ALPINE:

Levi slaloms on track for next weekend

Nov. 4, 2010 — FIS      ♦ Photo: Canadian slalom standout Julien Cousineau (ACA)

The official snow control for the Audi FIS World Cup slalom opening at Levi, Finland, took place on Thursday. FIS Race Director Hans Pieren inspected the snow conditions on the racing hill in Levi and confirmed the competitions as scheduled Nov. 13-14.

The course crew has been doing good work on Levi Black during the past week. Given the efficient snowmaking system and experienced team, it was possible to produce half of the required snow within 24 hours. Snow for the entire course was produced in record time.

"Snow conditions on the course are very good. At the time of measurement, there was more than a half-meter of snow, even more in places. This allows us to confirm the organization of the competitions from the snow perspective," said Pieren.

Next the Levi Black piste will be injected, and the safety installations will be installed, followed by final race preparations.

"The staff of the resort has been working very hard to ensure the race conditions. In practice, the competitions were confirmed thanks to the cold temperatures over the weekend, during which every second was fully leveraged. This provides us a great basis for delivering the entire event. We expect an excellent race weekend," said Mikko Saarinen, secretary general of the Levi organizing committee snowmaking team.

Last year, 20,000 spectators attended the event over the weekend.

"So far, we have already received more bookings for accommodation than last year, and new reservations are coming in all the time by phone and on the Internet. There are more than 23,000 beds at Levi, so rooms are still available,” said Seija Alatalo from Levi Tourism.

Recreational skiing at Levi will open on Nov. 5. Cross-Country trails are already open, and for this weekend's Levi Days Season Opening, there will be 28 km of trails groomed.  S-Magazine