Snow at Dachstein; -1 at Lavazè

It snowed on the Dachstein Glacier for the first time this week and Tuesday morning, the thermometer at Paso Lavazè read -1 at 8 am, sure signs that winter and the 2026/27 LaVita IBU World Cup season are getting closer by the day.

The women’s team, on a different schedule than the men went through a long-loop threshold workout with shooting. Coach Sverre Olsbu Roeiseland closely monitored each shooting bout, still working on details as the season approaches. “We have worked quite hard up to now, so we will take it a little easier the last few days here.”

Nine-day Shooting Challenge

At the 12-point shooting range, sitting at 1800 meters, it was winter race suits as the men warmed up and zeroed on bright, sunny morning. The day’s training was day 8 in a nine-day shooting challenge to see who was tops at this camp. This one was no usual ski a loop, glide into the range and shoot. Coach Patrick Oberegger explained, “Today is six rounds, alternating prone and standing. They ski the loop down the hill and then it is 30 seconds as fast as they can go up the steep range entrance and shoot, take a short recovery and repeat.” Going into the penultimate stage, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen was leading, but Oberegger reminded the group, “Anything can happen.”

The mood was lighthearted with a lot of fist bumps and laughs. Once the competition started, it was full gas each time they approached the range, driving hard up the hill that is easily 18-20%. Shooting was fast and furious, as was the short dash to the finish. Each loop seemed to have a different leader: Christiansen, Dale-Skjevdal and Johan-Olav Smoerdal Botn all took turns. The short recovery was just enough time for a quick drink and a laugh. When the dust settled, Christiansen padded his lead with 29-of-30 today; Botn topped the day with 30 hits!

“Take Chances; do something spectacular”