This week’s selection is meant to be inspiration. Snow is falling, thoughts are turning to skiing and the coming ski rando season is nearly upon us. This photo is from the start line in Corvara, in the Alta Badia.
Last year I did my first races in Italy and had a great time, I also got thoroughly schooled in one of the hardest endurance tests I have ever done. Sci alpinismo, or ski rando racing as it is called in English is massively popular in Europe. The sport combines backcountry skiing with mountain running and alpinism.
One of the biggest races in Italy is the Sellaronda Ski Marathon. Beginning at dusk, the race circumnavigates the Dolomite’s Sella Group using both pistes and service roads – at night!
Participants use powerful headlamps and ultralight ski gear, the climbs are incredibly fast and the descents are on torch lined pistes and typically in full tucks. The sport is 100% full on.
We shot the race in 2008 and it was enough to make me want to try it the following winter. I can confirm; fun, addicting and painful.
One Comment
it’s in my list. “Pain is necessary. Suffering is optional” (Makurami’s new book on running)..::))