Tandadalen next stop after blizzard knocks out Laax World Cup

Tandadalen next stop after blizzard knocks out Laax World Cup{mosimage}Top World Cup halfpipe riders were set to explode in the European opener at Laax, Switzerland, over Thanksgiving weekend, but when such big names as Andy Finch, Hannah Teter and German World Cup champ Xaver Hoffman arrived, the pipe wasn’t anywhere in sight.

In an ironic meteorological twist, lack of snow forced officials to move the contest from the monsterpipe at Crap Sogn Gion to the halfpipe high atop the Vorab glacier. Then heavy storms moved in, burying the Vorab pipe and forcing the cancellation of the event.

“The weather was so sketchy that they didn’t even run the lifts for the men’s qualifier, but we thought there was a glimmer of hope to run everything on finals day,” said U.S. head coach Peter Foley. “It’s tough to fly to Europe and be snowed out, especially with the solid team we brought, but hopefully the rerun will fit with our schedule.”

Laax became a legendary stop on the former ISF circuit, and FIS officials and Laax organizers expect to reschedule the event for later this season. Most riders headed directly from Switzerland to Sweden for the Tandadalen World Cup, but U.S. halfpipe riders returned home to prepare for the season’s first Triple Crown, to be held December 12-14 at Breckenridge, Colorado.