Aigner-Schanze

The Aigner-Schanzen, now called Energie AG-Skisprung Arena, stand on gentle slopes above the village of Hinzenbach in Upper Austria’s Hausruck region. The complex contains four jumps: small plastic-covered hills of sizes ten, twenty and forty metres, plus a larger eighty-five-metre hill. All the jumps use synthetic mats so training can continue even when snow is scarce. The site has a long history of ski jumping that began in 1933 with straw landings. After the war the first organised competitions took place, still on straw. A proper forty-metre jump replaced the old hill in 1958, and the first plastic landing came in 1980. In 1996 a twenty-metre hill was added for youngsters, and in 2010 the eighty-five-metre HS 90 hill was completed and inaugurated with Austrian championships. Visitors walk past the rows of matted jumps and can watch training sessions or summer competitions. The eighty-five-metre hill dominates the scene, its inrun tower rising above the trees. On clear days the view stretches across the Hausruck plateau towards the Alps. The arena is quiet outside event days, making it easy to inspect the jumps at close range and feel the scale of the sport.