THE LAUBERHORN

Mid January · Wengen, Bernese Oberland · Three Days · Since 1930 · The Snow

Arranged by the Court

A racer in the air off the Hundschopf jump on the Lauberhorn course above Wengen — I · The Hundschopf

Dates: 15 to 17 January 2027
WhereWengen
DressCountry attire
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn January the valley at Interlaken reaches about 3°C by day and minus 3°C at night, and Wengen, higher up, runs colder; snow falls on about one day in three.
The tableThe Court dines afterwards at Chez Meyer's, Hotel Regina, Wengen (hotelregina.ch).
Of noteTickets are sold online only, and each includes the train from Interlaken Ost.
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 Lauberhorn is three days of World Cup skiing above Wengen in the middle of January, and the oldest race on the World Cup circuit. Its downhill is the longest on the circuit and the fastest.

It falls the week before Kitzbühel. Between them, the two make the fortnight that settles most reputations in the sport.

The Lauberhorn start above Wengen beneath the north face of the Eiger — II · The Start

The Course

Four and a half kilometres from a start at two thousand three hundred metres, taking two and a half minutes. That is thirty to forty-five seconds longer than a standard downhill, and nothing else on the circuit asks a skier to hold a tuck for so long.

The Haneggschuss is the fastest stretch in World Cup racing anywhere. A Frenchman was measured on it at a hundred and sixty-two kilometres an hour in 2013, and nobody has gone quicker since, on any course.

The Hundschopf is the jump everyone knows: a blind take-off through a gap between two rocks, forty metres of air, and a turn waiting at the landing. The pitch there reaches forty-one degrees, the steepest section on the circuit.

The course also crosses a bridge at eighty kilometres an hour and passes through a tunnel beneath the viaduct of a mountain railway. It was laid on the terrain rather than cut into it, which is why it does these things.

Kristian Ghedina’s record from 1997 stood until Marco Odermatt beat it in 2025.

The Sunday slalom of the Lauberhorn races on the course above Wengen — III · The Slalom

The Village

Wengen has no cars. It sits on a shelf above the Lauterbrunnen valley and is reached only by rack railway.

Which means everyone arrives the same way, on the same trains, and walks from the station. The racers go up by railway to Kleine Scheidegg and take a chairlift to the start hut, on the same line the spectators use.

All of it happens beneath the north face of the Eiger, with the Mönch and the Jungfrau alongside. Photographs do not manage it.

The races were run through the Second World War, because Switzerland was neutral and the trains kept running.

The crowd in the finish arena of the Lauberhorn races at Wengen — IV · The Finish

What to Know

Ernst Gertsch, a local skier, put on the first races in February 1930 with a budget of five hundred francs. They have been run in most years since. Heavy snow stopped them in 1983, a fatal crash in training in 1991, and the pandemic in 2021.

Saturday is the downhill. Sunday is the slalom, on a different course above the village.

Tens of thousands come, and a good many stay down in the valley and ride up for the day. Beds in the village go a long way ahead.

The viewing worth having is not at the finish. Walk up to the Hundschopf and watch them come out from between the rocks.

The mistake is choosing between Wengen and Kitzbühel. They are consecutive weekends on the same circuit and the two courses ask opposite questions of a skier. Do both.

Questions

When is the Lauberhorn in 2027?

The 97th International Lauberhorn Races are held at Wengen from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 January 2027: the super-G on the Friday, the Lauberhorn downhill on the Saturday and the slalom on the Sunday. Downhill training runs from Tuesday 12 to Thursday 14 January, and the Patrouille Suisse flies on the race days.

How do you get tickets to the Lauberhorn?

Tickets are sold only online, through a booking profile, and each winter’s sale opens in early November. As of October 2026, a 2027 standard ticket costs 95 francs for Friday, 105 for Saturday and 65 for Sunday, or 210 for all three days. Under-sixes enter free. Tickets resold at unofficial prices are void and may be blocked.

Where can you watch the Lauberhorn from?

A standard ticket lets the holder choose the start, the Girmschbiel fan zone on the Wengernalp, or the finish area at Innerwengen, and change between them during the races. The start may be reached only with skis and a ski pass. The finish grandstand is standing room, with no seats and no camping chairs allowed.

How do you get to Wengen for the Lauberhorn?

By train. Travel from Interlaken Ost is included in every Lauberhorn ticket, by Lauterbrunnen to Wengen for the finish, or by Grindelwald Terminal to the Wengernalp. Paid car parks are at Wilderswil, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. Late trains run from Wengen on the Friday and Saturday nights, the last at 2.10 in the morning.

What should you wear to the Lauberhorn?

The organisers publish no dress code. They point out that the races take place in the ski area, depend on the weather, and call for winter clothing and suitable footwear. The Court wears country attire, with soles fit for snow.

Six red and white jets trailing smoke fly in formation beside a white airliner across a snow-covered mountain face, the race course curving across the slope below (2018) — V · The Patrouille Suisse

The Court

The Lauberhorn is not the Court’s own. Places at the finish, rooms in the village and passage on the railway are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. Wengen and Kitzbühel fall a week apart, and the Court can put the two together.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.