Planica is an alpinevalley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border town Rateče, not far from another well known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south the valley is extended into Tamar, a popular hiking destination. Planica is famous for ski jumping. The first ski jumping hill was constructed before 1930 at the slope of the Poncamountain. In 1934 Stanko Bloudek constructed a larger hill, sometimes also called a mammoth hill. The first human ski jump over 100 metres was achieved here in 1936 by an Austrian Sepp Bradl. In 1969 a new K-185 hill was constructed by Lado and Janez Gorišek. Since 1986, when Matti Nykänen flew 191 metres, the world record hasn't moved from Planica to any other of ski flying hills (e.g. Kulm (Tauplitz or Bad Mitterndorf) in Austria, Harrachov in Czech Republic, Oberstdorf in Germany or Vikersund in Norway).
In 1994 a FinnToni Nieminen was the first human flying over 200 metres. At the moment the world record is 231 metres by Matti Hautamäki of Finland from 2003.
The ski jumping infrastructure is fairly outdated at the moment (ski jumpers must walk uphill for most of their way to the top of a hill).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-120 hill collapsed and hasn't been reconstructed yet due to endless bureaucratic troubles. Anyway FIS still allows competitions at the K-185 hill and it seems that the things will finally start to improve into a modern Nordic sports centre
The Alpinevalley of Planica, symbol of the Slovenian sport and national spirit, is also a proposed venue for individual and team ski jumping events in the current Carinthia-Friuli-Venezia-Guilia-Slovenia joint bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Planica has since become world-renowned since it is in this valley near the Italian-Austrian- Slovenian border that ski jumpers have achieved distances unequalled elsewhere.
Planica, where the first jumps over 100 metres and over 200 metres were made, is justifiably considered the birthplace of the new skiing discipline - ski flying - and it remains the venue boasting the greatest number of world records and competitions.
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