CELEBRATING 40 YEARS SNOW POLO WORLD CUP ST. MORITZ 2025

“The 25 January 1985 feels like only yesterday. Everything was white after a huge snowstorm with strong winds, which brought in 1 meter of white, fluffy snow onto our immaculately prepared polo field on the frozen Lake St. Moritz. The whole night, we tried to remove the snow from the playing surface, but as we were unable to use the heavy machinery on the frozen lake, our efforts did not have a huge effect and at 4am I decided to call in the Chief of the Fire Department for help. Immediately he mobilised 30 voluntary firemen from St. Moritz who all come to our assistance with their shovels. I had made the call from the Concierge at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel where I was staying that night, and to my surprise the owner of the Palace, Andrea Badrutt, heard about our problem on the lake. He quickly stepped up and volunteered 20 of his staff to come and help us right away. Even the Mayor of St. Moritz, Hansin Gartmann, called everyone in; the grooms, polo players and supporters also pitched in and overall, the general spirit and motto for the evening was “The St. Moritz Polo World Premiere on snow has to happen”.

At 6am in the pitch dark, with only four emergency lights from the fire brigade to guide us, 120 people toiled under tough conditions. By 1pm the next day, 26 January 1985, we had a useable polo field to play on and the match began in front of 2,500 spectators and 140 members of the press – for the first time in polo history, polo was played on snow. Cartier St. Moritz beat Germany 6-5 and another milestone in the long and successful history of St. Moritz was made possible by the pioneering and adventurous spirit of the Engadin people!”.