ST. MORITZ/SWITZERLAND, 30JAN15 – The players of team BMW pose after winning the Slupinski Cup match against team Badrutt’s Palace Hotel during the 31st Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz, January 30, 2015.
swiss-image.ch/Photo Valeriano DiDomenico
Media teams and equestrian sports enthusiasts from around the world are coming to the Snow Polo World St. Moritz at the end of January. Construction of the infrastructure has begun on Monday; by 28 January, tents with a total surface of 3,500 m2 and grandstands for 1,100 spectators will have been erected. Tickets for the VIP packages are selling well once again.
«The ice on the lake of St. Moritz is forming marvellously well!» Reto Gaudenzi, founder and CEO of the Snow Polo World Cup, says excitedly. «The ice is of top quality, too, so that we were able to start building the infrastructure on Monday.» Low temperatures and moderate snowfall have been favourable to the ice formation: The layer measures some 30 centimetres and its depth is increasing every day.
In the next three weeks, See-Infra Ltd, the town’s dedicated building company, will prepare the polo field, boasting a surface of 20,000 square meters. In cooperation with specialised companies, it will also erect tents amounting to a total surface of more than 3,500 square meters, grandstands for close to 1,100 spectators, a good dozen towers and platforms, as well as all the enclosures. Part and parcel of the tournament infrastructure are the technical installations and furnishings needed for a snow polo tournament with 12,000 visitors, restaurants, VIP areas and a media centre. To the extent possible, the infrastructure is re-used for the White Turf and Night Turf taking place on the three weekends following the Snow Polo World Cup.
Worldwide interest weeks ahead underscores the importance of the world’s only high goal tournament on snow: Journalists, photographers and camera teams for leading sports, people and lifestyle media from across the globe are expected to come to the tournament. The American Internet-TV channel Chukker.TV will be webcasting all games live on the World-Wide Web—a first for the tournament. VIP packages for the tournament and the gala event on Saturday evening (hosted by the local TV presenter Annina Campell) are in even greater demand than the year before. Access to the polo premises on the Lake St. Moritz—including access to the seated grandstands—is, as always, free.
VIP packages are available at www.snowpolo-stmoritz.com/tickets-and-merchandise