LIVIGNO, Italy, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Livigno in northern Italy will be fully prepared to host Olympic snowboarding and freestyle skiing events next month thanks to its capacity to make and store the key ingredient - snow, local organisers told Reuters.
Situated in the Alps close to the Swiss border, Livigno will needlarge quantities of snow for the halfpipe structure and the jumps used in the spectacular events.
International Ski Federation (FIS) President Johan Eliasch raised concerns last month about the production of snow in Livigno, accusing the Italian government of being slow to release some of the funding needed.
Davide Cerato, the local area manager for the Milano Cortina Games, said he understood FIS' concerns because there had been some delays in the construction phase at the venue but these had been remedied.
"Now we are over 80% of the snow production and, according to the plan which is to complete the snow production by January 20, we are ahead of schedule," he said.
The Winter Olympics will run from February 6 to 22, with Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites as the two main bases, and events spread across a large part of northern Italy.
NEW DAM HELPS WITH SNOWMAKING
Livigno will be put through its paces with a test event later in January.
Situated at an altitude of 1,816 metres, locals say the venue still sees plenty of snowfall but its ability to generate more snow has been expanded, with snow cannons fed from a dam with a capacity of more than 200,000 cubic metres.
Fabio Saldini, the CEO of the Milano Cortina 2026 infrastructure company SiMiCo, said the Livigno Snow Park was the most complex project at the Games as four disciplines use the same finishing zone, located close to a car park.
Initial feedback from the visiting Italian snowboard team had been very positive.
"They are here now preparing the slope and they told us that the snow is spectacular," Saldini told Reuters.
"It is a very beautiful slope; the grip is very good and, in fact, they said that they haven't seen a slope like this in 10 years," he added.
STORED SNOW PLAYS ITS PART
Locals have also developed techniques for storing snow from one year to the next, and some of this has been used to help cover crucial areas of the Olympic courses.
Luca Moretti, head of the tourism promotion agency in Livigno, says the stored snow is covered with a special material in the summer that helps to reduce the impact of the sun's rays, with only 23% of the stockpile lost last year.
When there was an initial delay in activating artificial snowmaking, they dug into this pile to compensate.
"We started transporting it by lorry. The lorries made a short journey of about 350 metres, managing to accumulate about 10,000 cubic metres of snow per day," Moretti said.
"In just a few days, we managed to provide 100,000 cubic metres, which will be the landing area for the Big Air," he added.
Moretti acknowledged that weather patterns have changed but said he sees a viable future for Livigno as a winter sports venue.
"The snowiest months of November and December have shifted to January, February and March, and the season is getting a little longer," he said.
(Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
