Ski World Cup driving force of innovation and sustainability for Alpine tourism

What changes between one location and another is often the long-term credibility: since 2000, the Gran Risa has only failed once. This reliability is not a meteorological miracle, but "the result of massive investments: with today's technological innovation, the committee guarantees the perfection of the course in a range from 48 - under ideal conditions - up to 60 hours. It is a proof of strength rooted in the foresight of the forerunners'. A source of pride that represents a true international record.

Among the other atouts of the Badiot stage, Varallo also recalls how, in 1984, thanks to the interpersonal skills of his father Marcello Varallo and the support of visionaries such as Serge Lang and Erich Demetz, Alta Badia obtained a date that nobody wanted: the Sunday before Christmas. It was a winning bet that today allows the season to open with an unparalleled media and economic impact.

Shifting the focus to Val Gardena, Christoph Vinatzer, hotelier and destination manager - a true pillar of Val Gardena tourism because he embodies a rare continuity between strategic vision, knowledge of the area and ability to govern complex processes - outlines a picture in which the historic stage of the Audi Fis World Cup circuit (now in its fifty-eighth edition) similarly acts as a strategic catalyst and helps to ensure perfect preparation for the 2031 World Cup challenge. For Vinatzer, hosting the Saslong every year is an indispensable marketing necessity that obliges the entire valley to 'fall in line' in advance of many other lesser-known or equally technically prepared ski resorts, including nearby Cortina, which at the moment still has little snow and is in the midst of preparatory work for the Olympic commitment.

The presence of such an event, in fact, explains Vinatzer, 'puts pressure on traders, hoteliers and all economic operators, imposing a standard of preparation that must be reached well before the Christmas holidays. It is a system that guarantees wealth to an area which, until seventy years ago, was among the poorest in the Alps and which today sees 99% of the population benefit directly or indirectly from tourism.

The future of Val Gardena, in Vinatzer's vision, 'does not lie in increasing volumes but in qualitative growth. The Ladin valleys have experienced accelerated growth, a real economic turbo boost from the 1970s to today, and now the 2031 World Cup represents an opportunity to make those necessary adjustments for the next generations'. One example above all is mobility: the event will be 'the engine for structural investments that will try to solve the traffic problem, improving the quality of life of residents and the experience of visitors'. Also on the environmental front, Val Gardena claims a greater adaptability than Austria or Switzerland. Being historically accustomed to less natural snowfall than on the northern side of the Alps, continues athlete Alex's father, "the local ski resort operators have invested in catchment basins and latest-generation snow guns that produce twice as much snow with half the water and energy than only ten years ago. It is an industrial resilience that allows the entire ski area to be prepared in very few days, a competitive advantage that shields investments from the effects of global warming'.

This technical superiority, thanks also to the best artificial snow production companies in the world, is also confirmed by those who experience the track at crazy speeds. Dominik Paris, the blue symbol of the fast disciplines, has no doubts in confirming Italy as "the world leader in track preparation". According to Paris, who was already on the podium on Thursday in Gardena-Gröden - a date added to the usual schedule to make up for the downhill missed in Beaver Creek - "everything about modern mountain and snow management was invented in our country. We have the number one snow groomers and snowmaking systems in the world,' says the athlete, emphasising that 'the experience accumulated by the Italian workers is a guarantee for the future of professional skiing. Paris is convinced that Italy knows how to manage the mountains better than anyone else and that in view of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, the public, aware of the importance of the event, 'will respond with overwhelming enthusiasm. We give our best, and we know that we can count on pistes prepared with a mastery that foreign countries often envy us,' Paris concludes, looking confidently at the season that is about to get underway.

Flavio Roda, President of FISI, spoke as the institutional synthesis between agonism and industrial vision. For Roda, 'the goal of the Olympics at home is the culmination of a growth path that must serve to consolidate Italy's image as a ski destination of excellence. It is not enough to organise well, 'we need sporting results to drive the whole system,' the president observed. But there is one Italian excellence that should not be forgotten. "The stages of Val Gardena and Alta Badia are considered the most prestigious and iconic in the world, on a par with giants such as Kitzbühel or Wengen, precisely because of their ability to resist and adapt," explains Roda, who emphasises how, in complex climatic conditions, the organisation can resort to targeted and controlled technical tools, used in a limited way to ensure the seal of the mantle and the safety of the athletes, demonstrating a resilience that is not just theoretical but operational.

The 2031 World Championships in Val Gardena is seen by Roda as 'the culmination of a beautiful project supported by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, which envisages the renewal of the infrastructures and parterres, bringing skiing towards an even more modern and safer dimension. Safety, on the other hand, has become synonymous with quality. Those who organise these races have developed protocols for assistance, rescue and event management that work to perfection, far surpassing the efficiency found in many North American stages'. Looking ahead to the next ten or twenty years, continues the federal president, 'the projection is that of a guaranteed survival for the resorts that know how to respect the environmental factor without renouncing innovation. The Italian alpine arc has shown that it knows how to accept difficult moments and how to manage them without blindly defying nature, but rather supporting it with the intelligence of technology'.

Ultimately, the weekend that opens between the Saslong and the Gran Risa is not just a celebration of sport, but the showcase of an Italy that works, that invests and that knows how to look far ahead. Between the 40 years of a legend such as the Gran Risa and the millimetric planning of the mythical Saslong stage also in view of the 2031 World Championships, the portrait of a fragile but incredibly resilient territory emerges. It is a snow economy that has been able to move away from pure welfarism to become an industry of excellence, capable of attracting investment and exporting an organisational model that remains the reference point for the entire Circo Bianco. The Dolomites are thus confirmed not only as a natural heritage, but are further strengthened as a strategic asset for the Italian brand in the world.

The very words of the protagonists show, however, that there is also the other side of the coin. The resilience that emerges from the Ladin stages is not a natural or gratuitous fact. It is the result of continuous investment, accumulated skills, local consensus and the ability to govern complex processes. As Varallo and Vinatzer remind us, managing slopes in increasingly marginal climatic conditions requires technology, organisation and rapidity of action; sustainability, in turn, is not an abstract ideal but a series of operational choices that have costs and limits. In this sense, the real risk for the Italian mountains is not so much the event itself, but the illusion that this model can hold without a long-term strategy. The World Cup, and consequently also the Winter Olympic Games to which Europe continues to aspire - with countries such as Switzerland looking ahead to the next editions, ideally 2038 - can only continue to function where there is strong and shared governance and high-level skills, which are not always present in all territories. Elsewhere, the selection is not ideological, but simply economic.