ISMF and La Grande Course to join forces

The participants in the meeting of Arvier, Valle d’Aosta (Italy) at the end of February 2020

The International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) and La Grande Course (LGC) – the organisation of traditional long-distance races in the Alps – want to become partners to strengthen the ski mountaineering sport.

The Presidents and delegations of the ISMF and LGC executive committees met in Arvier, Valle d’Aosta (Italy), to discuss a closer collaboration between the two organisations in the field of ski mountaineering.

At the Arvier meeting, a breakthrough has been achieved. Today, both organisations offer professional platforms for high quality competitions. The ISMF focuses on different race formats, from short Sprint races to classic Team races. With the Sprint, Individual and Mixed Relay formats, ski mountaineering has been a medal sport for the first time at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games. For many years, LGC has concentrated on long-distance alpine races in Italy, France and Switzerland. Adriano Favre, President of LGC, said: “I am happy that we have found a common ground. Our fantastic sport and therefore all athletes will benefit from this”.

The ISMF and LGC delegations expressed their intention to co-operate in the field of development of ski mountaineering competitions. As one of the first concrete steps, a joint long-distance World Championship shall be held at one of the existing LGC competitions. A combined project team will elaborate the necessary measures to implement this objective as soon as possible. In addition, LGC has expressed to collaborate inside the ISMF in a form that has yet to be defined. Thereby it wants to actively contribute reinforcing the ISMF as the global platform for ski mountaineering. To achieve this goal, the ISMF needs to establish a specific framework of collaboration, and the competent ISMF instances will have to decide on this integration project. Furthermore, important areas of collaboration will include the development of young talents as well as the fields of anti-doping and referees’ activity. Finally, the communication between the two organisations will be co-ordinated effectively and efficiently. Thomas Kähr, ISMF President, said: “I thank LGC for its determination to work alongside the ISMF to shape a promising future for the sport of ski mountaineering. United we will be stronger to seize the opportunities and to cope with the challenges that are ahead of us.”

Contacts:

ISMF: Thomas Kähr, President, +4179 230 0765, tkaehr@ismf-ski.org
LGC: Adriano Favre, President, +39 348 3111 5335, a.favre@trofeomezzalama.it

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