Planica 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.
Planica is famous for ski jumping. The first ski jumping hill was constructed before 1930 at the slope of Mount Ponca. In 1934, Stanko Bloudek built a larger hill, known as the "Bloudek Giant". The first ski jump over 100 m was achieved here in 1936 by the Austrian Sepp Bradl. At the time, this was the biggest jumping hill in the world, sometimes called "the mother of all jumping hills."
In 1969, a new K-185 hill, Letalnica Bratov Gorišek, was built by Lado and Janez Gorišek. Between 1985, when Matti Nykänen flew 191 m, and 2011, new world records have always been set at Planica rather than any other ski jumping hill (e.g., Kulm in Austria, Harrachov in the Czech Republic, Oberstdorf in Germany, or Vikersundbakken in Norway). After it's 2010 rebuilding, Vikersundbakken is the biggest hill in the world, and the current world record is set there.
In 1994, Toni Nieminen of Finland was the first ski jumper in history to jump over 200 m. The hill record is 239 m, set by Bjørn Einar Romøren of Norway in March 2005.
The ski jumping infrastructure is fairly outdated at the moment. In 2001, the Bloudek's old K-130 hill collapsed and has not been rebuilt 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 facility. In August 2008, the Slovenian government accepted a plan to renovate Planica into a modern winter sports facility by 2013.
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