Levi World Cup slalom races cancelled owing to warm weather and lack of snow

FIS snow inspector cancelled his trip to Levi, as there is nothing to inspect there; heavy losses for local businesses

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The Levi World Cup slalom races that were to take place on November 12th-13th have been cancelled.
      The slopes of the Levi ski resort in the municipality of Kittilä in Western Lapland are still completely snowless owing to unseasonably warm weather, with less than a week and a half to go until the planned event.
      “There is no point trying to deny it. It is raining here, and the temperature is 7.3 degrees on the plus side. And no colder weather has been promised by the weatherman”, sighs Mikko Saarinen, General Secretary of World Cup Levi.
     
Theoretically Levi would have had until this morning to convince the International Ski Federation (FIS) officials that the resort could still stage successful World Cup races.
      The FIS officials were to arrive in Levi on Thursday morning to inspect the condition of the slopes.
      “There is nothing to inspect. The slopes are completely snowless”, Saarinen explains.
     
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup races have been organised in Levi since 2004.
      Already once before, in 2007, the early-season event was cancelled because of lack of snow.
      “At least back then we were able to produce snow to be stored for later use. Now even that is not possible”, Saarinen laments.
      FIS has granted Levi the right to organise World Cup slalom races until the year 2015.
      According to Saarinen, this autumn’s difficulties will not jeopardise Levi’s position in the competition calendar.
      “In front of nature one is powerless. Currently the situation is bad all over Europe. There isn’t any snow anywhere. In that respect, this year’s cancellation does not endanger the future of the Levi event.”
     
After the management in Levi have officially declared that they will be unable to stage the event, the organising rights of the races will be returned to FIS.
      In Saarinen’s opinion, it will not be possible to find a substitute location for the event in Europe at such short notice, and at a time that is hardly opportune for skiing in any case: Levi's window of opportunity in mid-November was offered largely because the resort north of the Arctic Circle was one of the few "non-glacier" locations that could normally expect to have decent snow at this time of the year.
      “Skiing might be possible on the glaciers in Italy, but there the problem is the lack of sufficient infrastructure for organising an event on this scale”, said Saarinen.
     
Levi’s position in the FIS competition calendar is sensitive and tight.
      The Alpine skiing circus commences in late October on the glaciers in Sölden, Austria, then continues on the snows of Levi, and then travels over to North America.
      “Levi is important for FIS, for at this time of year it is the safest place in Europe to have snow”, Saarinen explains.
      In any event, the organisers at Levi are seeking to have FIS check whether the Levi races could still be moved later in the competition calendar, even by one week.
      “I understand that then there would only be a week between Levi and the North American events, but we hope that the postponement of our event would still be possible”, Saarinen says.
     
Apart from being a question of image blemishes, the cancellation of the World Cup weekend is also a major financial blow for Levi.
      The loss in sales for the local accommodation businesses and restaurants is counted in the millions of euros.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Levi World Cup slalom races again under threat of being cancelled due to warm weather (31.10.2011)
  Levi World Cup slalom races cancelled: millions in losses anticipated for local entrepreneurs (5.11.2007)

See also:
  Jouni Palosaari is Mr. Levi (1.11.2011)
  October temperatures clearly above normal (2.11.2011)

Links:
  Levi
  FIS-Ski
  World Cup Levi announcement 3.11.2011

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