SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : Lack of Snow Puts Championships in Grave Jeopardy

While the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, the snow is supposed to fall in the mountains. Such has not been the case so far this winter.

As a result, the biennial World Alpine Ski Championships, scheduled to be held near Granada starting Monday, are close to being canceled, according to Marc Hodler, president of the International Ski Federation (FIS), who said a final decision will be made Thursday.

For a while last weekend, FIS officials were ready to call everything off and eliminate all suspense, worrying that even if enough snow could be made to cover the courses, safety would be a problem and the sport’s image would be tarnished by the unattractive brown hillsides.

At Sierra Nevada, site of the two-week competition, the citizenry prayed for snow, and a few inches did fall but then the precipitation turned to rain. On Saturday, in nearby Guadix, statues of the village’s patron saints were paraded through the streets, and on Sunday, more prayers were said for snow.

Kate Pace, the defending world women’s downhill champion from Canada, voiced the racers’ anxiety when she told the Associated Press Sunday, “As it looks right now, the only thing I’m concerned about is the safety. There is not much snow, and outside the course there are only rocks to slide into.”

The alternatives were to postpone the event until after the World Cup season, in late March, or to hold it early next year, when no Winter Olympics or World Championships are scheduled. But Spanish organizers doubt if conditions will improve much this year and favor the 1996 option if all else failed.

Then Rafael Cortes Elvira, Spain’s minister of sports, said Monday, “We’re in good position. The competition can and will be held. Without any (natural) snow, Sierra Nevada is ready to hold the championships. I am optimistic.”

Even Hodler sounded positive, saying, “Practically four-fifths of the courses are ready. Also, (man-made) snow has been put alongside the courses in different places.”

And GianFranco Kasper, secretary-general of the FIS, was still more encouraging.

“Our inspector there (Monday) was quite satisfied with the way preparations are going,” he said. “We foresee opening as scheduled. The risk is a little bit higher without snow around the courses. . . . (But) it’s no longer just a white ribbon in a brown landscape. The landscape now is slightly white.”

However, late Tuesday, Hodler began backtracking and indicated that barring a sudden change in the weather, the FIS will probably postpone the event until next year.

“We had very bad news this evening,” he said in Lausanne, Switzerland. “The temperatures in Sierra Nevada are rising. People are sitting outside in shirt sleeves. If this continues, we can’t make snow and the (man-made) snow will melt. We need another two to three nights to produce the rest of the snow to secure the championships.”

The weather for the next few days, he added, “is very pessimistic.”

Organizers have added 13,000 feet of fencing alongside the courses to protect both racers and spectators, but a persistent problem is the lack of snow-making capability at the 10,000-foot-high start of the men’s downhill track.

In the meantime, all national teams are on hold. They had been scheduled to arrive at Sierra Nevada late Tuesday, but now will wait until Friday--if it should become a go, after all.

The U.S. team is basking in the Mediterranean sunshine of Marbella on the Costa Del Sol, savoring the weekend downhill triumphs of Kyle Rasmussen and Picabo Street.

Rasmussen, 26, of Angels Camp, Calif., startled everyone by winning the Lauberhorn Saturday at Wengen, Switzerland--his first World Cup victory in five seasons. He won a few hours after he had discussed with his wife the possibility of quitting the circuit and returning home to be with her and their two children.

Sunday at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Street’s second downhill victory of the season gave her 505 points, putting her fifth in the World Cup overall standings behind leader Katja Seizinger of Germany (799), Heidi Zeller-Baehler of Switzerland (744), Vreni Schneider of Switzerland (662) and Martina Ertl of Germany (540).

The men’s leader, naturally, is Alberto Tomba of Italy, who was rained out of a chance to win his 10th race of the season Tuesday when a giant slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, was postponed until next month. Tomba’s seventh consecutive slalom victory--nine in a row over two seasons--Sunday at Wengen gave him a total of 950 points, 400 more than five-time World Cup champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, who earned 100 by taking the combined with a 13th in the downhill and a 10th in the slalom. Tomba has also won two of the four giant slaloms this winter.

Now, everyone is ready for the World Championships, which are supposed to start with the women’s super-G Monday, followed by the men’s super-G Tuesday. The men’s downhill is set for Feb. 4, the women’s downhill for Feb. 5. These would be the big dates for U.S. racers.

Tomba would take the spotlight in the men’s giant slalom on Feb. 10 and slalom on closing day, Feb. 12. That’s assuming, of course, that there will be an opening day.

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Southland ski areas are deep in powder again after this week’s storm added up to 30 inches of snow to the already adequate bases in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

A Kratka Ridge spokeswoman said Tuesday: “We’ve gotten more than two feet of wet snow in the last 24 hours, but the bad news is that the highway is closed at the 6,000-foot level and we’re at 7,000 feet. However, it may reopen later today or by tomorrow.”

In the Big Bear area, Bear Mountain’s Julie Grant said at least six inches had fallen overnight, and that although chains were required, the roads were open. “It’s supposed to continue for a day or two,” she added, “and the skiing this weekend should be unbelievable.”

Farther north, Mammoth Mountain reported receiving an additional 14 inches and June Mountain another 12 inches atop bases already exceeding 100 inches.

Skiing Notes

The Over the Hill Gang, a 50-and-over ski and social club, has five chapters in Southern California, including one in Los Angeles headed by Dick Knudsen, who can provide membership details at (818) 244-2631. . . . Others are located in Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The organization’s international office in Colorado Springs has further information at (719) 685-4656.

The U.S. Pro Tour, led by Bernhard Knauss of Austria, will stop this weekend at Heavenly, on Lake Tahoe’s south shore, for the $100,000 World Pro Championships. A pro-celebrity race will also be held. . . . The Women’s Pro Ski Tour will swing through Mt. Sunapee, N.H., for a $30,000 event.

World Cup freestyle skiers will compete this weekend at Lake Placid, N.Y. . . . After winning for the first time in 10 months two weekends ago at Breckenridge, Colo., Donna Weinbrecht of Killington, Vt., finished out of the money in the women’s moguls Saturday at LeRelais, Quebec. . . . Ellen Breen of West Hills made it four for four this winter by winning the women’s ballet Friday. . . . And Americans swept Sunday’s aerials as Trace Worthington of Park City, Utah, won the men’s division and Nikki Stone of Westborough, Mass., topped the women’s field. . . . Kriste Porter of Greenland, N.H., took the women’s combined.