THE HAHNENKAMM RACES

Late January · Kitzbühel, Tyrol · Three Days · Since 1931 · The Snow

Arranged by the Court

A downhill racer airborne on the Streif above the finish arena at the Hahnenkamm Races, Kitzbühel — I · The Downhill

Dates: 22 to 24 January 2027
WhereKitzbühel
DressCountry attire
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn January Kitzbühel reaches about 2°C by day and minus 6°C at night, and rain or snow falls on about one day in three.
The tableThe Court dines afterwards at Stanglwirt, Kaiserweg 1, Going am Wilden Kaiser (stanglwirt.com).
Of noteTickets are sold only in advance, and there is no sale at the course. The Kitzbüheler Ski Club is the only official ticket seller.
In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP

The Hahnenkamm is three days of ski racing at the end of January and the hardest downhill in the world. The Super-G is run on the Friday, the downhill on the Saturday, the slalom on the Sunday. Tens of thousands stand on the mountain for each of them.

The town beneath it is medieval and walled, and for one weekend a year it holds a great many more people than it was built for.

The Streif

The course is the reason anyone comes. It runs three thousand three hundred metres from a start house at 1,665 metres down to a finish at 805, dropping 860 metres in under two minutes. The name is an old German word for a streak.

Seconds out of the gate comes the Mausefalle, the mousetrap. The gradient there reaches eighty-five per cent and a racer leaves the ground for up to eighty metres before landing on it. Then the Steilhang, where the race is usually won or lost, the Brückenschuss, the Seidlalmsprung, the Hausbergkante, and a traverse into the finish jump. Every section has a name and every name is known.

Speeds pass 140 kilometres an hour. Fritz Strobl went down it in 1997 in a minute and 51.58 seconds, and nobody has beaten it since.

Weather often takes the top of the course away. Some years the start is lowered, and the Mausefalle, the thing everyone came for, is not raced at all.

A racer carving a gate in the Super-G at the Hahnenkamm Races, Kitzbühel — III · The Super-G

The Races

Kitzbühel has raced since 1906. The first Hahnenkamm was run in 1931 on a different slope, and the first on the Streif in 1937, which took the winner three minutes and fifty-three seconds.

Anderl Molterer, a local, won nine times across the disciplines, more than anyone before or since. Kitzbühel named him its Hahnenkamm legend of the century, and he died in 2023. Toni Sailer won five and went on to sing and act. Didier Cuche holds the downhill record with five, three of them consecutive, the last of them at thirty-seven.

The course has broken people too. Helicopters stand by, and they are used.

A slalom racer celebrating in the finish at the Hahnenkamm Races, Kitzbühel — IV · The Slalom

What to Know

Saturday is the downhill and the day. Friday’s Super-G is quieter and you will see more of it.

The finish area is a stadium and its tickets go early. The better view is up the mountain. Walk to the Steilhang and watch them come through it from a few metres away.

Kitzbühel is a town of eight thousand that takes in many times that number for the weekend. Rooms are held a year ahead, and the ones that are not are priced accordingly.

A great deal of party attaches to the racing, some of it very good and some of it a Munich nightclub relocated to the Alps. Choose carefully.

The mistake is watching it on the screens in the finish area. You can do that at home. Go and stand somewhere the course is steep enough to frighten you.

Questions

When are the Hahnenkamm Races in 2027?

The 87th Hahnenkamm Races are held in Kitzbühel from 18 to 24 January 2027. Downhill training runs from Tuesday to Thursday, with free admission. The Super-G is on Friday 22 January, the downhill on the Streif on Saturday 23 January, and the slalom, in two runs on the Ganslern, on Sunday 24 January.

How much are tickets to the Hahnenkamm?

Tickets are sold only in advance, never on site. General standing tickets come from the organisers’ online shop, nine at most per race day; for 2027 an adult pays €35 on Friday, €45 on Saturday and €35 on Sunday. Children born in 2009 or later enter free with photo identification. The organisers are the only official ticket provider.

How do you get grandstand or VIP tickets for the Hahnenkamm?

Grandstand, zone and group tickets are sold only on request from the organisers’ ticket office. For 2027, zone tickets cost €115 on Friday and Sunday and €190 on Saturday, and grandstand seats €230 and €380, each with snacks, drinks and a present. VIP hospitality at the KITZ-RACE-Club is sold separately by the marketing partner WWP.

Where is the best place to watch the Hahnenkamm?

The organisers name the finish area, where the last 35 seconds of each race are in view and video walls cover the whole course. The start and the Mausefalle can be reached by the Hahnenkammbahn with a lift ticket as well as a race ticket, and the Streif can be watched on skis from the Mausefalleboden, Seidlalm and Oberhausberg.

What should you wear to the Hahnenkamm?

The organisers publish no dress code, but they require winter-proof footwear with a sturdy sole wherever a spectator stands, since the course and finish area are natural winter terrain. Large bags and outside food and drink are not permitted. The Court wears country attire.

The finish arena beneath the Hausberg at the Hahnenkamm Races in Kitzbühel — V · The Finish Arena

The Court

The Hahnenkamm is not the Court’s own. Tickets, a place in the finish stadium and rooms in the town are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the day around it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. The rooms are the difficult part, and they are taken early.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.