The two days of international meetings for the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) and its member federations consisted of an open workshop on Friday and the Plenary Assembly on Saturday. Participants of the weekend included Andorra (Pyrenees), Austria, Belgium, Catalonia, France, Germany, Iran, Japan, Korea, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
The open workshop this year mainly concentrated on youth development, with particular reference to those regions outside the core federations, with the main discussions focusing on Asia, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Next season the ISMF will be collaborating with two important youth camps in China and Austria, and will also follow with interest the developments of the new international Atma Ski youth team.
The Plenary Assembly as usual covered a lot of areas relating to the work of the ISMF both with regards to previous seasons and developments in the future. All key administrative points such as the balance, budget, strategic plan were approved, as were rules modifications, the voting indicating a close agreement amongst ISMF members. One of the most important presentations was made by Infront showing how the media project worked last season and plans for the next season, including a web redesign, and more emphasis to be made on web TV and social networking.
The ISMF Management Committee is pleased to welcome a new member from Switzerland, Regula Meier who will be responsible for the Anti-Doping Commission.
The official ISMF World Cup calendar was presented and approved, although there is still time for federations to insert ISMF Series events. Other important sporting activities will be the referee forum, youth camps, coach training and continental championships. The ISMF Forum for local organising committees will as usual be held this coming autumn in order to be prepared for the next season.
The Andorran Mountaineering Federation were great hosts and the two days of hard, but fruitful work were greatly appreciated by the ISMF and the participants.
