Polo was first played on snow in St Moritz in 1985 and has become world famous in a very short space of time. This is due to the althleticism and glamour of a competition set in the alps, 1800m above sea level, testing the players and horses to the limit. This sport is similar to to arena polo in that the ball is larger, brightly coloured and lighter. In case you wondered, the horses wear special shoes to avoid slipping on the frozen lake.

Now for the players. Four high goal teams from 18 to 22 goals will compete with players jetting in from all over the world. Cartier consists of the patron Saeed Bin Drai from UAE (handicap 1 goal), the two Aussies Rob Archibald (6 goals) and Glen Gilmore (7 goals), and John Paul Clarkin from New Zealand (8 goals). Brioni is made up of Amr Zedan (0 goals) from South Africa, David Stirling from Uruguay (9 goals), Gaston Lauhle from Argentina (7 goals), and Chris Hyde from the UK (6 goals). Bank Julius Baer has two Brits, the patron George Milford Haven (1 goal) and Richard Le Poer (4 goals), Jose Donoso from Chile (7 goals) and Pablo MacDonough from Argentina (10 goals). Finally Maserati features three prominent Argentines Federico Bachmann (6 goals), Ignacio Tillous (7 goals) and Pablo Jauretche (8 goals) with a swiss Patron Philipp Maeder (0 goals). If my addition is correct this makes some very close teams of 21 and 22 goals. Julius Baer will fight to retain the title which they captured last year.

Tickets can be bought from www.polostmoritz.com. The event takes place on the 28^th till the 31^st of January and will be quite a spectacle. Obviously the nature of the game does depend on snow and this this year the event is moving with the times and becomming greener. URS E Swartzenbach, president of St Moritz AG, states that 'With the sustainable development of the St. Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow in mind, we are therefore taking care to minimise the impact on the lake. The infrastructure is better distributed over the ice. Power requirements are increasingly being met from renewable sources, such as solar energy, and consumption has been reduced by a third compared with last year. These are just the first steps towards securing the longterm future of the tournament. St. Moritz Polo AG is going back closer than ever to its roots in the region with a view to protecting the environment of the Engadin as we know and love it.'

If you're interested in the social side of things, the St Mortiz polo warm-up party takes place on the 29^th January at Vival. I'll be posting the results very soon if you don't manage to get there...