A prestigious event
The World Alpine Skiing Championships are organized over a two-week period, every alternative year in a ski resort or alpine venue. Contrary to the World Cup circuit which includes several races and ranks skiers according to their overall results of the whole season, the World Championships awards its titles based on the results of one slalom, giant slalom, super G, super combined or downhill race.
Val d'Isère, the skiing capital
After organizing over 150 World Cup races and 4 Olympic Games events in 1992, Val d'Isère is to host the FIS World Alpine Ski Championships in 2009 thus becoming a member of the elite club open only to resorts having organized the "Grand Slam" (Chamonix, St Moritz, Garmish).
The local project of a "car-free Championships" is unique as the competition venues are on two opposing slopes, with finish areas only 50 metres apart, in the heart of the village.
The Press Centre will be located at under a minute's walk from the finish area so athletes, coaches, official, journalists and the general public will be able to walk around the venue with ease. Accommodation to race course will require under 10-minutes walk.
As Val d'Isère is concerned about the environment it has created a special commission to advise the Organizing Committee on related subjects such as nature preservation. The entire town of Val d'Isère is working towards making this event a Great Celebration of Skiing.
An educational project for Savoy Middle Schools based on the 2009 World Championships.
The idea isn't new. The County Council and the 2009 Organizing Committee hatched it as soon as the World Championships were awarded to Val d'Isère back in 2004.
The aim was to encourage young Savoyards to participate in the event. Today this idea had become a reality. Earlier this week, representatives of 14 public and private middle schools came to the resort to meet with the World Championships organizers.
After a presentation of the event, Board of Education inspector, Cécile Brennan-Sardou, presented the various school projects linked to the event. "We have come to show how the pupils are to become ambassadors of this great celebration of skiing and discover the various careers involved in the organization of such an important event," she told us. Work has already commenced for a number of middle school students. Up to 250 pupils from each school are already working on important themes
such as the environment, safety, sport, alpine careers and communications. This coming year will allow them to carry out further investigations locally to perfect their work.
However, this educational project is to be finalized by the largest number possible of pupils visiting the resort during the Championships themselves. The County Council Youth Skiing Plan is planning to invite 20 000 local Savoy middle school pupils to attend the competitions completely free of charge.
A colourful, fun and educational slope.
Milka officially opened its "Purple Piste" in Val d'Isère on Tuesday February 10th in the presence of Ingrid Jacquemod, local girl and current leader of the French National Team.
The "Purple Piste", located in La Daille, is made up of 6 different stages and is open to both adults and children to introduce them the alpine environment through a specially devised question/answer game. Several surprises and Milka chocolate treats may also be found on this piste.
