Those involved came from various different countries to meet, discuss and deal with countless subjects regarding the world of snow. During the course of the meeting of the Alpine Ski World Cup Committee, which took place on the 1st of October, the President, Erich Demetz, made the strategy adopted for the coming years public and that is, to make the Circo Bianco (The White Circle) even more prestigious.  Among the novelties, there has been a significant concentration of the events within certain territories.  The calendar for the years 2006/07 and 2007/08 will bring exciting news to the Alta Badia / Gardena couple. Erich Demetz, President of the International World Cup Committee, spoke to us about it.

C.P. President, can you enlighten us somewhat on the new strategies that have recently been adopted by the World Cup Committee?
E.D.: Let’s say that the strategies aren’t really very new, because for many years now we’ve been trying to concentrate the competitions, in order to make the World Cup more important and attribute it greater prestige. We are constantly in a sort of conflict with reality, between the policy of trying to get things done quickly and that of the National Federations who have to keep everyone happy. We mustn’t forget that in Italy we have the Alps that stretch from Genoa to Trieste. And we also have the Apennines. The conditions have been imposed somewhat by the market, which clearly says that, in order to get new forms of sponsorship, we must offer a Grand Prix, the concentration of the events in one location. In this specific case, the Gardena / Alta Badia pair seems the obvious choice, for its tradition, history, ability and of course its slopes, as well as a whole series of other important factors.

C.P. We will therefore have less competitions of a higher quality?
Yes, we’ll have to try to reduce some competitions because the calendar is currently very full. This is obviously a very difficult task as we are operating within the three continents of the Northern hemisphere. Having added lots of different specialities, such as the super combo and the national team competition, we have filled the calendar with 100 days of events.

C.P. What will Gardena and Alta Badia actually obtain beginning from 2006/07? 
E.D.: 4 competitions in total, two technical ones and two high speed speciality competitions within the Circo Bianco for an entire week in our valleys. We intend to start on the Tuesday with the slalom in Alta Badia, then on Wednesday and Thursday downhill training in Val Garden, Friday the super G, Saturday the downhill race in Val Gardena and Sunday the Classic Giant on the Gran Risa in Alta Badia. 

C.P. Can we assume that the two Committees wish to create a tourism event to increase arrivals in the area and the presence of tourists in an otherwise off-peak season? 
E.D.: Let’s say that this is a phenomenon that goes with it. I am the sporting director and I’m obviously very happy if we manage to fill the hotels of our valleys as a side effect of this event. Our main aim however is to hold competitions with an extremely high technical level. What I would like to propose to our friends in Alta Badia and Val Gardena is to reflect and think about a point of view that we started promoting successfully a few years back, that is, in this case a great combination of Alta Badia / Gardena, that includes the four classic specialities. In this way we would arrive at a model that is unique in its genre.