After weeks of worry, the Winter Olympics will have snow by Peter Gibbs
The organisers of the 2006 Winter Olympics in the Italian city Turin can at last breathe a sigh of relief and halt the snow cannons. Snow has finally fallen on the Alpine resorts that are hosting the games in February.
Up until now, conditions on the pistes in Italy have been poor for holidaying skiers and snowboarders. Attention has focused on preparing the pistes for the Olympics, including using snow cannons to top up the slopes with artificial snow in the absence of the real white stuff. For much of the season, the resort of Sestriere has made do with 30cm on lower slopes, and 60cm on upper slopes, compared to averages of around 50cm and 100cm respectively.
On Thursday however, Sestriere finally saw some real snow, and the city of Turin itself saw snow falling on and off for much of the day. And to show that there can be too much of a good thing… in the resort of Cortina in the Italian Dolomites, the women’s World Cup Super-G race was delayed for an hour and a half on Friday after 20cm snow fell on the piste.
More snow is forecast for the Olympic resorts, including Sestriere, this weekend.
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