Why racers say Beaver Creek SG is ‘the toughest’ on tour

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – Considered by many of the world’s best skiers to be the most difficult super G course on the entire World Cup circuit, the Beaver Creek SG track lived up to this notoriety once again on Thursday as nearly one-quarter of the field failed to finish the race.

The first two racers on course – France’s Matthieu Bailet and Italy’s Dominik Paris – crashed seconds after kicking out of the start house, sliding out after just the seventh gate. By the end of the day, a total of 14 out of the 61 starters ended up on the DNF list.

“It’s not easy, for sure,” Paris said after the race. “It’s not that easy on this hill to push really hard. It comes harder when you’re not in good shape like me. I was right on the limit, then I had this mistake, then tried to push again, but no. The course setting was pretty fast, the snow is fast. It’s very steep, very technical. It’s a difficult super G. One of the nicest but [most] difficult we have.”

Paris believes the Beaver Creek super G course is best suited to giant slalom skiers with quick reflexes. Thursday’s winner, Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, fits this bill, one of very few racers in history to claim back-to-back SG victories here. He nabbed the first World Cup win of his career in Beaver Creek in 2019 and has since landed on several ensuing podiums in both SG and GS, including this season’s GS opener in Soelden.

“Two years ago, it was a lucky punch, it was really [an] on-the-edge run. Today as well,” Odermatt said. “It’s really difficult here as always, but you have to trust your feeling and skiing.”

The Birds of Prey super G start – on a section of course called The Talon, where the steepest part of the slope is more than 33 degrees and the average slope angle over 400 vertical feet is more than 25 degrees – is one of its standout features for difficulty. From here, racers must carry speed through expected and unexpected turns through more steeps in the Pete’s Arena section to the flats and sweeping curves of Russi’s Ride, made more difficult on sunny days like Thursday when the bright light can be momentarily blinding following dark shadows.

“The first 10, 12 gates for me are very difficult,” said Austrian Max Franz, who notched his third DNF in nine starts on the Birds of Prey SG course, although he landed victory here in 2018. “The first two gates are direct and pretty fast, then two gates, three big turns, it makes it more and more difficult.”

After 12 super G races at Beaver Creek, in which he’s landed on the podium twice and missed a medal by .03 seconds with a fourth place at the 2015 World Championships, Norwegian veteran Kjetil Jansrud, who ended up 14th Thursday, says the course never gets easier.

“What’s good with Beaver Creek is that the downhill has a beautiful flow to it. The super G, it depends on the set. If you set a super G that’s difficult, it’s really difficult. If you’re a little on the lucky side with the set, then it might flow as well. It’s one of the toughest if not the toughest super Gs we do every year,” Jansrud said.

As far as sets go, Thursday’s ranks on Jansrud’s short list for tough.

“It’s one of the most challenging I’ve ever skied here, due to the fact that the speed picks up and then how it’s set with the rolls. You have to be really on point on your line to make it,” he said. “I made a couple of mistakes. Looking at my run today, I can concur on it being the most difficult. We’ll see with a new chance tomorrow. One thing you learn getting older, there’s always a new chance. I just have to reset and go again.”