Men’s & Women’s FIS Alpine World Cup Events in France & Switzerland Canceled Due To Too Much Snow

The Men’s Slalom at Val d’Isere, France, as well as the Women’s Super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, were both canceled on Sunday, December 10, 2023, due to too much snow on the pistes.

Val d’Isere had also seen some rain on Saturday evening before temperatures dropped below freezing and the precipitation turned to snow. The rain and soft snow damaged the race course and made it too soft for competing. The St. Moritz course was covered in roughly 40cm (16 inches) of fresh snow. While the Local Organization Committee and slip team tried their best to move the snow off the slopes, it was simply impossible to get a safe course race-ready.

For the men’s circuit, this marks the seventh cancellation out of so far nine scheduled FIS Alpine World Cup events. Currently, the International Ski & Snowboard Federation ‘FIS’ is planning to reschedule five of those seven races: three Downhill, one Super-G, and one Slalom event. One of the Downhill events will be scheduled for Wengen, Switzerland, home of the famous Lauberhorn race course.

Unfortunately, this is the risk of an outdoor event and while having too much snow is certainly a good problem for the European resorts which struggled with a lack of snow last season, the cancellations have been disappointing for everyone involved, from athletes to fans, and the hundreds of people working hard each year to get the courses ready from volunteers to members of the Local Organization Committee.