Industry News
The 2019/20 season-opening FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup event that was originally scheduled to go down this weekend in Stubai, Austria has been canceled. After much careful consideration the Stubai organising committee and the Austrian Ski Federation have made the decision to call off the event due to difficult weather conditions in the lead-up to the competition, and a very unfavourable forecast for the upcoming days.
Last week’s heavy snowstorm combined with high avalanche danger kept the resort closed for two days over this past weekend, causing major delays in course preparations, which in turn the postponement of Wednesday’s first training session.
Officials and organizers then reassessed all options for the competition ahead of Wednesday night’s team captain’s meeting. Unfortunately, with high winds and yet another winter storm set to hit the valley on Thursday evening, the reality of the situation at the FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup event in Stubai made itself clear – the opening of the 2019/20 slopestyle World Cup would not be happening this weekend.
“For Friday and Saturday the prognosis looks extremely unfavorable, especially in terms of wind, with another heavy snowstorm predicted to roll in on Thursday evening,” commented Erich Flatscher, Head of the Organising Committee, “We always strive to deliver an event in safe and fair conditions and due to this forecast we believe this is not achievable this time. This led to the decision to cancel the event.”
While it does make for something of a disappointing start to the slopestyle World Cup season, the reality is that, despite all the best efforts from the organizers, crews, and officials, it would have been simply impossible to hold a safe and fair competition in Stubai this weekend.
With Mother Nature having her way in round one, we now look forward to the next events on the 2019/20 FIS Freeski calendar, with the Copper Mountain (USA) Land Rover US Grand Prix Halfpipe World Cup from December 11-13, and the Beijing (CHN) Air + Style Big Air World Cup going down from December 12-14. The next event on the slopestyle World Cup calendar will be the Font Romeu (FRA) competition, taking place from January 9-11, 2020.
Full 2019/20 FIS Freeski World Cup calendar is available HERE.
