Planica

For other uses, see Planica (disambiguation).

File:Planica valley.jpg

The Planica Valley

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During a World Cup competition

File:Planica ski jumps.jpg

All hills, including the collapsed one

Planica (Slovene pronunciation: [plaˈnìːtsa]) is an alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking destination in Triglav National Park.

Planica is famous for ski jumping. The first ski jumping hill was constructed before 1930 at the slope of Mount Ponca. In 1934, Stanko Bloudek built a larger hill, known as the "Bloudek Giant." The first ski jump over 100 m was achieved here in 1936 by the Austrian Sepp Bradl. At the time, this was the biggest jumping hill in the world, sometimes called "the mother of all jumping hills."

In 1969, a new K-185 hill, the Gorišek Brothers Ski Flying Hill (Slovene: Letalnica Bratov Gorišek), was built by Lado and Janez Gorišek. Between 1985, when Matti Nykänen flew 191 m, and 2011, new world records had always been set at Planica rather than any other ski jumping hill (e.g., Kulm in Austria, Harrachov in the Czech Republic, Oberstdorf in Germany, or Vikersund Hill in Norway). After its 2010 rebuilding, Vikersund Hill is the biggest hill in the world, and the current world record was set there.

In 1994, Toni Nieminen of Finland was the first ski jumper in history to jump over 200 m. The hill record is 248.5 m, set by Peter Prevc of Slovenia in March 2015.

The ski jumping infrastructure was recently completely renovated and the old K-130 hill was rebuilt. After the 2012/13 season is finished, work will start on the K-185 hill, making it the biggest ski jumping hill in the world once again. The first two hills have been completed.

External links

• Planica.info
• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons