La Sgambeda 2008

December 21, 2008

La Sgambeda took place in Livigno, northern Italy (valley adjacent to the Engadin) on December 14. This race offers for many skiers the nordic winter’s first skiing on snow. La Sgambeda means something like moving the legs. Livigno is at an altitude of 1800 m and is very snow-safe. This year the valley had lots of snow early December. During practically the whole week preceding La Sgambeda it was snowing every day, adding more than half a meter of new snow. The organizers managed to pack it surprisingly well. On the race morning the temperature was around -4 C, rising to near zero during the day. Conditions were relatively fast; the snowfall that began about 2 hours after the start did hardly disturb the slower skiers. The race attracted again more than 1400 skiers including visitors not only from Italy and central Europe but also from Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and GBR: the London XC Ski club for example sent a group of 30.

Some results of  IAWLS members:

40 km (winner’s time 1.34.47)

21 km (winner’s time 0.51.29)

This page was last revised on February 20, 2009