La face de Bellevarde
| La face de Bellevarde | |
 La face de Bellevarde |
|
| place |
 Val d'Isère
|
| mountain | Rocher de Bellevarde |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 26 '43 " N , 6 ° 58' 25" E |
| World Cup downhill 2009 | |
|---|---|
| begin | 2807 m |
| target | 1848 m |
| Height difference | 959 m |
| Route length | 2998 m |
| Maximum gradient | 71% |
| Average gradient | 32.1% |
La face de Bellevarde ( French : The [mountain] wall of Bellevarde ) is a black ski slope in Val-d'Isère , France . Among other things, the men's downhill runs at the 1992 Olympic Games and the Alpine World Ski Championships in 2009 were held here, as well as the men's World Cup races in Val d'Isère since the 2007/2008 Ski World Cup . The route leads from Rocher de Bellevarde down into the Isère valley . It is the only downhill piste where you can look straight to the finish from the start. Spectators can see 90 percent of the route from the valley.
In contrast to the Oreiller-Killy slope (OK slope) , on which the first snow criterion traditionally takes place (or until 2007/2008 for men), La face de Bellevarde is extremely steep, winding and has only one real sliding piece .
history
The slope was designed by Bernhard Russi for the 1992 Winter Olympics. A few rock blasts were necessary for the realization, which caused criticism from environmentalists .
The dress rehearsal for the World Cup had to be canceled due to the weather, so the Olympic Downhill on February 9, 1992 was the first major competition on La face de Bellevarde . Patrick Ortlieb won the gold medal in this discipline. Josef Polig won in the combination , Kjetil André Aamodt in the Super-G and Alberto Tomba in the giant slalom . The slalom was driven in Les Menuires .
Until 2008 only one FIS race and one French championship were held on La face de Bellevarde . In view of the great effort involved in preparing the slopes, which has to be done mostly manually due to the steepness of the terrain, there have been no more descents since 1992. In the 2007/2008 World Cup season , only one super combination could be carried out - the downhill run that was also planned was canceled. At the 2009 World Championships, all men's races as well as women's slalom and giant slalom took place on La face de Bellevarde .
Due to the changed ski equipment, the course had to be adapted to the descent in order to reduce the speed through numerous tight curves. The running time in 2009 was around 20 seconds longer than in 1992 and the average speed of around 80 km / h for a descent was very low. For this reason, the route has been heavily criticized by the downhill specialists.
Routing
The descent starts on the Mur de Bellevarde and begins with a long slide. At the end of a narrow left-hand bend, which follows Petit Col . After the jump Bosse Catherine follows a steep, winding section of the route which, after a 180-degree bend, where the Super-G starts, turns into an incline. Then you come to the Face de Bellevarde over flat terrain . The Passage de la Buse is followed by the Passage de L'Ancolie , which is named after the alpine flower Columbine . It is steep, narrow and leads through two rocks. Then it goes relatively flat through the Vasque Olympique section . Last comes the long jump Bosse Cathiard with the long target shot.
