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Snow Slows Down 2015 St Moritz Snow Polo Construction

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The massive amount of snow that fell ten days ago has
created challenging ice conditions on the lake of St. Moritz and makes it more difficult
to erect the infrastructure. The infrastructure for this weekend’s Snow Polo World Cup
St. Moritz has to be slightly adapted to the new conditions. The tournament will be
held Friday to Sunday.
The meter of snow that fell ten days ago has been weighing heavily on the ice layer over the
lake of St. Moritz and has pressed it into the underlying water. Water has risen to the surface
despite the ice being of very good quality; structures that had already been put up ended up
standing in slush and had to be dismantled again. Thanks to the low temperatures, the slush
has since turned into ice—however, it has not yet been possible to take up construction work
again all over the lake.
As a consequence, the organisers had to renounce building the new terrace that would have,
for the first time, been right by the polo field. «Having to give up on the terrace was very
difficult, as our guests would have enjoyed a very special moment being so close to the polo
game,» regrets Reto Gaudenzi, the tournament’s CEO. «We were able to relocate the
lounge and the restaurant for our VIP guests to another tent, but we had to slightly reduce its
capacity.»
Thanks to the enormous effort made by all companies involved, the «Plazza da Polo»—
featuring restaurants and bars for the general public, the stands, with free access for all, and
the exhibition tents of the numerous partners of the tournament—will be up entirely. «The
teams of Lake Infra, Christoffel Constructions, Electro-Koller, marquee constructor Blasto, as
well as Roth, the constructor of the stands, have all done a brilliant job over the past days,»
says Gaudenzi, full of praise. «We are looking forward to a fantastic tournament!

On Monday, the first of the tournament’s protagonists—some 100 polo ponies—will arrive.
The ponies will first be shod with special, rubber-lined «hoof-grip» horseshoes. Then, they
will have a few days to become acclimatised to the altitude and the snow. Trainings are on
the agenda for Thursday and, from Friday till Sunday, the four teams will compete for the
coveted «Cartier Trophy» at the world’s only «high goal» polo tournament on snow