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 hard 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: “There was far too much for it to be compressed. And
the town’s large and heavy snowblowers would simply have
cracked through the ice on the lake.”
Polo players are fighters and Reto Gaudenzi would not let
himself be disheartened: “Thank goodness, Engadine people
are known for not letting you down. We all started making
telephone calls at the crack of dawn and by seven o’clock, two
dozen locals had arrived to help clear the field with their small
private snowblowers” It was hard going for the volunteers but
after six hours of strenuous effort, they had finally managed
to clear a field measuring a respectable 40 by 80 meters—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,
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.
52 | The Gentleman Magazine
Given that horse races had been held on the frozen lake
since the early 1900’s—as well