Mikaela Shiffrin Returns to German Indoor Ski Center for Summer Training

Mikaela Shiffrin shared some snaps from her summer training in Germany. | Image: Mikaela Shiffrin Instagram

Mikaela Shiffrin shared images on social media from her recent trip to Hamburg, Germany, where the U.S. ski racer was training with her team. Hamburg is a staple on her race training calendar, as the American athlete visited the Hamburg indoor ski center last August as well.

Related: [VIDEO] Mikaela Shiffrin Shares Insight into Training Day at German Indoor Ski Center

Alpincenter Hamburg-Wittenburg in Germany is Europe’s largest indoor ski area and offers dedicated race training during the summer months from the end of May to mid-October. The race training features up to six water-injected Slalom slopes on a course equipped with B-nets. The indoor ski center features state-of-the-art ski runs in line with FIS standards that offer varying terrain. Ski racers can get about 10 runs in per hour, offering great training opportunities. In two training sessions in one day, athletes can get between 600 and 800 Slalom Gates under their belt. The center can also facilitate Giant Slalom sections but the slope is not long enough for a full Giant Slalom run.

Related: Top 7 Largest Indoor Ski Areas in the World

The Hamburg indoor ski center covers an area of around 30,000 square meters (7.5 acres) of skiable terrain. The area has two lifts that serve 0.4 miles of trails, and features a 184 foot vertical, allowing for a variety in gradient.

Indoor ski centers are well suited to training technical disciplines. While they do not provide the length or vertical required for speed disciplines (Downhill and Super-G), Slalom and Giant Slalom can be very well trained indoors. Indoor ski centers offer a great training option for professional ski racers, especially in August, when many summer ski areas on Europe’s glaciers are getting too soft due to the prevailing summer heat. America only has one indoor ski center on the continent, the BigSnow indoor ski area in New Jersey.