A citizen's decision in Swiss St. Moritz was made
in favor of the new construction of Olympic hill.
Thus the way was cleared for the new HS 106, which
shall be ready by 2015-2016.
Ski jumping: St. Moritz in favor of ski jumping
hill project
St. Moritz wants to continue its long ski jumping
tradition. The citizens voted for the construction
of a new ski jumping facility including an Olympic
size hill.
The loan for the new construction of 11.5 million
Swiss Franks and a necessary partial revision of
the town development plan were agreed on with 932
to 705 votes. The turnout of voters was 62.2 per
cent. All in all St. Moritz is going to spend 8.2
million Franks for the new-construction, since federal
and state funds are sharing 3.3 million Franks.
At Klingenthal, where the Swiss ski jumpers participated
in the World Cup opening, the decision was well
received. "I did not expect such a clear vote.
The handicap of our discipline is that there is
only a small group of benefitors. Ski jumping is
not open to anyone. However there is a strong support
by the public", said Berni Scho"dler,
native of St. Moritz. "The ski jump is especially
important for the second row of ski jumpers. They
will have one more possibility to jump, test material
under snow conditions", added the discipline
leader of ski jumping at Swiss Ski. "At St.
Moritz we have a very active group in ski jumping.
The ski club will also benefit of the new ski jumps
by attracting new ski jumpers."
St. Moritz wants to try to set foot also as an organizers.
There is a large group of people targeting this
aim. "We can not say yet whether St. Moritz
will come back into the World Cup calendar. An organizing
commitee has to be set up and must become known.
If St. Moritz can offer an attractive product, it
will have good chances", says Scho"dler.
A possible scenario would be a season opening of
Nordic skiers at Engadin.
The new facility is going to replace the more than
80 year old Olympiaschanze by 2015-2016. It had
to be closed due to security reasons in 2006. The
new-construction will include a normal hill with
hill size of 106 meters and three smaller bakken.
Thus ski jumping on national and international class
shall be brought back to St. Moritz. New opportunities
for tourism might also open up. Due to the snow-security
of upper Engadin, the new hill should be well-frequented
by foreign teams for training camps.