Where to Ski And Snowboard - Snowless Levi means no racing

Snowless Levi means no racing

3rd November 2011, by Chris Gill

Levi race course ... but not this year.

The Audi FIS World Cup slalom races, scheduled to take place in Finland this weekend, have been cancelled due to a lack of snow.

The races were planned for Levi, in Western Lapland, which has hosted World Cup slalom since 2004. But unseasonably warm weather has left the slopes bare. An FIS snow inspection was called off because there was nothing to inspect; and with rain, not snow, falling at the moment the next few weeks in the Finnish resort look bleak.

Unusually too, the warm weather has meant little snowmaking. The FIS Alpine World Cup series began in Sölden, Austria, last month where the snow-sure glaciers provided good opening races. Levi’s northerly position near the Arctic Circle normally means a good chance of decent early-season snowfall for the event, which would otherwise be confined to Europe’s glaciers.

It’s is unlikely though that another venue will be chosen for this weekend’s races, so the series will skip next to North America – where good snowfalls in the past week is a more promising start.

If the International Ski Federation does decide to reschedule the slalom events it will be after the US series, which starts with the women’s Nature Valley Aspen Winternational and the men’s opening races in Lake Louise, Canada – both of which take place on Thanksgiving weekend. The Audi Birds of Prey men’s World Cup races will head for Beaver Creek, Colorado, the following weekend.