skiers tackling it at about 100 km/h. This stretch, which athletes fly over almost half its length, is about 80 metres. It was legendary skier Toni Sailer, one of the most famous downhill skiers of all time, who baptised it as being similar to a rat trap, as athletes face it and launch into the void towards the abyss without knowing exactly where they will end up.
It is in this climate of maximum excitement about speed and competitive performance on skis, that in the weeks preceding the downhill World Cup competition, an athlete and Pirelli ambassador stubbornly worked on his sports project. Fabio Wibmer rode down the Streif on his downhill bike. That's right: without skis on his feet but rather a bicycle to cycle down. Fabio used a downhill bike prepared for this purpose by Canyon and fitted with Pirelli Scorpion tyres equipped with studs.
“The Kitzbühel downhill slope has always been something special for me. I was born and raised just under an hour from the Streif and as a child I dreamed of being one of the competing champions," Fabio explained. “The week of the World Cup race was – and continues to be – one of the most eagerly anticipated and exciting moments of the year, the climax of the entire winter season. At some point I began to dream of being able to ski down the Streif, but in my own way: by bike and adding a few obstacles along the way.”
Fabio Wibmer, a 28-year-old freestyle and downhill specialist, didn't just cycle down the slope following the tracks left by the champions on skis, instead he worked on a veritable sports and film project to celebrate the legend of the Streif while at the same time fully expressing his own idea of downhill. “My team and I have been working on this project for two years. The first technical difficulties to overcome were to do with the snow, the difficulty of the track and above all the need to have tyres capable of gripping ice with different textures.” Fabio worked closely with Pirelli, who supplied the tyres and Franky Zorn, legend of the speedway on ice who worked to find the correct length and the right mix of metal studs secured by hand to the rubber tread blocks. The choice of tyres fell on the Scorpion Race DH M model, a tyre which is part of an iconic series in many motorsport disciplines in which Pirelli has transferred all its technological know-how acquired over years of competitions in all disciplines.
One of the major difficulties faced by Fabio Wibmer was undoubtedly the ability to maintain control of the bike by inserting the right cornering trajectories and finding balance on the difficult-to-scale surface of the frozen slope. An athlete on skis has several options for controlling direction and speed: the equipment can be used slanted on their edges, they can be steered by moving their feet, or the centrifugal force created during cornering can be controlled by allowing the skis to skid laterally. “On a bicycle, the control of speed and direction depend entirely on the tyre-ground contact,” explained Fabio. “It is harder to skid or correct the bike with studded wheels compared to cycling on soil or mud. My wheels were equipped with 288 studs each, of various lengths up to a maximum of 8mm in the centre. The really complicated thing, however, was to learn to read the surface of the snow and understand the tyre grip limit, since grip and sinking of the studs vary constantly, metre after metre along the track.”
In addition to the difficulties related to the speed reached (Fabio reached 107 km/h along the slope), the project aimed to go further and celebrate the history and venues of the most feared downhill slope on the planet. “Speed on the Streif is the essential element, but it's not the only one.” The descent is complex and must be studied and prepared in every small detail, there is no room for improvisation. Courage alone is not enough. “I didn't just want to ride down the slope on my bike, I wanted to celebrate the Streif, its history and the athletes who have competed here,” continues Fabio. “One of the most iconic moments in the recent history of the competition, an ideal meeting point between speed and freestyle, is the stretch covered by Bode Miller in 2008 sliding down the banners on the edge of the slope. It was one of the moments that really inspired me, and I wanted to pay tribute to him, imitating him with a wall-ride on the same stretch of the slope.”
There was also a backflip on the Hausbergkante, another of the iconic features of the track, but the most adrenaline-pumping and technically complex stretch was the passage in the Mausefalle, a real test of courage and driving skills that had to be faced with the necessary respect and preparation. “Every metre I cycled down the Streif was pure joy, but the Mausefall jump was really difficult, something truly unique. It is a veritable launch into the void, you tackle the jump at great speed, and you can't see where you'll land.” It took a few days of training and getting to grips with the bike before I had the courage to tackle the most difficult jump on the slope. Finally, the moment of truth, before the eyes of the excited and dismayed cameramen and at the end of a journey of meticulous preparation and fine-tuning, has finally arrived.
“My team and I have worked so hard on this project and having succeeded not only in the descent but also in the film production has been a huge satisfaction, a way to inspire others in the future to be equally bold and creative.”
Bold and creative. The link between snow sports and bike-downhill, between technical preparation and improvisation, between pure speed and control, Fabio Wibmer's project on the Kitzbühel Streif is now a documentary video that will live on forever to witness this genuine creative detour on the most feared ski slope in the world.
Watch the images and be inspired.
