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The professional training, safety and innovation conferences on slopes organised by the Real Federación Española Deportes de Invierno (RFEDI), FGC and the Federació Catalana d'Esports d'Hivern (FCEH) have started their journey with great success in terms of participation. The quality of the speakers who have developed concepts throughout these symposia has been excellent, with great figures and references from the winter sports industry between clubs, regional federations, personalities and ski resorts.

On 8 October the training began with the conference of the general director of the RFEDI, Olmo Hernán, in which the new era that winter sports are experiencing with its challenges and opportunities was discussed. The technical director of FGC Turisme, Xavier Perpinyà, continued, dealing with aspects linked to the competition and permanent stadiums. Names such as Maria José Rienda, director of mountain activities at Sierra Nevada; David Campà, head of security at FGC Turisme; Pol Sánchez, head of the slopes at La Molina; and Martín Begino, head of Pistes Cerro Castor (ARG), offered their vision on the management and coordination of training and competition slopes. Finally, regarding safety in this area, Jordi Pujol and Juli Selma, FIS homologators, explained the keys to being able to offer tracks in optimal conditions for athletes in all specialties.

On October 9, aspects related to marketing, health, science and technology were discussed. Doctors Diego García-Germán and Daniel Brotons, specialists in sports traumatology and physical education medicine, showed the importance of knowing how to act in the event of an accident, since it is as fundamental as injury prevention itself. On the other hand, Ángel Calero, technical director of RFEDI, and FIS homologator Jordi Pujol discussed the types of track preparation according to category and level. On this point, we delved into how science and technology can be applied to the competition tracks with David Campà, Víctor Torrecillas, Head of the Activities Department at Sierra Nevada, and Jesús Agustín, from Activities at the Aramón Group. The sessions concluded with Jaime Gil, head of physical preparation at the RFEDI, and Olmo Hernán, on how this innovation and technology focused on athletes can be carried out, techniques that have already begun to be used in the state teams this summer with great results.

The president of the Real Federación Española Deportes de Invierno, May Peus España, highlights that “just the fact of being here for two days with ski resorts, clubs, ski coaches, managers and snow leaders says a lot about its great potential, which we hope will not be the last. Surely everything that has been discussed in them will be transmitted transversally, on the track, in the day-to-day training, for the safety of the athletes. They are the ones who will benefit from, each time, things being done better in everything that has to do with training and competition.”

For his part, the president of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Carles Ruiz, points out that “we are promoting high-level events in our stations to demonstrate that we have organizational capacity and the dynamization of the territory. For this, knowledge in safety is needed, and if we are able to generate these events successfully, our facilities for the general public practicing winter sports will also improve. The improvement in training and knowledge empowers us to generate high-level sporting events in the territory and the management of our stations. Having this alliance between the Spanish and Catalan federations and Ferrocarrils shows that we are all involved in the objective of hosting these high-level competitions.”

David Samper, president of the Federació Catalana d'Esports d'Hivern, confirms that “these were days of great professionalism, with the participation of the best sports technicians and experts from the ski resorts. The great success of this project has resided in the empathy and collaboration between the technicians from clubs and federations and the professionals from the resorts. The sharing of technical and safety knowledge has allowed us to identify and share the needs of each work team. From now on, we are convinced that the decisions of both groups will be better understood and valued, thanks to the mutual knowledge of the particularities behind each decision.”

Finally, at the conclusion of the conferences in the Espai Provença, a total of 35 sports technicians with 25 years of experience were recognized for their professional career in promoting young talents and the winter sports industry itself, at the proposal of the Autonomous Federations.

The general secretary of the Departament d'Esports de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Abel Garcia, has taken part of the closing ceremony specifying that “I want to thank the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat team for the joint work they are carrying out for sport and the territory. We are starting from a very good base, but we must look to the future, and I believe that conferences like this, where there is training and innovation, show the way. We want to take a step forward in technification and high performance, since, as the Minister of Sports of the Generalitat, Berni Álvarez, says, the most important thing is to put the athlete at the center.”

After these in-person conferences, specific online training will be held during the month of November 2025, in which topics related to the preparation of ski slopes, ski slope technology and practical cases will be covered, all linked to competitive stadiums.

Finally, as an additional practice, a technical exercise will be carried out on the slopes at one of the FGC winter resorts with the aim of applying all the knowledge acquired during this project, both in the face-to-face and telematic sessions.

This collaboration seeks to give a new boost to snow sports with the main objective of attracting high-level competitions to the ski slopes of the national panorama, such as those managed by FGC, and improving practices and safety on the slopes.