LUXURY LIVING SPORT u
BORN IN A BLIZZARD
It had snowed all night and you would never have guessed there was a polo field beneath all that snow says Reto Gaudenzi , reminiscing about that Saturday , 26 of January 1985 . For two years , he had worked tirelessly to make the first polo tournament on snow happen . He had convinced innovators , won over sceptics and ignored notorious grousers and now , his baby was about to be buried under a pile of snow .
The snow had fallen hard and there was far too much for it to be compressed the town ’ s large and heavy snow blowers would simply have cracked through the ice on the lake , but Reto Gaudenzi would not let himself become disheartened and after calling on his fellow townsfolk by seven o ’ clock , two dozen locals had arrived to help clear the field with their small private snow-blowers . After six hours of strenuous effort the volunteers had finally managed to clear a field measuring a respectable 40 by 80 meters — and the world premiere of snow polo could begin .
WHERE ELSE BUT IN ST . MORITZ ?
The idea of snow polo was born some two years previously . Hanspeter Danuser , St . Moritz ’ s legendary tourism director , had quizzed Reto Gaudenzi on whether it would in fact be possible to play polo on snow . At first glance , there appeared to be no reason why it could not be done . So , Danuser went ahead and announced that St . Moritz would be holding the world ’ s first snow polo tournament .
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