The men's Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup races, also known as the 54ème Critérium de la première neige, in Val d'Isère (FRA) on 11th-13th December will take place on the (in)famous "Face de Bellevarde" slope also used at the FIS World Championships in February 2009. The competition schedule for the super combined, super-G and giant slalom events was confirmed as planned in cooperation between FIS and the local organizing committee on the basis of the current snow situation and the weather forecast for the next several days.

The Face de Bellevarde piste was designed by Bernhard Russi for the Olympic Winter Games 1992 but it was not used again until at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 (and in their test events). Due to the exposed nature of the mountain and the associated difficulty in the preparation, the World Cup races have typically been raced on the Oreiller-Killy course in La Daille.

The ladies' weekend, scheduled with super combined, downhill and super-G for 17-19th December 2009, has already been confirmed to take place at La Daille rather than on the Rhone-Alpes course on the Solaise mountain used the 2009 World Championships. However, the Official Snow Control for the ladies' weekend will only take place on Saturday 5th December.

FISalpine.com
Tuesday 1 December 2009