Kontiolahti municipality is currently looking for savings. The goal is to reduce 1.5 million euros from next year’s budget.
One possible savings target can be the first snow slope transferred from Kontiolahti Outdoor to be maintained by the municipality. The newspaper Karjalainen also wrote about it on Wednesday. Kontiolahti municipality’s leisure manager Sari Jormanainen stated to Karjalainen that there is a discussion ahead, whether Kontiolahti has a first snow trail.
Jormanainen describes to that the snow of the first snow slope costs about four euros per cube and there are 55,000 cubes of snow. The construction of the track will therefore cost the taxpayers of Kontiolahti about 220,000 euros.
According to Jormanainen, all options for savings targets are under discussion. Municipal manager Jari Tuononen says that he does not yet know what kind of savings he intends to present in the municipality’s budget for next year.
– I can’t say. We have a council seminar next Tuesday, where savings targets will be discussed, Tuononen says.
The track serves all paying skiers who use it, but especially it has secured the organization of biathlon world cup competitions at the end of the year. Even now, at the turn of November-December, the Biathlon World Cup season starts in Kontiolahti.
The chairman of the Kontiolahti Athletes Kimmo Turunen according to which all track plans are made under the conditions of the World Cup.
In the future, the organizers of the World Cup will no longer need the first snow slope. The games of the 2025–2026 season are namely in March 2026, when there is usually natural snow in the country.
– If it’s a winter with bad snow, then snow can be made directly on the slopes with snow cannons, says Turunen, who is also the CEO of Kontiolahti Outdoor and the competition director of the Kontiolahti World Cup competitions.
At the moment, one and a half kilometers of the track have been built, but in a month and a half the track will be more than twice as long.
Finland’s number one names disappointed
Ensilumenlatu has been an important training ground for Finnish national team biathlon skiers. Most of the national team athletes train in Kontiolahti.
Finland’s top name for women Suvi Minkkinen is surprised and disappointed to hear about possible plans to end the first snow slope after the coming spring.
reached Minkkinen by phone just as he was going to the first snow slope this fall to practice.
– I would not have even thought that this would be possible. This first snow slope has been in use for so long. I have taken it for granted that here in Kontiolahti the track is always open in October. Yes, it will cause sadness if this doesn’t continue like this anymore, Minkkinen says and even admits that he is almost shocked when asked.
Ending Ensilato would have big effects on Minkkinen. He had thought that in a year he would be preparing for the Olympic season specifically on Kontiolahti’s first snow slope.
The Olympic plans would therefore be renewed if Kontiolahti was no longer made with the first snow slope.
– In practice, this means that the month before the competition season should be spent somewhere else, where there is a track. During that time, it is important to get some snow training. In the summer, we train on the ground. In the last month, fitness is transferred to snow and skis. You can’t really compromise on this snow training, says Minkkinen.
So Minkkinen should practically travel to Vuokatti next season, according to his own words, if Pärnä’s track in Liperi is not open either. The distance from Kontiolahti to Vuokatti is just under 200 kilometers and two hours by car. Now Minkkinen’s training trip from home to the track has been 20 kilometers.
Minkkinen has spent and plans to spend a lot of time on the first snow slope. He describes that he has been going to the first snow slope to train six times a week as soon as it has been opened. Minkkinen hopes that saving the first snow slope would be considered very carefully from the point of view of top sports and fitness.
– I’m looking at this buzz on the track now, so there are quite a lot of exercisers here. Now there has been general talk about people moving and increasing it. For many, skiing is a comfortable form of exercise that is gentle on the joints. A basic fitness person probably doesn’t go looking for slopes like elite athletes. For many, the ski season can be shortened by a couple of months, says Minkkinen.
Lost competitive advantage?
The number one name in biathlon in Finland says the same about the large number of fitness enthusiasts Tero Seppälä. He reminds that the first snowfall has acted as a significant mover.
Like Minkkinen, Seppälä also states that he will not be seen on the home side in a year’s time if the first snowfall is no longer done. Now, like Minkkinen, he is starting his first snow season in Kontiolahti.
Seppälä admits that saving the first snow slope would be disappointing, but he also understands the large amount that goes into the slope.
Kontiolahti’s first snow slope has served Seppälä for almost ten years in preparation for the season.
Seppälä also underlines the importance for top athletes and reminds that it is often crowded to train in Vuokatti.
– There have been few places in Kontiolahti where you can train on the World Cup tracks right away. If you look internationally, many places don’t have this kind of chance of first snow. This has been an advantage for the whole team, says Seppälä.
The current first snow slope snow was made last winter and it was stored at the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium over the summer. The Ensilumenlatu officially opens on Friday, but on Thursday it was already possible to ski there.