@K2 Rat, good observations. Thanks.
The hills are VERY different, and will be on race day.
First of all is the surface. Soelden is literally an icebox. And they always prep the hill to make it brutally tough.
Remember the Killington GS last season, when the surface just peeled away when Lara Gut made what looked like it was going to be a great turn. It just fell apart. There was no peeling away or falling apart a month earlier at Soelden. Now obviously, a lot of that had to do with the weather. Hopefully the course will be more consistent and "hard" at K this season.
So that is likely one thing. I think the women consider Soelden to be a tough, tough venue.
But yeah, Soelden is pretty gentle up top, and demands that you get a good start, and generate speed up top. Then you have that long, steep, wide wall of a "pitch". I kind of hesitate to even call it a pitch. It's long, and sustained. It has been particularly brutal in recent years on the 35M skis for the guys. A lot of ugly skiing. So yes, hopefully it will look a lot better this fall! Remember Ligety just owning it when he could go arc to arc down the whole face, and others struggled. Hopefully he still can. Going to be fun to watch as there are a ton of good GS skiers.
Then, as I have always been told, the entire deal is won or lost based on how well you transition from that pitch onto the final relative flat to the finish. Of you come out hot, and sustain it....money. If you grind a couple of turns at the bottom of the steep to hang on, and dump speed doing so, you really get punished.
Somebody like Lara Gut has done well at Soelden by skiing the entire steep section so much better and cleaner than anybody. It's a good hill for somebody like Tessa Worley, too.
Where MS can do really well is on the transition at the bottom, and on the final flat. She will reel back time there, or should.
I think Killington is an "easier" GS hill, relatively speaking, and with the added length should be a great SL venue. Particularly in Mother Nature pulls through with some cold. Chemicals work, but cold helps.
Either way it will be great racing with a great crowd! So neat to see in the USA!