You will not get any omicron complaints from me today, no debate about compulsory vaccination, no interpretation of incidences, although the seven-day value in Austria is climbing towards the two-thousand mark.
Let’s talk about what Austria is really good at. As a result, we are no longer concerned with ÖVP scandals, politicians’ chats and outrageously expensive studies by the Ministry of Finance about the animal in Sebastian Kurz (he is apparently associated with squirrels and dolphins, no joke). Or with columns of the long-serving Crown– Columnist Michael Jeannée, who this week told his country which politician was rumoring under his navel.
So, let’s get down to the things that Austria really excels at. These are – in addition to old-age provision, General insecurities, Armin Assinger comments (“Are you dumb”) and actually a thousand other things that are too often forgotten between Corona, Kurz and old men’s humor – still: downhill races.
The best ski race in the universe
If I were Jared Diamond, the legendary geodeterminist, I would now probably claim that the Austrian, due to the geography of his country, cannot help but be able to downhill races because he keeps throwing himself down from the heavenly heights due to an inner urge personal valley, but that’s not the point here.
Because Austria is not only world champion when it comes to taking part, but also when it comes to organizing snow events in general and ski races in particular; so at least. If there’s such a thing as a snowy planet somewhere in this galaxy with long-footed creatures that just spend their lives just gliding along, they’re sure to look to Kitzbuehel at the weekend for the best ski race in the entire universe: the Streif.
About the ecological consequences of the ski circus
In any case, in my adopted home of Tyrol, the race is guaranteed to trigger more rumblings under the navel than all the politicians’ chats, squirrels and Jeannée columns combined – even if this time only a thousand spectators are allowed to come instead of 50,000. The Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won on Friday. The beaten ÖSV riders (Carinthian Matthias Mayer was the best in fourth place) still have a chance to take revenge on the second descent planned for Sunday.
Of course, the unearthly ski escapades on the Streif have very earthly side effects. Florian Gschwandtner, millionaire founder of a fitness self-portrayal app and himself an enthusiastic actor of his state of fitness, recently triggered a debate about the Corona rule compliance of the Kitzbühel restaurateurs and his own need to communicate with an eleven-second party video from après-ski.
Florian Gschwandter, the self-proclaimed nature lover, is said to have enjoyed heli-skiing in Alaska in addition to Kitzbühel parties. This in turn raises the question to what extent North America is actually the better alternative to the prominent destinations in the Alps; considered holistically. If you want to know more about it, I recommend researching the figures on the question of the ecological consequences of skiing.
My colleagues Hans Gasser and Johanna Pfund have shown in two reports about the Kaunertal (SZ Plus) and the Karwendel written down – although there is guaranteed to be more rumbling in social media when you pop the corks in Kitzbühel.
This column will also appear in the Austria Newsletter on January 21, 2022, which bundles the reporting on Austria in the SZ. Register now for free.