February 02, 2016 – The 44. König Ludwig Lauf has been cancelled due to insufficient natural snow. Persistent above-freezing temperatures have made it impossible to prepare the race route, many kilometers of which are completely without snow cover. Therefore, the organizers were forced to cancel the traditional cross-country skiing event.

“We regret that this has happened. Temperatures remain above freezing in Oberammergau and Ettal and it is supposed to get even warmer in the coming days. Unfortunately, this critical situation has forced us to definitively decide that this year’s 44.König Ludwig Lauf will not happen

The organisers tried until the last minute to save the situation. They brought in natural snow to the trail in December, but the unfavourable weather frustrated their efforts. “As long as temperatures stayed below the freezing point, we intensively produced artificial snow, with which we covered parts of the trail. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. We have had warm weather in the Ammergebirge for several weeks already,” said Hans Reicherl, chairman of the organising committee.

Until the last moment, the organisers considered a number of alternative variants. However, postponement of the 44. König Ludwig Lauf is not possible because of the crowded schedule of the Visma Ski Classics long-distance cross-country series and the firmly set dates in the Woldloppet long-distance cross-country series.

“We’re sorry about the cancellation of the race, which all of us had greatly looked forward to and the preparation of which our organising team had worked on all year.

Even though it is common that participants do not receive any compensation in such cases, which is stated in the race’s terms and conditions, we have decided to offer registered racers a reimbursement from 50 %. At the same time will not be a liquidation price for our race in 2017. The reimbursement from 50 % will be returned to racers’ bank accounts upon request.

Because it was expected until the last minute that the race would take place, the organisers had completed most of the preparatory works including production of starting numbers, as well as preparation of starting bags and race facilities. The costs of the event reached 80 percent of the total anticipated expenditures.

THE REIMBURSEMENT FROM STARTING FEES CAN BE PAID ONLY FROM 08.02.2016 TILL 31. 05. 2016. THE DISCOUNT WILL NO LONGER BE VALID AFTER THIS DATE.

The reimbursement can be claimed in this period only via here.

The next König Ludwig Lauf will be held on 04./05. February 2017

The starting fee for 2017 will remain the same as the amount for this year.