"Matterhorn blockade"

“Zermatt? That was no longer an issue for us anyway”

ÖSV group coach Christoph Alster (r.) with Mirjam Puchner.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The decision by Zermatt Bergbahnen AG to no longer allow World Cup skiers to train on the Matterhorn from this summer has recently caused a stir. ÖSV group coach Christoph Alster, who looks after Nina Ortlieb, Ariane Rädler and Co, was unperturbed. He had already "finished" with Zermatt beforehand.

After the cross-border Matterhorn downhill had to be canceled in the last two years due to weather conditions, the International Ski Federation (FIS) removed the race from the calendar for the coming season. The reaction: Zermatt Bergbahnen AG will only make training slopes available to young Swiss skiers this summer and fall. A move that caused a stir in the ski world. Germany's Alpine boss Wolfi Maier even spoke of "blackmail" in the Swiss newspaper "Blick".

Rescheduled even before the "Matterhorn blockade"
The Austrian Ski Association takes a more relaxed view of the somewhat childish decision by the Valais team. For Christoph Alster from Vorarlberg, group coach of the World Cup speed girls around Nina Ortlieb, Ari Rädler and Magdalena Egger, nothing has changed as a result. 
"Zermatt wasn't an issue for us anyway. We hadn't planned to go there in preparation," emphasizes the 44-year-old. "Even in previous years, we weren't particularly happy with the conditions and the slopes provided."

New paths lead to New Zealand
That's why Alster and his ladies will be training on the Stelvio Pass in South Tyrol ahead of the upcoming World Championship winter and then - if everything works out as hoped - will break new ground for summer training and move to New Zealand.