FIS Explains Snow Controls

Tremblant, Canada was due to host two women’s Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slaloms earlier in the season, but a lack of snow forced both races to be cancelled. The announcement was made after a “snow control”, a week before the first race was to be held on 7 December.

Snow controls determine whether races can take place across all FIS disciplines. But what are they and what do they involve? Read on to find out.

The idea behind the snow control is quite simple - to determine whether there is sufficient snow to stage a race safely. As FIS Alpine Skiing Women’s Chief Race Director Peter Gerdol puts it, “If we don’t have the snow, we can’t have the race!”

In Alpine Skiing, a snow control is conducted 10 days before the official arrival day for a speed (Downhill or Super G) event or seven days before the official arrival day ahead of a technical (Slalom, Giant Slalom) race or series of races. For women’s World Cup races, Gerdol looks at the calendar ahead of the season and assigns a snow controller who is usually one of his assistant race directors. In the case of Tremblant, he carried out the snow control himself.

“The usual situation when you come to a place is that there’s 80cm to one meter of snow,” he explains. “We go up and ski down with a drill to measure the depth of the snow in all different areas of the slope.

“If it’s deep enough from top to bottom we move on to preparing the slope. We sit down with the organizer and discuss what they have to do before we all turn up. That could be pushing snow from one side to the other or injecting the snow with water to harden it.”

Unfortunately, Tremblant was a different case entirely. “Our tour here in North America started with Killington but I went to Tremblant the Tuesday before for the snow control on the Wednesday,” he recalls. “We saw that there was no chance of racing. It was raining and there was no snow at all on three-quarters of the course, just the very upper part. I didn’t even go up!

“We sat in the office and I asked, ‘OK, what’s the forecast?’ It was promising in terms of being able to make enough snow. The snowmakers put together a detailed program showing how they could do so with around 80-100 hours of snow production. With that, I said we could postpone the snow control until the Friday night.

"What happened was that this forecast was completely wrong and the weather much warmer. Meteorology is not an exact science, so this happens. I was checking the system showing the temperature, wind, and humidity every six hours from Killington. They managed to produce snow on the upper part but couldn’t on the lower section - they were pushing out water but it was coming out mainly as droplets and not snowflakes. It was clear it couldn’t work."

However, it was not FIS who made the decision to cancel the race. “As per 19.2.1 of the World Cup rules, the responsibility for cancellation falls to the organizer,” commented Gerdol. “Our role is to guide them to the right decision.”

Postponing the race by a day or two, to allow for more snow, is not really an option due to the demands of television. “This happens in the Europa Cup but there are so many other things involved here,” says Gerdol. “The TV broadcasters have planned well in advance and we’d need to ask the host broadcaster and rights holder to check with those taking the event live. They would then have to accept adapting to the race being held on a different day.”

Teams would also be affected by postponements with flights and hotels having to be rebooked. On the other hand, an early cancellation may also help teams and organizers when it comes to claiming refunds for travel, accommodation, and race-related arrangements.

The nature of Alpine Skiing means a negative snow control almost always results in cancellation. And while no snow means no race in all cases, there is slightly more that can be done to allow an event to be staged in other disciplines.

In Cross-Country Skiing, the race organizing committee begins passing on snow conditions and preparations on a regular basis three weeks before the event. The snow control takes the form of a report produced by an expert nominated by FIS who is either connected with the organizers or from the host national ski federation. In usual good conditions, this can be done remotely. In more challenging scenarios, the snow controller will go on site - sometimes with a local technical delegate - to look at what can be done.

FIS Cross-Country Race Director Michal Lamplot says, “At the latest 15 days before the event, we expect a detailed report about the amount of snow, snow quality, weather forecasts etc. We can then assess whether everything is running smoothly for the World Cup or if there are any potential obstacles or risks. We usually stay in touch with the organizer so that we know what the situation is like, but it’s always good to get something official on paper. And if the snow control is positive, then it’s a green light for the event. If we don’t have a positive snow control, we start a process led by the Event Preparation group comprising myself, someone from the host national ski federation, and someone from the organizing committee. We assess if there are any changes which potentially have to be made with the courses or the program. If the situation is really bad, we can look at changing the format or shortening the courses. We don’t often cancel races because we’re not as vulnerable to wind or snowfall or poor visibility.”

The flexibility that Cross-Country enjoys was demonstrated ahead of the Les Rousses World Cup stop in late January 2023. “There was absolutely no snow on the day of the snow report,” Lamplot reveals. “But we knew that the weather forecast was looking promising for snow production, and so we in the Event Preparation group said, ‘OK, we can postpone the final decision by a few days.’

"We stayed in touch daily with the organizer to assess that the weather was as predicted. The cold weather came and then, eventually, the event took place. It was a bit risky but cancellation is always the last option."

Science is playing an ever greater role in slope preparation, not least in freestyle disciplines. Snowboard & Freeski Park & Pipe Contest Director Roby Moresi says, “The technology available such as SNOWsat, Leica iCON, GPS and other capturing solutions which map the snow depth and terrain, as well as snowmaking solutions, is an amazing help.

“This all comes in handy, especially at the beginning of the season, when we are all relying on Mother Nature, ie. waiting for snowfalls and temperatures to drop so that we can estimate our snow production requirements. For both Freeski and Snowboard, we’re aiming for the same volume, qualities and consistencies of snow as we share the same venues and courses.

In some seasons, snow control is not even a question. Copper Mountain in Colorado is experiencing a great start to the year. And in Europe, we’re starting to see the first good snowfalls now. That wasn’t the case last season.

Roby Moresi, FIS Snowboard & Freeski Park & Pipe Contest Director said  There is some scope for flexibility with the snow control - performed by someone at the venue - which takes place at least 10 days before the competition. “In general, we always start a month prior to verify how things are going before going into more detail as we move close to the 10-day check. We do use the weather forecast as well as past history to make the final call on whether or not to call off an event. And then the preparation depends on the situation ranging from extreme calm to needing more manpower and machinery in a very short timeframe which raises the stress levels and anxiety! It’s a bit of joke for us that when you put on a World Cup event, it always seems that ‘snow hell’ is let loose and we get so much snowfall. On one side, that’s a good thing, but it does mean extra work is needed.”

For Moguls, the cancellation deadline is seven days before the event with the snow control taking place at least a day before that. The tour suffered a blow on 3 December with the cancellation of the event scheduled for Alpe d’Huez, France on 13-14 December.

Moguls & Aerials Race Director Andrea Rinaldi said, “This is an example where the slope needs 50% more snow than normal slopes. The high temperatures of previous days plus rain, and the lack of time to produce enough snow, did not allow us the option of confirming the race.

“The organizers and the French Ski Federation did everything they could to keep the date, but it was not possible. We had two other parties interested in taking the events, but they would have caused logistical issues for the teams and we opted not to replace them.”

For Aerials, the cancellation deadline is 10 days prior to the contest. The procedures are otherwise similar to Moguls with organizers for events in both disciplines able to use their judgment in terms of snow controls and forecasts.

“When we approach the date of the race and the situation is critical, we proceed with regular contacts with the organizing committee to try and get the situation under control,” outlined Rinaldi. The control is normally carried out by an expert from the region, possibly trained as a technical delegate to also take into consideration all aspects of athlete safety.

"Sometimes we play with dates, especially in December and in places where the forecast is usually quite accurate with a high knowledge of weather behavior. Ahead of last year’s Moguls in Bakuriani, Georgia, we decided six days before the competition not to cancel. There was a good forecast so we took a risk and it paid off."

With the weather playing a key role in determining if events can go ahead or not, calculated risks are often required to avoid cancellation.