Pragelato Olympic Ski Jumps
The five-hill ski jumping stadium built for the 2006 Turin Olympics at a cost of over 34 million euros; the two Olympic hills have stood unused since the winter of 2009-10, fenced off with the Games branding still on them.
- Region
- Piedmont
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- partially abandoned
- Year opened
- 2004
- Year closed
- 2010 (Olympic large and normal hills)
- Reason for closure
- No use for the venue after the Games, against high maintenance costs. The two Olympic hills fell out of service from the winter of 2009-10 and in 2017 the town council proposed demolishing them outright.
History
The Stadio del Trampolino at Pragelato, in the Chisone valley west of Turin, was built in 2003 and 2004 for the 2006 Winter Olympics, where it hosted the ski jumping and the jumping half of the Nordic combined. Five hills were laid out on the slope: the K125 / HS140 Trampolino Olimpico, a K95 / HS106 normal hill, and junior hills of K60 / HS66, K30 and K15. Reported construction costs exceeded 34 million euros. The two Olympic hills fell out of use from the winter of 2009-10, only three years after the Games, with no competitive programme to justify their upkeep, and in 2017 the town council proposed deconstructing them entirely while preserving the three junior hills. The site has become one of the best known emblems of the Turin 2006 legacy problem: the inrun towers and outruns stand behind fencing with avalanche warnings and keep-out signs, and much of the Torino 2006 branding is still attached, which is what gives the place its museum-like quality in photographs. Note a discrepancy in the record worth flagging for contributors - the ski jumping hill archive still lists the three junior hills as operating, while press coverage describes the whole venue as abandoned and reports the junior hills falling out of use late in the 2010s. The entry is recorded as partially abandoned on that basis. No ski lifts served the complex.
Runs
- Trampolino Olimpico, K125 / HS140 large hill
- K95 / HS106 normal hill
- K60 / HS66 junior hill
- K30 junior hill
- K15 junior hill
Sources and further reading
More in Italy
Location
45.0063, 6.9405