Green Light For Men's World Cup Races In Val d'Isere

The International Ski Federation gave Val d’Isère the green light for the Men’s World Cup races this weekend on the notorious La Face course. The Giant Slalom on Saturday, December 8 and the Slalom the following day form part of the annual Critérium de la Premiere Neige.

The season opened with substantial cover at altitude after snowfalls throughout November, and holidaymakers are at present enjoying great conditions at altitude with 29 lifts and 38 runs open at present.

The very mild autumn means that at present there’s only a light natural covering lower down on the racecourse. However, in recent days the weather has turned sufficiently cold to allow snowmaking in sufficient quantities to prepare La Face and allow the Men’s races to go ahead as scheduled next weekend.

Val d’Isère has the largest snowmaking facility in Europe, which can cover the whole mountain to a depth of over half a metre in under a week. In recent years, investments in technical depth measuring equipment mean that pistes can be groomed with seamless precision. Grooming machines record the exact depth on each ‘pass’, creating the smoothest wrinkle-free racing surface. This is a welcome advance when weather conditions for preparing the racecourse are challenging.

Two technical events are on the programme for this first weekend of the 63^ème Critérium de la Première Neige and local French racers from the Val d’Isère Club des Sports, Clément NOËL et Victor MUFFAT-JEANDET, are among the competitors. The Slalom racers will train tomorrow (Saturday) on the piste, which should be in sparkling condition for the race next weekend.

The FIS inspection for the Women’s races on the OK racecourse will now take place on Monday, December 3. The three races – Combined, Downhill, and Super G December 14, 15, and 16.

Programme for the Men’s weekend

Friday, December 7, 2018: free skiing