4th FIS Course Builder & Designer Clinic

The 4th Course Designer & Builder Clinic held last week at the Prinoth's headquarter in Sterzing (ITA) gathered more than 70 professionals involved with the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Cup tours to exchange ideas and share knowledge ahead of the upcoming winter season.

This year’s clinic was a strong step towards better education and training as FIS works to achieve the benchmarks set at the autumn Technical Committee meetings in Zurich. With growing popularity of slopestyle and cross events on both the Ski and Snowboard side of things, the workshop focused on continuing the movement towards creative and innovative design of parks and courses in order to ensure the highest level of safe, entertaining competition and inspire the next generation of athletes.

“The Clinic is a series of informative sessions, where we try to gather together different stakeholders so we can share some ideas”, said Joe Fitzgerald, the FIS Freestyle Ski Coordinator. “Then we want to pass them to different individuals, national ski associations and course building companies to build up the expertise and knowledge around the world. We have further plans to have these courses in different regions too”, he added.

The workshop also focused on course and park optimization from the viewpoints of safety and efficiency in order to provide top-level events. With numerous interdisciplinary presentations by the world’s best specialists in the field as well as the various agencies such as the Oslo Sport Trauma Institute and the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, the clinic once again provided valuable knowledge and best-practice experience.

The second part of this year’s clinic took place on the Stelvio glacier, where participants were given plenty of opportunities to put theoretical knowledge into practice. Equipped with Prinoth’s best grooming machines, the practical workshop aimed for better understanding of all processes and work between the machine operators as well as the concepts for different course design and preparation stages.

“The Course Designer & Builder Clinic in Sterzing once again helped to share the the latest knowledge and practices involved in course building, as well as to discuss important topics as injury prevention, course safety and challenges,” said Martin Fiala, the FIS Ski Cross Race Director. “I would like to thank Prinoth for the ongoing support through the 2017/18 World Cup season, and for hosting us in Sterzing for the 4th Clinic.”

The clinic was another important step in strengthening the partnership between Prinoth and the FIS that has already proved successful in the past. Again this year Prinoth’s grooming machines are expected to play an important role in the World Cup season.

“The FIS Clinic provides us with the great chance to stay in touch with the experts in the park design scene and to tune in on newest trends. Prinoth’s X fleet was created especially for the specific tasks in park design, developed and optimized together with park building professionals”, echoed Andreas Muigg, Head of Product Management at Prinoth. “The wider movement range of blade and tiller, the high maneuverability and precision of the machines allow a most efficient construction of the features and thus a high quality in the park”.