Val d'Isere's Face Bellevarde tailor made for turners

The Face Olympique Bellevarde is open again after 16 years of racing dormancy. Built for the 1992 Albertville Olympics, the downhill course at Val d’Isere, France, has been called a lot of things, many of them less than complimentary, but there is no doubt it is a test.
    The primary feature is Ancolie Pass, where racers will be forced to slow for tight turns between rock outcroppings. It is spectacular looking passage. The Face is a technical course demanding strong turning abilities. Bernard Russi designed it according to the directives he was given: that spectators in the village should be able to see most of the run. That limited the choice of mountain, and the steepness of what was available meant a straighter speed track was out of the question.
THE FACE Olympique Bellevarde is open again after 16 years of racing dormancy. Built for the 1992 Albertville Olympics, the downhill course at Val d’Isere, France, has been called a lot of things, many of them less than complimentary, but there is no doubt it is a test.
    The primary feature is Ancolie Pass, where racers will be forced to slow for tight turns between rock outcroppings. It is spectacular looking passage.
    The Face is a technical course demanding strong turning abilities. Bernard Russi designed it according to the directives he was given: that spectators in the village should be able to see most of the run. That limited the choice of mountain, and the steepness of what was available meant a straighter speed track was out of the question.
    The face starts steeply indeed, with a 63-degree drop out of the start house, described as an elevator shaft by some. That’s all business as usual for World Cup downhillers, but then come the turns, a 110-degree right, followed by a 90-degree left and then into the Ancolie Pass, a narrow 40-foot wide twisting path through huge jagged mountain crags. The exit runs smack into a 150-foot jump where many an inexperienced Olympic skier spent time getting acquainted with the nets. The race should be won somewhere within that sequence, but the remainder needs to be controlled by the course setter, and that requires turns back and forth across what is normally a heavily moguled run.
    The first training run was a nightmare for gate-keepers with more than half the field disqualifying and winner Didier Cuche suggesting his time was due more to good improvising than good line choice. He said he spent the last half of the race braking to avoid missing gates. The times, despite a shortened course, were as lengthy as any downhill this season save the Lauberhorn at Wengen despite being 40 percent shorter.
    The downhill winner will definitely have some turning skills and the slalom skiers have to be seriously considered as combined contenders.
    Val d’Isere will host the 2009 World Alpine Ski Championships, so this season’s World Cup stop will abound in activities — including a fire-eater and man on stilts in the finish arena — as the community gears up for the big event.

Women: St. Moritz redux
The women return to St. Moritz, which they visited in December for races that replaced Val d’Isere after winds blew the snow off the upper reaches of their course.
    St. Moritz was very kind to Anja Paerson in December as she won both the downhill and the super G for her only two wins of the season. Lindsey Vonn was second in the downhill and Emily Brydon second in the super G, heightening expectations for them as well. The first training run was taken by Brydon with U.S. Ski Teamer Leanne Smith a surprising second. Although the women had just one downhill and two super Gs in January, February promises three downhills, offering the opportunity for the speed skiers to make up ground on the technicians in the season-long battle for the World Cup overall trophy.