Chairlift Oberhof
Parallel to the legendary double ski jump in the winter sports resort of Oberhof in eastern-Germany’s Thuringian Forest, a new chairlift has been built to take ski jumpers up to the renovated ski jump facility. HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Heidelberger Beton pumped the concrete for the foundations over long distances and inaccessible terrain.
Recently, the Polish, Norwegian, and Swiss national team of Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping training sessions have been held here in Oberhof. Stars like Carina Vogt, German Olympic gold medallist and winner of the Nordic World Championship gold medal 2015 in Falun, Sweden, have also already taken advantage of the chance to try the double jump at Kanzlersgrund. Whether athlete or tourist, there is no place for fear of heights when trundling along 20 meters above the slopes in the direction of the summit. But, ski jumpers are not exactly known for being afraid of flying high! “During training, another jumper shoots down the HS100 ramp, which was put into operation last year, every 20 seconds,” reports Jörg Peter, construction coordinator at the Winter Sports Center Oberhof in Thuringia.
Oberhof is a legendary winter sports resort. As far back as 1906, the first ski jump made it possible to leap skyward across the snow-covered landscape. Today, the modern ski jump facility is in operation year round. In summer, green, irrigated mats provide the necessary gliding ability and supplement the ceramic run-up, which can be cooled in winter to create an ice track. In order to increase the training intensity and to enable a quick sequence of jumps, ski jumpers are transported uphill by means of a chair lift. But the previous chairlift was getting on in years and so, under the direction of Jörg Peter, who is not only responsible for new buildings but also has to keep all sports facilities in order, a modern two-seater lift was built. It runs over a distance of more than 300 meters parallel to the jumps and the runs on the jumping slope. The 2-CLF type chairlift runs from the valley station (altitude 738 meters) to the mountain station at 842 meters above sea level.
Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH from Wolfurt, Austria, is one of the few specialist companies experienced in ropeway construction. The company WBB Bau & Beton GmbH from Umpferstedt was engaged for the foundation work and surface reinforcement, retaining wall, and paving work. Building a chairlift is far from a mundane task. And so it was a challenge for the company to build the concrete foundations on impassable and mountainous terrain with few access roads. Thomas Endisch, site manager at WBB, and his team had to reach the three intermediate supports, which carry the ropes of the chairlift system between the bottom and top station, by foot or by walking excavator. The concrete was pumped into the formwork for the concrete foundations using large boom pumps from Heidelberger Beton, with booms measuring 52 and 42 meters. In some cases, hoses had to be used over longer distances. The quality of normal concrete from Heidelberger Beton GmbH, produced with cement from the nearby delivery plant in Lengfurt, was sufficient for this logistically demanding long-distance construction project. The formulation with AB 16 grain-size distribution was created with a superplasticizer for pumping through long hose lines.
From 2016 onwards, the organisation Zweckverband Wintersportzentrum Oberhof will take over the ski jump from the original owner, the town of Oberhof. In addition, a replacement for the outdated trainer and referee tower will also be built at the site. Here again, concrete will be pumped over long distances, and the know-how of experienced concrete specialists will be in demand.
