FIS Race Directors visit TechnoAlpin factory

he FIS Race Directors and a delegation from the Zagreb Organising Committee (CRO) visited the TechnoAlpin “snow factory” in Bolzano last week as part of the ongoing efforts to manage warmer conditions and ensure snow making on the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Tour.

The technicians and project managers of the “above zero” snow making system presented the latest improvements made on the “snow factory” machine that has been installed in Zagreb for the Sljeme FIS Alpine Ski World Cup slalom two years ago. It allows to produce snow even when the temperatures rise above zero degrees Celsius.

FIS Race Directors Atle Skaardal, Markus Mayr, Markus Waldner and Emmanuel Couder together with Vedran Pavlek and Igor Ziljak from the Croatian Ski Federation and all parties from the Techno Alpine project reviewed operation procedures. After two years, it was important to debrief, get the last operational feedback from the TechnoAlpin engineers and evaluate the data they collected all over the world.

It has been agreed that Zagreb will integrate this technology in the snow solutions offered for the World Cup races. The “snow factory” is a support to the traditional snow making systems that are still producing snow during the cold periods of the preparation.