Königssee Ice Track - Berchtesgaden, Germany
High pressure on iced track
As part of its cultural sponsorship program, Kärcher cleaned the Königssee Ice Track. The facility is the first of its kind to be built for competitive sport and, thanks to regular renovation work, is one of today's most technically sophisticated tracks for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge competitions. For two weeks, a six-man team from Kärcher gave this famous structure a deep clean. Kärcher also provided the necessary ultra pressure unit for the subsequent cleaning of the concrete.
"We are delighted to be able to support such an important sports facility with our cleaning technology and our many years of experience", said Christian May, Managing Director Kärcher Germany. "Sport is important to society. It not only makes a contribution to fitness and health, but also promotes values such as top performance, ambition, discipline and dedication – virtues which are also of great importance to us at Kärcher."
The inner and outer walls of the track with a length of almost 1,800 metres are made of concrete and each of the 18 bends is covered by a metal roof. The Kärcher cleaning specialists used two types of high-pressure units to remove various types of environmental pollution which had accumulated on the walls and roofs: the concrete surfaces of the track were cleaned at 200 bar (20 MPa) with HD 10/23-4 S cold-water high-pressure cleaners with a flow rate of 1,000 litres and dirt blasters. To remove moss, lichens and leaves from the metal roof surfaces of the track, the Kärcher team chose HDS 10/20-4 S hot-water high-pressure cleaners.
Cleaning the track revealed the need for renovation, since it brought to light cracks and discolorations in the concrete, showing where coolant was leaking from the underlying pipelines. The affected areas were exposed over a period of about three weeks using the EcoMaster MK 3, an ultra-high pressure water stream system from Woma, a Kärcher Group company.
About the Königssee ice track
the Königssee bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track was built in 1969 as the first artificially refrigerated ice track in the world. Much construction and renovation work has been carried out since that time. Most recently, on the occasions of the 2004 and 2011 Bob and Skeleton World Championships, an expansive new starting area was built and the lower part of the track, including the exit and finish areas, were completely redesigned and renovated. This makes the Königssee ice track one of today's most modern and technically most sophisticated bobsleigh and luge tracks on the World Cup circuit, with international bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions held there between November and February every year. Training events or competitions take place every day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Spectators can stand right next to the track and experience the thrill as the athletes speed past. Guided tours of the Königssee track take place twice a week and the more daring winter sports fans can hurtle down the track at 120 km/h in a four-man bob steered by a professional pilot. On 30 and 31 January 2016, the 46th FIL Luge World Championship will be held at Königssee, returning to the foot of the Watzmann for the first time since 1999.
