One slope has a storied history dating back nearly 70 years, a piste with mesmerizing views of the expansive Cortina Valley, a racecourse that legends of the sport have descended, including Austrian Toni Sailer, who conquered it to win his third gold medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics.

The neighboring slope is unproven and untested, yet tapped with enormous potential as Cortina enters a new era. It has an intimidating name, yet it remains to be seen whether its terrain will intimidate. It is brand new as the sum of its parts, yet created in an environmentally conscious manner linking together four existing slopes. The signature jump honors Italy’s most decorated downhill racer and Cortina local Kristian Ghedina.

Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Olympia delle Tofane and new Vertigine racecourses – as contrasting in age, style and design as they may be – will be the focal point together, as the world’s premier women and men speed skiers race for medals upon their terrain at the upcoming FIS Alpine Ski World Championship.

Former Italian Ski Team coach and now-Cortina 2021 sport and race director, Alberto Ghezze, embraces the challenge of preparing the two courses, overseeing an on-mountain crew of approximately 450 workers.

“We are starting to inject the slopes with water – this is the most important aspect because you need the right temperatures to do that,” Ghezze tells Ski Racing Media. “We have good days and nights now. We are watering, grooming the slopes and setting up all of the safety nets. Then, we need to start testing the courses and jumps with forerunners.

“We have 20 snowcats, 25 quads and hundreds of shovels – our task is to best prepare the tracks,” he adds. “We will leave a great legacy for the tracks with re-styling and improvements.”

Born and raised in Cortina, Ghezze takes added pride in his work considering the greater significance of the world championship, Feb. 7-21, and what many Italians are hoping will be a return to prominence for the fabled Italian Dolomites ski resort.

“It’s not only the 15 days of races – it’s the master plan for the future of Cortina,” Ghezze said. “This is a big deal – the championships are just the cherry on top of the cake.”

Ghezze assures that Cortina’s racecourses, old and new, will be in mint shape for the world’s racers. However, considering that he and his team are navigating uncharted terrain, he is not overlooking any unforeseen circumstances.

“Without having the Finals, we are a little bit afraid and the other big question with the two course are the flows on the hill,” Ghezze said, referring to the March 2020 FIS World Cup Finals that were cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

“We have some tunnels, but there is a lot to test to see if we’ve planned everything in the right way. The first three days of the Championship will be very interesting.”

Olympia delle Tofane

Female ski racers will make their first turns on the 2,560m (1.6 mile) Olympia delle Tofane downhill track as the world championship opens, Feb. 8, with the Alpine Combined. The super-G follows on Feb. 9 and downhill training begins Feb. 10.

In 1954, the Cortina Ski Club staged the first speed race on the Tofane slope, in preparation for the 1956 Winter Olympics. The inaugural Ilio Colli Cup victory went to French skier René Collet.

At the 1956 Winter Olympics, it was the 20-year-old Austrian Sailer who shined on the Olympia delle Tofane. Sailer completed the exhausting 3,461-meter racecourse in 2:52.2, a staggering 3.5 seconds faster than Raymond Fellay of Switzerland with teammate Anderl Molterer finishing third. Only 47 of 75 starters completed the course.

Downhill races continued on the Olympia delle Tofane until 1965, as one year later the course was deemed too difficult and dangerous, and the annual race was quickly adapted to a giant slalom.

Cortina became a World Cup race venue in 1969, and after numerous modifications, was the site of Ghedina’s first World Cup victory in Feb. 1990. However, it would be the final year that the famed slope served as a men’s World Cup race tour stop, paving the way for annual women’s races kicking off in 1993.

Both Ghezze and Italian Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia, who claimed victory on the Olympia delle Tofane in January 2018, marvel at the unparalleled beauty that never ceases to astound each and every season from the historic slope.

“Cortina and the chairlift that we take for Tofane and the morning course inspection, when dawn breaks and you see the first rays illuminate in orange, this image I carry in my heart, it is pure poetry,” said Goggia before she was injured on Sunday. She will not be able to race in the championships.

“I see that every year the ladies are amazed by the views,” Ghezze said.

“You go up in the early morning, 7 or 7:30 when the sunshine is coming up on the mountain and it is like a paradise.

“It’s difficult to find another place like this and I’m not saying this because I’m from Cortina,” said Ghezze, making brief comparisons to Wengen and Lake Louise. “With a GoPro Camera, you take a 360 degree shot and see all the mountains in Cortina. From every angle, you can find something special – it is unbelievable.”

As World Cup coaches, techs and avid fans will attest, the absolute best way to soak in Cortina’s vast scenery and witness racers taking on the legendary course – specifically its signature Tofane Schuss – is by sipping cappuccino and enjoying a brioche from the sun-drenched deck at the Rifugio Duca d’Aosta.

Vertigine

The Vertigine men’s downhill course kicks off dramatically at an elevation of 2,380 meters and the slope – with its 820-meter (2,755 ft.) vertical drop and maximum gradient of 73 percent – should produce speeds in the vicinity of 130 kilometers-per-hour.

Vertigine (Vertigo in English) clings to the Tofane mountainside and eventually joins the women’s Olympia delle Tofane as it approaches the bottom, both courses concluding in the Rumerlo Finish area. The men’s track runs 2,740m (1.7 miles) in length.

“We’ve tried to do something really exceptional,” Ghezze says about the creation of Vertigine. “We’ve tried to preserve the nature using four existing slopes, trying to connect the technical parts of each slope.”

“Talking about the new Vertigine, the name says it all,” according to Cortina 2021 president Alessandro Benetton. “It gives you a flavor for something very extreme.”

While Vertigine’s much anticipated international debut was spoiled by the coronavirus, organizers managed to stage the Italian National Championships on the new piste last season.

Speculation continues as to just how extreme and demanding Vertigine will actually be for names like Paris, Mayer, Feuz, and others.

“You cannot compare it to Kitzbuhel or Wengen – it is more of a regular slope with steep sections, flat sections, jumps and it will be tough if it is icy and also depending upon the light,” Ghezze said.

Ghezze is confident that Vertigine will pose a worthy and memorable challenge, but he says much of it will depend upon Cortina’s weather.

“If we have good weather, we will have good preparations and a good race,” says the Italian race director. “Normally, the weather in Cortina is stable.”

Launching out of a start house nestled on the mountainside, racers will navigate the technical Valon di Tofane section about 200 meters into their runs before facing the first of five jumps – Vertigine. Next, it’s onto the Canalone Schuss, where a second intermediate time will be clocked. From there, racers will attempt to maintain high speed into the signature Ghedina Jump, just past the midway part of the course.

“Kristian told us you can only use my name for the jump if it is a jump of 50 to 60 meters,” Ghezze says, referring to the 13-time World Cup downhill winner. “We tried to produce a jump that Ghedina can be proud of, but it still has to be tested.”

“The new track Vertigine, for me the level is high,” Ghedina says.

No rest for the weary coming off the Ghedina Jump – three more jumps still await, in addition to the steep Pale di Rumerlo section before one final flight off the finish jump and across the line.

Ghezze predicts that if Vertigine’s surface stays hard, fast and icy on race day, it will favor Italian racers Dominik Paris and Christof Innerhofer, in addition to Swiss Beat Feuz and Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr. If conditions become softer, he says, the races will open up to a wider field.

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