The 18-month long circuit, which started in January 2013, involves youngsters aged between 10 and 17 years old from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.

The aim of each camp is to introduce young people to winter sports by providing coaching and training, as well as workshops focussing on social and cultural aspects, such as the Paralympic Movement, the media, anti-doping, nutrition, equipment and technology.

The final day of each camp sees participants competing against each other in a professional competition environment.

"The camps provide young people with an opportunity to hone their competitive skills as well as generally improve their technique in alpine skiing, snowboarding and Nordic skiing," said IPC Alpine Skiing Sport Technical Committee chair Sylvana Mestre.

"We also run workshops on anti-doping, nutrition, equipment, technology, the Paralympic Movement and the media so that they get an all-round view of what it takes to perform at their best.

"We have seen how camps of this kind can make a huge difference to up-and-coming stars and they also give young people with an impairment the chance to be involved with snow sport."

The first development camp in 2006 unearthed stars such as Austria's Vancouver 2010 alpine skiing gold medallist Claudia Loesch and her world champion compatriot Markus Salcher, as well as multiple World Championship medallist Marie Bochet of France.

Markus Salcher, who came through the Para Snow Sport Youth Circuit, is a medal favourite for Sochi 2014 ©Getty Images