Month: June 2015

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FIS Ski World Cup Calendar 2015-16

FIS World Cup Schedule 2015
Despite all the controversy over the football world cup, the men’s Alpine world cup schedule for 2015-16 was announced in Bulgaria last week by the International Ski Federation (FIS) without a whiff of controversy. Indeed the mood was celebratory as the 50th birthday of the FIS World Cup was announced with 24 venues and 47 events.

Sölden hosts the first races on 25th October, with all the classic ski races in the New Year, starting with Adelboden on 9th January. Wengen, Kitzbühel, Schladming and Garmisch-Partenkirchen follow, then circuits in South Korea and Japan have been added before the schedule reverts to Chamonix.

The World Cup finals round off the season in St. Moritz from March 16-20th – St. Moritz will also be hosting the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

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Skier survives crevasse fall

Frenchman Benjamin Spilthooren, his father and two others were skiing down the Strahlhorn in late May when the world moved for him. Literally. As the video shows he was skiing behind his companions, and fell down a crevasse that opened up below him. Fortunately he seems to have escaped unscathed from his ordeal and did not fall all the way to the bottom. It seems his companions were not aware he was no longer behind them, and it was another party that lowered a rope for him to climb out.

The Strahlhorn is an impressive 4190m high and lies deep in the Valais Alps, south of Saas-Fee and close to the Italian border. It is not lift served, but with its elevation – higher even than the highest lift-served runs above nearby Zermatt – it is popular with late season freeriders.