When a season is compressed into one article, it looks like a string of trips. In reality, the ordinary training weeks in Bratislava held it together — and the children who kept coming back to them.
The 2025/26 season was varied. We kept regular dryland training, added the Lamač sports hall and Spot in autumn and winter, and for the first time a stable teens group trained under Dominik. On snow we began with a five-day warm-up camp in Schnalstal, continued in Austria, raced at home and gradually swapped skis for inline skates and boats in spring and summer.
Not one big peak, but many small steps
In children’s sport it is easy to focus only on races. For us continuity matters more: regular training, different movement stimuli, shared trips and the gradual independence of children on snow and away from it.
First stairs, running, agility — and a new teens group
We stayed with three dryland sessions a week. The goal was not to imitate skiing without snow, but to build what children later use on skis: coordination, strength, speed, agility and endurance. The Lamač hall and Spot added variety, while a stable teens group received a more independent programme.
Autumn also brought the first non-snow races — the skiers’ forest run and dry slalom. They are a useful test without turning every training session into a race.
Five days that saved us a lot of winter warm-up
Our first bigger block on snow came in Schnalstal, Italy. Five glacier days helped enormously: instead of starting from zero in December, the children already had their first turns in their legs and we could continue more smoothly with technique.
Schnalstal is a logical early-season choice. The glacier cable car runs from Maso Corto to above 3,000 metres and the high-altitude slopes are regularly used for autumn training.
Two Wurzeralm camps before Christmas and a freer Heiligenblut after New Year
Two camps at Wurzeralm followed before Christmas. By then it was no longer just about finding the skis again: we worked on regularity on snow, technique, changing conditions and the ability to function through a full training day.
The first days of the new year were looser. It was not an official camp, but a large part of the club met in Heiligenblut. Those days belong to the season too — children skiing together without every turn having a training task.
Lackenhof, the Bratislava series and the Slovak Cup
After New Year came Lackenhof. Ötscher is still reasonably accessible from Bratislava and its compact terrain works well for alternating free skiing with more focused training.
Three rounds of the Bratislava ski series took place during winter and our children achieved several nice results. We also took part in the Slovak Cup at Kubínska hoľa. Results are pleasant, but learning to handle the start, the course, a mistake and the next run matters even more.
Hinterstoder, Wurzeralm and corn snow instead of January hardpack
We closed the skiing part of the season at Hinterstoder and on Wurzeralm in March. Spring snow is a different school: a hard morning turns into softer corn snow, the surface changes quickly and children must react instead of repeating a memorised movement.
That is why it makes sense not to finish skiing immediately after the last race. Softer spring snow can teach technique in a different way than a perfectly groomed morning piste.
Skis away. Wheels, water and a little rest.
June brought an inline slalom in Jama park. It is a simple bridge between winter and summer: balance, rhythm and line choice remain, only the snow disappears.
The final event was the club paddling weekend in Szob. After months of training and trips we also needed a moment when nobody asked about time or result. The children kept moving, but the club met in a completely different way — by the water, tents and a shared evening.
A season does not end with the last race
If we measured the year only in medals, a large part of club life would disappear. It matters just as much that children run, ski, skate, travel and finally paddle together. That is where sporting habits, friendships and the wish to come back to training grow.
The new season therefore does not begin with the first snow. It begins with another ordinary training session in Bratislava.
Materials and sources
- Season summary and club photographs supplied by Ski Lokomotíva
- Alpin Arena Schnals — glacier ski area
- SKI Loko — Wurzeralm
- SKI Loko — Lackenhof
- SKI Loko — Hinterstoder
- SKI Loko — Szob paddling weekend 2026