How Are Ski-O Conditions Like?
A small comparison of four European countries.
Norway, January 6, Eiving Tonna: "Ready for ski-o competition this weekend Sjusjøen. Real winter conditions"
Finland, January 7, Marko Vapaa: "Finnish qualifications at Syöte shortened this weekend because of heavy snowfall."
Sweden, January 10, Johan Trygg: "Grönklitt var planerad tävlingsort men på grund av för mycket snö flyttades arrangemanget till terrängen intill Vasaloppsarenan nära Mora." which means "Ski-o competitions were supposed to be held in Grönklitt, but because of too much snow they were moved closer to Mora." The Czech Republic, Vítkovice (Krkonoše mountains), January 7, Petr Junek ml.: "Vzhledem k tomu, že se předpověď na tento týden stále zhoršuje, je možné, že se závod přeloží na jiný termín. V úterý a ve středu má přejít další obleva. Tratě už teď připravujeme na oblevu, takže budeme používat jen místa, kde budou dobré sněhové podmínky i pokud odtaje dalších 5-10 cm. Logicky se tím zmenšuje prostor, což ovlivní hlavně klasickou trať." which means "Weather forecast is getting worse and worse. Races might be postponed to another weekend. Another warm weather with rain coming this week. This influence especially the long distance race a lot as the competition area is getting smaller and smaller due to lack of snow."
In last ten days I used to commute daily to some place with snow. Three to four hours in the car. Every day. Sometimes, the conditions were OK, sometimes bad, sometimes ..... . Biggest thanks to my dad who accompanied me at every skiing session and drove the car so that I could rest a bit.
It is middle of January and it takes over one hour by car to get to the nearest skiing tracks. A good thing is that withing two hours by car I can reach five different spots! (always try to find something positive) More than five years ago there was enough snow to ski just few metres from my home. At least for a few weeks in the middle of a winter...
The Czech Republic is a small country. With really bad conditions for ski-o in last years. You must be a true ski-o lover if you wanna put effort in this kind of sport. But you know what? The worse conditions we have for training, the better it feels when we beat any athlete from coutries like Norway, Sweden or Finland!
