Biathlon in Oberhof: Arocs shovel snow
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Eight Arocs tipper trucks work away for the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof.
The indoor ski slope was one of the two snow depots.
MirrorCam provides bright, clear images.
Snow is essential at the 2021 Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof and a lot of preparation work had to be done to ensure the races went off smoothly.
In December there was no snow, and January also started off too mild. But the organisers had taken precautions: since 2013 there has been a storage pond to supply the water for the snow blowers. Here quantities of snow were busily created and then stored in the depot and the indoor ski slope.
Thousands of truckloads of snow.
So it was only a short distance to transport the snow onto the ski slopes. Still, it was a huge challenge: “We had to shift about 30,000 cubic metres of the white stuff,” says Christian Schleicher of Daimler Truck Sales Management South (Bavaria and Württemberg). He has volunteered at the World Championships for many years now.
“For us, things started on 26th December,” says Christian. “The ski slope had to be ten kilometres long, six metres wide at the end, and at least 60 centimetres deep. Over ten days, we did about 1500 journeys.”
The working vehicles came from the Mercedes‑Benz Application Information Centre (BIC) and CharterWay, and ranged from Arocs 6×4 three-axle trucks to 8×8 four-axle vehicles. The vehicles were ideally prepared for the cramped, slippery, steep terrain thanks to their high performance engine brake, differential locks and turbo retarder clutch.
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Oberhof has been a location for the Biathlon World Championships for decades and is considered particularly challenging. The "Wolfsschlucht" ("Wolf Gorge") used to be particularly notorious – the skiers could often reach speeds of 80 km/h. And that was on narrow Nordic skis!
This year, the ascent to the Birxsteig was particularly feared. The athletes here had always relied on the spectators to cheer them on. It had been rebuilt, making it even longer and steeper. The spectators were lacking – due to the corona restrictions – and were sorely missed.
Total commitment to sports: Christian (2nd from left) and his workmates.
It’s snowing!
At about the halfway stage of the World Championships came the surprise: it began to snow! And it snowed in earnest. It snowed so much that the Arocs then had to take truckloads of the long-awaited fresh snow away again. Christian: “That meant about another hundred truckloads again so that the competition terrain could be used.”
For Christian, the MirrorCam was a real blessing: “Amongst other things, we had to reverse up to two kilometres on narrow forest tracks. MirrorCam with its special manoeuvring view and a bright, high-contrast image provides brilliant support. And because there are no mirrors in the way, the view forwards is much better too.”
Christian's summary after the event: “The 2021 Biathlon was very special – and not just because of the pandemic. Anyway, our Arocs showed that they can cope with all difficulties even in those extreme situations. They mastered all the tasks splendidly.”
Photos: Christian Schleicher
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18 comments
und das Vidio...Da wäre ich sehr gerne dabei gewesen !!
Einfach sagenhaft und natürlich 2 👍👍nach Oben.
und das Vidio...Da wäre ich sehr gerne dabei gewesen !!
Einfach sagenhaft und natürlich 2 👍👍nach Oben.
Die High Performance Engine brake kenne ich noch gar nicht aber die TurboRetarder Kupplung das war mega krass
Die High Performance Engine brake kenne ich noch gar nicht aber die TurboRetarder Kupplung das war mega krass
Dafür hätte ich mir auch Urlaub genommen :-)
Dafür hätte ich mir auch Urlaub genommen :-)
Da wäre ich auch gerne mit gefahren.
Da wäre ich auch gerne mit gefahren.
Schöne Eindrücke festgehalten in Film und Bild.
Mehr als 1500 Fahrten? Mächtiger Aufwand... hoffentlich hat's auch Spaß gemacht.
Gruß
Klaus
Schöne Eindrücke festgehalten in Film und Bild.
Mehr als 1500 Fahrten? Mächtiger Aufwand... hoffentlich hat's auch Spaß gemacht.
Gruß
Klaus
Gerade bei difusem Licht kommt die Mirrow Cam an ihre Grenzen...
Gerade bei difusem Licht kommt die Mirrow Cam an ihre Grenzen...
Einsatz für den Sport!!!
👍👍👍⛟⛄😷⛷
Einsatz für den Sport!!!
👍👍👍⛟⛄😷⛷