Release courtesy of Alta Badia

Alpine competitions are governed by 100 years old regulations originally drafted by Sir Arnold Lunn in 1922. Well-written, understandable, and accepted, it reflected the technical capacities of the time. Slalom was the king in technical disciplines, while GS was introduced in 1935. Two runs on two courses, inspected by ascending, fastest times were averaging 5 minutes per run, measured in whole seconds. Wooden skis without edges, equipped with fixed “bindings” and wooden poles, no helmets, goggles, or any protective gear, baggy pants, wool sweaters, and low-cut leather boots. The course was packed by the skis, and the surface was soft.

Fast forward to today, we see armored knights going through (breakaway) gates on icy surfaces for which super sharp metal edges are needed, with state-of-the-art boots and bindings. Slopes are professionally prepared. Skiers average 50 k/h in technical races and 120 k/h in speed events. Victories and losses are measured by a thousand of second, with occasional three ways ties! Runs last around a minute, and every single turn counts. One mistake and the race is finished.

In sum, a different world. Yet, we still follow the rules and principles set a hundred years ago. Meanwhile, socio-cultural standards changed dramatically, along with the skyrocketing costs of the sport and (luckily) increased safety precautions.

We often hear of making racing “affordable, local, and fun,” but little ever changes. We are going towards an extremization of racing at ever younger ages.

For the last three years, clubs and federations across Europe and the US – ranging from the University of Colorado and Stratton Mountain School to the Lithuanian and Bulgarian federations to the Alpine Club of Athens – have been working under the coordination of the Alta Badia Ski Team on a project aimed at innovating in Alpine Skiing.

A European Commission ERASMUS+ Sports grant financed the ESKI project. Working with experts, we created educational and skills development opportunities for Alpine ski coaches and elaborated innovative pedagogical tools and best practices on snow and off-snow – see, for instance, a developed by Richard Rokos.

We also brought together European mountain ski high schools with US Ski academies to compare notes and started working with European Mountain Universities to learn from NCAA to develop best practices allowing athletes to ski and study in Europe, too.

As part of the program of the Alta Badia World Cup Men’s GS races, we are holding a conference on December 18^th to present ESKI’s primary results, featuring sports psychologist Dr. Jim Taylor; former CU head Coach Richard Rokos, the Head of ERASMUS+ Sports Luciano Di Fonzo; SYNC Performance’s President & CEO Geofrey Ochs; Prof. David Bacharach, professor Emeritus at St. Cloud State University; Verena Stuffer, Olympic and World Cup Skier;  Stefan Thaler, President, Ski Team Ladinia Alta Badia, and Prof. Federiga Bindi, ESKI’s PI.

The conference can be followed in person in Alta Badia or online, both live and replayed, by signing up here.