Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the context of "Alpine skiing at the 1936 Winter Olympics"

Alpine skiing has been contested at every Winter Olympics since 1936, when a combined event was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

From 1948 to 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships in Olympic years, with separate competitions held in even-numbered non-Olympic years. During this period, the Olympic medalists received an additional medal of the same metal from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

The modern Olympics began in 1896. Since then, summer and winter games have usually celebrated a four-year period known as an Olympiad. From the inaugural Winter Games in 1924 until 1992, winter and summer Games were held in the same year. Since 1994, summer and winter Games have been held in staggered even years. The last Olympic games were held at Paris in July-Aug 2024. Through 2024, there have been 30 Summer Olympic Games, held in 23 cities, and 24 Winter Olympic Games, held in 21 cities. In addition, three summer and two winter editions of the games were scheduled to take place but were later cancelled due to war: Berlin (summer) in 1916; Sapporo–Garmisch-Partenkirchen (winter) and Tokyo–Helsinki (summer) in 1940; and Cortina d'Ampezzo (winter) and London (summer) in 1944. The 1906 Intercalated Olympics were officially sanctioned and held in Athens. However, in 1949, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to unrecognize the 1906 Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed for the first time in the Olympics history to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the 2022 Winter Olympics being held roughly six months later in Beijing which also hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Five cities and regions have been chosen by the IOC to host upcoming Olympic Games: the 2026 Winter Olympics will be the first Olympic Games officially shared between two host cities (Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo); Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics; the 2030 Winter Olympics will be the first Olympic Games to be hosted by a region (the French Alps—comprising 7 cities and towns); Brisbane will host the 2032 Summer Olympics; and Utah will host the 2034 Winter Olympics.

The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (German: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Later that year, the country also hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in Berlin. It was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games both took place in the same country (the cancelled 1940 Olympics would have been held in Japan, with Tokyo hosting the Summer Games and Sapporo hosting the Winter Games).

Krün is a municipality in the Upper Bavarian district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It belongs with Garmisch-Partenkirchen as district capital and cultural center as well as other municipalities to the region Werdenfelser Land. A few kilometers south runs the German-Austrian border.

The village, together with Mittenwald and Wallgau, builds the tourism network Alpenwelt Karwendel who markets the holiday region throughout the year as a starting point for sports and recreational activities such as hiking and cross-country skiing.

Southern Bavarian or South Bavarian, is a cluster of Upper German dialects of the Bavarian group. They are primarily spoken in Tyrol (i.e. the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol), in Carinthia and in the western parts of Upper Styria. Before 1945 and the expulsions of the Germans, it was also spoken in speech islands in Italy and Yugoslavia.Due to these Alpine regions, many features of the Old Bavarian language from the Middle High German period have been preserved. On the other hand, the Southern Bavarian dialect area is influenced by the Rhaeto-Romance languages, locally also Slovene and to a lesser extent Italian.

The speech area historically included the former linguistic enclaves in Carniola (present-day Slovenia) around Kočevje in the Gottschee region (Gottscheerish), Sorica (Zarz) and Nemški Rovt (Deutsch Ruth). The Cimbrian language still spoken in several language-islands in north-eastern Italy (Friuli, Veneto and Trentino) mostly counts as a separate Bavarian language variant. Southern Bavarian is also spoken in the Werdenfelser Land region around Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in German Upper Bavaria.

Gudiberg is a World Cup slalom ski course in the mountain with the same name in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. It lies south of the centre of Partenkirchen and east of the Partnach river.

The Zugspitze (/ˈzʊɡʃpɪtsə/ ZUUG-shpit-sə, German: [ˈtsuːkˌʃpɪtsə] ; lit. '[avalanche] path peak'), at 2,962 m (9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains and the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, and the Austria–Germany border is on its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are two glaciers, the largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. Shrinking of the Southern Schneeferner led to the loss of glacier status in 2022.

The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus; his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (Österreichische Schneekar). One of the best known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps runs along the knife-edged Jubilee Ridge (Jubiläumsgrat) to the summit, linking the Zugspitze, the Hochblassen and the Alpspitze. For mountaineers there is plenty of nearby accommodation. On the western summit of the Zugspitze itself is the Münchner Haus and on the western slopes is the Wiener-Neustädter Hut.

The 45th World Cup season began on 23 October 2010, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 20 March 2011, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Being an odd-numbered year, the biennial World Championships took place in February. The 2011 World Championships were held between 8–20 February at Garmisch Classic in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany.