UIAA European Championships

The start of 2021 has been a bit weird for all of us. The pandemic continues to rage on and huge swathes of the world population are still in lockdown or some form of restrictions. These restrictions however were broadcast friendly for a long time and travel was allowed under strict circumstances. So as Christmas faded and a perfect snowy winter truly set in we prepared to travel to the Alps for round 1 of the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup.

Being prepared to cross borders and broadcast from a sporting event meant covid tests a plenty, extra PPE for all our staff and altering our set up to ensure as few staff possible were actually on site. Sadly before we’d even had our first covid test the World Cup became the Tour des Alpes as it was clear that many nations wouldn’t be able to make it to Europe for the competition. This reduced a few more times to just two events and then just two days before we were due to set off the second event got cancelled. The name was change once again and became the UIAA European Ice Climbing Championships.

Held in the stunning venue, Champagny-en-Vanoise the UIAA European Ice Climbing Championships were in association with Outdoor Research and featured athletes from seven countries. Only seven I hear you cry…..well that’s because just 5 days before the event France closed it’s borders to many countries meaning a lot of people, including us, couldn’t attend.

Creating a broadcast when you can’t physically attend is a challenge but one we were prepared for. A local team of camera operators sent us images which we vision mixed and added graphics to. We can’t wait for live events to restart but for now we are enjoying being able to solve problems and support events virtually.