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265 180 33495 New Indoor Snow Centre, With Outdoor Slopes Too, Under Construction In Lithuania A new indoor snow centre which looks set to be the world's longest is due to open this winter in the Baltic nation of Lithuania. The SNORAS Snow Arena is due to open this winter following an investment of 98 Million Litas (about €28.5 m) of which two-fifths is coming from European Government structural funding. The main indoor slope will be 460m long and 50 metres wide and there will be a 70m wide, 150m long beginner trail. Indoor snowmaking will be made by the German-based company Innovag (www.innovag.de) with 15 of their PowderStar S6 units. There will also be an indoor terrain park. A 640m long outdoor piste will be operational as soon as temperatures drop below 5 Celcius each winter when snowmaking can operate. The centre is being built on an eight acre site, within a far larger wilderness area. The centre's capacity at any one time will be 1,000 people being be one of very few in the world that offers both indoor year-round and outdoor seasonal skiing on adjacent sites. The project team hopes that they will attract 400,000 visitors annually from the wider Baltic region. There is already a summer holiday centre adjacent to the site. There will also be an ice skating rink , snowboard area, a 25 metre high climbing wall and a children's entertainment area . Catering facilities will include the Eskimo ice bar for cocktails and the main restaurant with a wall of glass windows 47m high. The Snow Arena is being built in forest land 500 metres from the village of Druskininkai, in the spectacular Mizar spectacular mountain forest. Lithuania is a rather flat country with some gently rolling hills. The only currently existing downhill slope, at Anykščiai, Kalita hill has snowmaking facilities and two lifts with pistes that are up to 250m long with a 40m vertical drop meaning the new indoor snow centre alone will be bigger than all pistes together at Kalita hill. For more details on the new indoor snow centre please visit www.snowarena.lt. (Photo: extreme.by) ------ Summer skiing in the Southern hemisphere The Americans, who have been accustomed for three seasons to the slopes of Chile for a speed session, will leave South America to return at the beginning of October to New Zealand on the slopes of Mt Hutt after they have already spent some time at Coronet Peak earlier in August. The lack of snow has led to the decision of the U.S. Ski Team staff. After one block in New Zealand, the Americans put the cap on Chile and the ladies speedsters will train in Portillo while the technicians go to Valle Nevada. The French ladies speed team, who had planned to stay in La Parva from 9 to 29 September, will still be in Chile but in Chilian 400 kilometres further South of Santiago, where according to Jean-Philippe Vulliet, athletic director and on-site for some days, the conditions are "good" in this resort perched on a volcano. The Germans had also decided to move from La Parva to Chilian to do speed tests. The tricolors will thus have a benchmark to compare themselves at this stage of training. Last but not least, the Italian Alpine teams continue their preparation in South America smoothly at Ushuaia. On the weekend the last teams will be arriving in Argentina. These days they are doing giant slalom and speed test runs. The minor ailments that have slowed down in part Brignone Federica and Chiara Costazza in recent days have healed, so that today's training was held as scheduled. "The snow of recent days has made the slopes practically perfect - says the only athletic director Claudio Ravetto -. I think this is the year in which we found the best conditions and the athletes are enjoying it." 33496 ------ Eva-Maria Brem works hard on her comeback Brem, who already called attention to herself with significant results, is now working on her comeback after having fractured her tibia and fibula this year on April 2 during free skiing. The surgery on her injured leg was conducted by Dr. Christian Fink. The young Tyrolean took up an intensive rehabilitation training program immediately after her operation during the summer months. Now in September Brem was back on snow the first time. Under observation of her coach Günter Obkircher , she made her first turns again in recent days on the Hintertux glacier. Eva-Maria Brem: "It's a nice feeling to be back on snow. I feel no pain. The first test was very satisfactory. I hope to be up to speed as soon as possible to take up where I left off last season." Günter Obkircher coach: "Eva Brem's ambition for her comeback is surely very positive. What she showed on her first contact with snow gives rise to optimism. If she continues to get better and improve in the same way she has been, Brem will soon be able to compete on the top level again." 33497 ---- 2011 Alpine Junior Worlds as one of the highlights in Crans-Montana winter Share / Print | Thursday 2 September 2010 2011 Alpine Junior Worlds as one of the highlights in Crans-Montana winter Crans-Montana (SUI) will stage the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships 2011 from 29th January to 6th February. The site has already played host to 20 FIS European Cup and 19 FIS World Cup competitions, 2 FIS World Cup Finals (1992 & 1998), the European Cup Finals 2009, and the unforgettable 1987 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. But besides the Junior Worlds, Crans-Montana will also see another special milestone next season: On 7th January 2011 it will be exactly one hundred years since the English skiing pioneer Sir Arnold Lunn organized the world's very first downhill ski race on the high Valais plateau from the Plaine Morte glacier to Mollens. On Wednesday 1st September 2010, FIS Continental Cup Coordinators Janez Flere (ladies) and Markus Waldner (men) inspected the progress of the preparations by the local organizers led by Marius Robyr for the Junior Championships in Crans-Montana. The competition venue has seen massive investments in recent years. One example is the significant upgrade of the legendary 'Piste Nationale' including a new final section of the Nationale which was re-modeled. At the Junior World Championships, the renewed Mont-Lachaux piste will stage the slalom and giant slalom competitions while the downhill and super-G races will be on the Nationale. Both pistes have the same finish area. "The Organizing Committee in Crans-Montana is working very diligently. Thanks to the new GS course, and one common finish area we will be able to stage all the medal events within one week which allows a very efficient schedule for the championships," said Janez Flere. For more information, visit www.skiwc-cransmontana.ch 33498