“If only there were a little more snow...” Anna Swenn Larsson returns to Stelvio and gets people thinking

A reflection before flying overseas and joining the many colleagues from the white circus heading to Ushuaia. At least between Argentina and Chile, it can be said that winter has brought generally fairly good conditions for training.

Anna Swenn Larsson has returned, along with some of her national-team teammates, to the Stelvio, which reopened just a couple of days ago (as Zermatt is expected to do next week), after the halt imposed on summer skiing after mid-August at this iconic location between South Tyrol and Valtellina, because of the extremely high temperatures and the disaster found in the “heart” of the glacier, which also entails concrete safety risks.

The Swedish specialists in the technical disciplines had also trained at the Wittenburg ski dome in Germany, while at Stelvio they completed a few giant slalom and slalom sessions. But the words of the veteran Scandinavian, fresh from winning Olympic bronze in the tight gates at Cortina and having decided to race for another season after considering retirement, say a great deal: “If only there were a little more snow to ski on.” Anna’s comment on social media, accompanied by images of the glacier despite the slight improvement in recent days that led to its reopening, is truly striking (as Martina Peterlini herself also showed after recently returning to the slopes).

Sara Hector is not there, having already flown to Ushuaia for the preparation block on the Argentine snow, which will now also be sampled by the Olympic champion’s national-team squad, including Cornelia Oehlund, heading into the season in which the 2005-born skier will seek her first World Cup podium.