Sweden moves its camp to Norway to find snow. The World Cup opener runs on last winter's

Sweden’s cross-country team has had to leave the country to find snow. The national team camp was due to start in Bruksvallarna on Thursday. It has been moved to Trysil in Norway and will now start on Monday, Expressen reported.

“The idea was Bruksvallarna, but because of the current snow conditions we have now chosen Trysil,” head of the national team Niklas Jonsson told the paper. The team looked at venues in Sweden, Finland and Norway. “The important thing is that we get to a place with good conditions for ten days ahead,” he said. Jonsson does not expect the delay to cost anything: “Pushing the camp back a few days makes no difference.”

Skiers due in Trysil include Johanna Hagström, Moa Lundgren, Edvin Anger, Gustaf Berglund, Truls Gisselman and Anton Grahn.

Stored snow everywhere

The Nordic venues that are open are all running on snow kept from last winter.

• Trysil: Trysilfjellet Arena has 5 km of lit classic and skating tracks made from stored snow, open from 29 October to 13 December.
• Bruksvallarna: Bruksvallsliden currently has a 1.4 km loop, Expressen reported. More stored snow will be laid out before the Swedish season opener there on 20–22 November.
• Beitostølen: Snow stored under woodchips over the summer has been spread at the ski stadium, and training tracks are open. Beitosprinten, the Norwegian opener, is on 20–22 November.
• Ruka: A free first-snow trail on stored snow opened on 10 October. Kuusamon Erä-Veikot, the local club, is contracted by the organiser to store snow and prepare the World Cup venues.

No snow on the Alpine glaciers

The usual autumn alternative, altitude camps on Alpine glaciers, has largely failed this year. On 25 October, Iltalehti listed the state of the venues cross-country teams use most in October and November:

Finland’s national team is in Livigno until 2 November and knew beforehand that it would probably not ski on snow there. Petter Kukkonen, high-performance director of the Finnish federation, told the paper that the camp was still worth it for altitude training, sun and time together as a team. “For many reasons it is smart to hold a camp in Central Europe at this time of year, even if you can’t ski,” he said.

The FIS timetable for Ruka

The World Cup opens in Ruka on 27–29 November. Under the FIS World Cup rules for 2026/27:

• A snow controller appointed by FIS must send a snow report 15 days before the event. For Ruka, that is 12 November.
• The report must confirm that training courses are guaranteed from five days before the event, which is 22 November.
• A negative report activates the Event Preparation Group: FIS staff, the organiser, the host federation, the chair of the FIS Cross-Country Committee and an athlete representative. It can change the schedule, formats and courses, move the races or postpone them.
• A moved competition should in principle stay in the same country. If a move or cancellation is decided later than eight days before the event, which for Ruka means after 19 November, the original organiser pays the teams’ travel costs. Force majeure is an exception for cancellations.
• Every World Cup venue must present a snow-guarantee plan at the summer inspection.

What it means for the openers

For now, the shortage is a problem for training rather than for racing. Stored snow is far less exposed to a mild autumn than natural snow, and the venues hosting the openers have it and are already using it. There is no sign yet that Ruka, Beitostølen or Bruksvallarna is in doubt. The first real test for Ruka comes on 12 November, when the snow controller appointed by FIS has to report whether there is enough snow to guarantee prepared training courses from 22 November, five days before the first race. If the answer is no, FIS and the organiser start looking at changes, a new venue or a postponement.

It does narrow the options for teams. With the glaciers bare, a few small loops of stored snow in Norway, Sweden and Finland carry much of the pre-season snow training. Sweden had to go abroad for ten days of reliable skiing. Teams that bet on the Alps get altitude but little or no time on snow before the first races.