Planica

This article is about a valley in Slovenia. For other uses, see Planica (disambiguation).

Planica (Slovene pronunciation: [plaˈnìːtsa])^[1] is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking destination in Triglav National Park.

View of Planica from Slemenova špica

Letalnica bratov Gorišek during a world cup competition

View of the Planica Nordic Centre from Mt. Ciprnik (July 2016)

Planica is famous for ski jumping.^[2] The first ski jumping hill was constructed before 1930 at the slope of Mount Ponca. In 1933, Ivan Rožman constructed a larger hill, known as the Bloudek Giant (Bloudkova velikanka) after Stanko Bloudek, which later gave rise to ski flying. The venue was completed in 1934.^[3] The first ski jump over 100 metres (330 ft) in history was achieved at the hill in 1936 by Sepp Bradl.^[4] At the time, it was the biggest jumping hill in the world.

In 1969, a new K185 hill, the Gorišek Brothers Flying Hill (Letalnica bratov Gorišek) was built by Vlado and Janez Gorišek.^[5] The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2023 were held in Planica.