Too much snow, first super-G cancelled
People are working for tomorrow's race
The snowcats, five in total, and the team coordinated by race director Cesare Pastore and by slope director Mattia Giongo, with 150 people, have worked relentlessly all night long on the slope of La VolatA, trying their best, but all the snow fallen in the hours preceding the first super-G of Val di Fassa World Cup hasn’t made the necessary process of securing of the race track possible. FIS, after appropriate evaluation, has thus decided to cancel today’s competition. People are working for tomorrow’s race, on Sunday 25th of February.
This morning, San Pellegrino ski area was completely white and the view, aided by the nice weather, was particularly evocative. Weather conditions weren’t as favourable during the night, when another 30-centimetres snowfall, adding to the 40 fallen yesterday, hasn’t made the execution of the first World Cup super-G possible, scheduled to get underway this morning at 11.
«Another snowfall during the night, of about 30 centimetres, and the wind at high altitude, haven’t made the complete grooming of the slope possible, after the one previously carried out, and it wasn’t thus possible to proceed with the process of securing of the track, either – explains Cristoforo Debertol, Val di Fassa World Cup general secretary -. FIS has made the appropriate evaluations and, without the necessary conditions, opted for the cancellation of the first super-G. Now we’re working for tomorrow’s race».
The final decision, as it’s custom, was taken by the international federation. «On the top part of the slope, there were a total of 70 centimetres of fresh snow, 50 at the bottom – explains Women’s Alpine Ski World Cup director Peter Gerdol -. The further snowfall during the eve’s night has made things more complicated. With this much snow, it’s mandatory to use snowcats, which did their job, and were still working this morning. After that, however, you need to wait a couple of hours to let the slope’s ground perfectly bind. This factor determined that the race couldn’t start neither at 11 a.m. nor at 12 p.m.».
Safety first. «It didn’t make sense to try and do something that wouldn’t eventually work – adds Gerdol -, it’s preferable to focus on tomorrow’s race, hoping for no further snowfalls».
This afternoon, at 6 p.m. in Piaz de Sotegrava in Moena, there’ll be the bib drawing ceremony. The start of the next super-G, scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday 25th of February, will be at 11 a.m.
