Planica

Description:

Planica is the western most valley in the northwest part of Julian Alps. It is also refferred to as The valley under Ponce or the valley of ski jumps. At its end it traverses into one of the most beautiful parts of Slovenia - Tamar. Ponce (2274m) on the west side, Cipernik and Mojstrovka on the east and Jalovec rising over Tamar make the borderline of the valley of ski jumps. On the slope just above Tamar is the well of Nadiža, the first of Sava Dolinka's wells. As a distinctively alpine valley, Planica has a mountain climate with long, cold and snowy winters. The nearest town is Rateče, above which at a distance of approximately 3 kilometres is the triple border of Austria-Italy-Slovenia. The next closest town is 11 kilometres away - Kranjska gora, which is famous for its alpine skiing contests for Vitranc trophy. The only way to get to Planica with a vehicle, is to take a road that branches off in Rateče. Access from Slovenia is via Ljubljana (100 km) - Kranj - Jesenice - Kranjska Gora - Rateče. Visitors from Austria can take the Karavanke tunel or Korensko sedlo border cross and proceed towards Rateče, the ones from Italy can take the road from Trevisio to the border crossing in Rateče. 

In the summer the average temperature is 11,8 °C and the average winter temperature is -2,6 °C.

Planica is famous for ski jumping. The first ski jumping hill was constructed before 1930 at the slope of the Ponca mountain. In 1934, Stanko Bloudek constructed a larger hill, sometimes also called the mammoth hill. The first ski jump over 100 metres was achieved here in 1936 by the Austrian Sepp Bradl. This was, at the time, the biggest jumping hill in the world, sometimes called "the mother of all jumping hills". In 1994, Toni Nieminen of Finland was the first ski jumper in history to jump over 200 metres. The current world record stands at 239 metres, set by Bjørn Einar Romøren of Norway in 2005.The ski jumping infrastructure is fairly outdated at the moment (ski jumpers must walk uphill for most of their way to the top of a hill). In 2001, the Bloudek's old K-130 hill collapsed and has not been reconstructed yet due to endless bureaucratic troubles. Regardless, the International Ski Federation still allows competitions at the K-185 hill, and many are hopeful that Planica will mature into a modern winter sports centre. In August 2008, the Slovenian government accepted a plan to renovate Planica into a modern winter sports centre until 2020 (with the centre to be able to host the 2010 championships).