The organizers of the Winter Olympics resolved their artificial snow production problem a month and a half before the start of the major event and began producing it for the competitions taking place in Livigno.
“After five days the problem was resolved,” said Fabio Massimo Saldini, managing director of the company responsible for supplying the Olympic facilities, in a statement published on Monday: “We brought forward the snow production and … met the start date.”
Just a few days ago, the organizing committee for the games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (February 6 to 22, 2026) admitted to the AFP news agency that there had been a technical problem in the production of artificial snow in the Italian community where the snowboard and ski freestyle competitions are to take place.
According to the announcement, snow production for the snow park in Livigno, whose numerous elements, jumps and half pipes require large amounts of artificial snow, was originally supposed to begin on December 20th, but this date has now been met. A few days earlier, however, a broken cable had posed major problems for the organizers, and World Ski Association President Johan Eliasch had raised the alarm about the snow conditions.
The delays in the preparations are “inexplicable,” said the FIS boss: “The Italian government and the regions that are hosting the games still have a lot to do and must speed up the preparations.”
“We can guarantee 28,000 cubic meters of snow per day. The 53 snow cannons are all in perfect condition,” explained Saldini. So far, the system has produced “around 160,000 cubic meters of snow,” according to the CEO, which guarantees that the system will be completed by January 20th. A test event will then take place between January 20th and 25th before the Winter Games officially open on February 6th.