The Croatian wins, but what about the race in Croatia? The Snow Queen probably isn’t even in ’26.

It would be wonderful if I achieved this victory on Sljemen, it would be a dream come true. Ž I am sorry that there is no ridge race, she said Zrinka Ljutić (20) for RTL.

On Saturday, two years passed since the last race Snow queens held on the Crvena Spust in Sljem and Mikaela Shiffrin’s fifth victory in Zagreb in spring conditions. Another race for slalom skiers was supposed to take place on the second day, but during the night the warm wind additionally melted part of the snow and the race was not held.

Two years later, Croatian skiing has the leading slalom skier and skier in the World Cup, the sensational Zrinka, and the return of the race, which, with a two-year break due to bad weather, has been held since 2005, is not yet in sight. And it is very likely that it won’t be next year either!

– I wouldn’t like to make any excuses now, the only thing I want is that the children don’t have a place to train – he said. Amir LjutićZrinka’s father and her skier brother Company (22).

High temperatures and an unpredictable forecast are not the only problem for Sljema. the great effort with which the organizers prepare the track weeks in advance. Even today, 18 months after the summer storm that mowed down Zagreb and left a lot of damage in the northern part of the country, the three-seater is out of use. Large trees fell and destroyed one part of it. The city government decided, instead of repairing the existing one, to build a new one. And maybe it could have been different…

– We had three months to do it all together, it was necessary to react urgently, to fix the weights so that the forester could go out and remove the logs and, with increased maintenance, bring the machine into operation. The seats are supposedly all destroyed, but according to my free estimate, and I built this žičara in 1988, so I remember well and know what those chairs are like, they just needed to be painted and prepared for the new season – said the former manager of the ski resort in Sljemen Dragutin & Zcaron;iljak for RTL a year ago.

This winter, there is no skiing on the Crveni Spustu in Sljemen, the seat is badly damaged and cannot be repaired |

Photo: Slavko Midzor/PIXSELL

As for the seats themselves, out of 140 only a few had visible damage. The city company that manages Sljemen said that the damage was still too great to repair.

“Experts from the Austrian company Doppelmayr carried out damage monitoring and expertise and determined that the extent of the damage was too great for repair, i.e. returning the existing chair to function. As a result of the above, the Crveni spust this year it will not be able to be used for skiing”, announced from the Management of Sports Facilities.

Only a year after the storm, last summer, the City of Zagreb announced a public tender to replace the old three-seater car on the Crveni spust with a new four-seater car. The company Novi Volvox doo from Montenegro and Strucon doo from Bosnia and Herzegovina were awarded the job at the beginning of November, i.e. two months ago, which sent the most favorable offer.

This winter there is no skiing on the Crvena Spust in Sljem, the chair is badly damaged and cannot be repaired |

Photo: Slavko Midzor/PIXSELL

“With the planned procedure, it is necessary to completely dismantle the existing 3-seater car, dismantle the load-bearing columns with all other load-bearing and non-load-bearing parts that will be in the car, including reinforced concrete the foundations of the base and columns are existing and other parts žičare (reducer, auxiliary drive, electric motor, conveyor belt for boarding skiers, etc.) and build a new 4-seater žičare with detachable clamps (for čfour people) with all load-bearing and non-load-bearing elements on the existing route of 3-seater cars with a capacity of min. 2,000 passengers/h. The newly planned 4-seater train will have a lower turning station and an upper driving station, without an intermediate station,” the documentation states.

The entire job of demolishing the existing building and building a new one should cost around 10 million euros, and the deadline for completion is one year. But considering that the work has not started until today, it is not realistic to expect the return of the Snow Queen next season at the new date announced by the director of the ski association. Vedran Pavlekat the beginning of February, when air temperatures are traditionally more favorable than at this time.

Without a new ski resort, not only is there no World Cup, but also skiing for citizens who cannot fully enjoy the snow these days at the top of Medvednica. Croatian skiers can only train on the shorter Zeleni Spust with a short and inadequate ski lift.

Zagreb: Preparations before the start of the first women’s slalom race of the Audi FIS World Ski Cup |

Photo: Jurica Galoic/PIXSELL

During that time, those who took charge of Croatian skiing and Croatia in general in terms of sports, won Olympic medals and, finally, brought the race to Zagreb, say:

– The Snow Queen will return, I have a feeling. It’s become a traditional race for many years, and it’s hard to stay immune to global warming and all that. You have to go with it. If there is an understanding between the World Ski Federation and our association, it can be moved to another month or so – she said. Janica Kostelić a year ago.

– The Croatian Ski Federation will continue to work on the return of that race, they are discussing the continuation of that race. The problem is that they could not guarantee that the ara would be in operation in 2025, and without the ara we cannot organize the race. But the future is still under discussion. What I managed to say is that they are relatively positive about the race returning to Sljeme – said Ivica’s brother for 24sata last summer.

The successes of Zrinka Ljutić and the singing of the Croatian national anthem 18 years after Jana’s last victory again brought into focus a problem with which the city government, to put it mildly, did not cope well. Two years were lost, probably a third. Skiing enthusiasts are hoping for the last one before the ski caravan, praised by many world stars for its unique atmosphere and organization, returns to Crveni spust. Zrinka, Filip Zubčić and other talented skiers deserved it.

In the first days of sowing in Zagreb, Sljeme without cold winter and real snow |