König Ludwig Lauf

Worldloppet skiers registered in König Ludwig Lauf followed with anxiety the snow reports which were dismal for Oberammergau like for other alpine resorts below 1200 m altitude. However, there was a welcome snowfall about one week before the race weekend and it allowed the organizers to announce that the race will take place, reduced to a length of 40 km in two loops.

FT race on Saturday February 3

In the morning the skiers were welcomed with rain but it stopped in time before the start. The scenery remained foggy. The temperature went up and the second lap was slower because of sloppy snow. The 20 km loop started in the usual place in Ettal, turned right at the end of the meadows under the monastery, went up to Graswang through the woods, turned back towards Oberammergau and Ettal for the second loop which finished on the Oberammergau stadium. The organizers had done a great job to make the track perfectly skiable ( a few days before it was preferable to use rock skis). As shown in the pictures, snow had been scraped from the surrounding meadows on a width of 5 m on both sides, similarly the sections through the woods had received lots of transported snow.

There were 543 skiers and the winner`s time was 1.31.48. Some of the IAWLS members were:

Classic race on Sunday February 4

This was a beautiful day. The temperature had fallen and the tracks were icy. In the descents at 2 km and 4 km citizen skiers snowploughed or rather iceploughed, apparently worried about the conservation of the species. Otherwise, almost the whole race was double poling. Times were faster than in the Saturday skating race.

There were 1243 skiers and the winner`s time was 1.24.41. Some of the IAWLS members were:

 

This page was last revised on September 7, 2007

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