Opening of the World Cup alpine skiing season in Soelden

Traditionally the World Cup races in alpine skiing started in Sölden, Austria in late October, and traditionally we were there again. Apart from following the women's and men's giant slalom races we had time to ski, take photos and enjoy the gorgeous, sunny weather in the Alps.

Early in the morning, on the road leading up to the Rettenbach glacier:


At the top, looking back into the valley:


A newly built reservoir for snow making:










Friday was skiing just for fun, but on Saturday and Sunday it was all (ok, mostly) about the races.










More photos can be found here.

Photos from my Sölden trips in 2008 and 2009.

World Cup races in Soelden

In late October we drove to Sölden, a little village in the valley of Ötztal in western Austria to see the first alpine skiing World Cup races of the season. I don't have the right equipment to shoot races, so I focused more on the beautiful surroundings of the Rettenbach and Tiefenbach glaciers. The weather was perfect the whole weekend, sunny and just the right temperature.



People were watching the race along the ski slope.

Looking down the Rettenbach glacier:

The first run of the women's GS:

The view of the ski slope from the top was quite interesting:

Riding the skilift:

On the other side of a mountain the Tiefenbach glacier appears to be even vaster than Rettenbach:

Coming out of the shade:

There is a viewing platform with beautiful views over the surrounding mountains.

A snowmaking gun, a parking lot and a reservoir:

My shadow :)

On Sunday men raced in GS:

The winners on the podium: Didier Cuche, Daniel Albrecht and Ted Ligety:

Ted Ligety at the press conference:

I took many many more photos. Some can be seen here.

Skiing in Mölltal

Just this past weekend I was lying on the beach, sunbathing and swimming in the sea, and two days later I spent one day skiing on the Mölltal glacier at about 3100 meters above sea level. Both places are within a three-hour drive from my home. :)

The main reason to go skiing was to test some skiing equipment. Despite the fickle weather and diffused light we managed to complete the test and were thrilled with the results.









More photos here.