(ATR) Ski Mountaineers will climb and ski peaks outside of Beijing at next winter’s opening World Cup race, an event that the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) hopes will propel the sport to Olympic status.
If the ISMF has its way, the ski discipline which involves competitors navigating demanding terrain amid snowy, jagged peaks and spectacular backdrops would be proposed for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics program.
The Chinese event scheduled for December will be staged at a ski resort named Wanlong, about a three-hour drive from Beijing.
Armando Mariotta, who has been president of ISMF since 2012, spoke to Around the Rings about the new World Cup venue and the lofty heights he believes the sport can ascend to in the coming years.
"We will come back [to China] in December to have meetings with members of the Chinese National Olympic Committee," Mariotta told ATR. "If the organizers of the [Beijing] Games want new sports, probably there is this opportunity for us. We absolutely want to enter and we will try."
The Chinese World Cup race will mark a first for the ISMF in Asia.
"Wanlong is a big ski resort with good hotels and good connections, but there is totally artificial snow because there is not big snowfall there," Mariotta said. "They have great machines to produce snow."
In terms of convincing the IOC that ski mountaineering is right for the Olympics, Mariotta stresses that the sport with its roots in the Alps must expand, harnessing its growth and development potential in Asia and North America.
"We absolutely need to increase our position in Asia – China and Korea are growing and Japan it is necessary to increase development," said the Italian ISMF leader. "Then we have to also pay attention to the United States and Canada because the IOC prefers not to see only European athletes on the podium."
The Beijing organizing committee can propose adding new sports to the program for the 2022 Winter Games. The IOC would have to approve them. The IOC tells ATR the timing for the process and when it might begin has not been determined.
Mariotta and ISMF officials are also in talks with Christophe Dubi and the IOC sport department regarding potential inclusion into the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. A decision could come out of a scheduled meeting in Lausanne in December.
"We have good possibilities to enter the Youth Olympic Games Program in 2020 Lausanne," Mariotta said. "We’ve sent two or three dossiers to the IOC, they had a look and they are positive."
Villars and Les Diablerets are being considered as possible mountain venues for the sport at YOG.
"This could be a real test event for us for Beijing," Mariotta added.
Mariotta said emphasis on youth development in the sport will be a major topic at the next ISMF General Assembly in Andorra this June.
SkiMo – short for Ski Mountaineering – consisted of a five-stop World Cup tour and a world championship in Transcavallo, Italy this past winter. Athletes typically race in three disciplines – vertical, individual and sprint.
Competitors ascend steep slopes with skins attached to the bottom of Randonee skis and then make a quick transformation for descent fastening their heels into bindings.
High altitude endurance races – with teams of skiers working together along a shared rope – are also held. Mariotta just returned from the famed 42-kilometer (26-mile) Trofeo Mezzalama, a grueling race played out in the shadow of the iconic Matterhorn, which was held last weekend. However, the lengthy grand course races are not being put forth for Olympic inclusion.
The ISMF headquarters are located in Villanova Mondovi, Italy, in the Piedmont region, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Turin.
Mariotta has worked as a certified Italian Ski Mountaineering instructor for nearly 30 years leading up to his presidency of the ISMF. His passion and enthusiasm are palpable when discussing why he believes ski mountaineering deserves to be part of the Winter Olympics.
"Ski mountaineering can give a great growth to the Winter Olympic Games," Mariotta said. "First, our sport totally respects what is written in Agenda 2020 and second our sport is a mixture between ascent, descent and mountaineering."
"We are just going to finish marketing research with AISTS, an association working with the University of Lausanne and in June and July we will be able to explain the position in the market in ski mountaineering.
"The value of ski mountaineering is it has a long tradition, it is dynamic, it is not so expensive and we can guarantee minimal environmental impact."
Written by Brian Pinelli
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