Special envoy to Flaine
How is ski mountaineering practiced?
Ski mountaineering, or ski touring in its out-of-competition practice, consists of traveling mountain or high mountain routes, by linking ups and downs using skis equipped with mobile bindings (for the uphills) allowing hang on the slope.
These skis are similar to those of alpine skiing, wider than those of cross-country skiing.
Ski mountaineering, the cousin of ski touring with an added competition aspect.
Christophe Angot, FFME
A boom thanks to the Covid and a discipline in tune with the times
Ski mountaineering was for a long time reserved for die-hard "mountain dwellers" before opening up in the 1980s to a wider audience.
It is estimated that around 85,000 people in France practice ski mountaineering, a sport placed under the aegis of the French Mountain and Climbing Federation and not the French Ski Federation.
This figure has grown rapidly over the past two years.
The resorts having been closed due to the Covid epidemic, the French eager to escape were able to learn about this very free sport since it takes place outside the alpine ski slopes, far from the bottled queues of the ski lifts. .
Ski mountaineering has the advantage of being very trendy because it does not require the construction of heavy infrastructure in the resort.
A new facet of sports
Recognition of the course before the events which begin on Wednesday.
Christophe Angot, FFME
Three types of competitive events
The practice of this high-level sport is divided into three types of race with very distinct formats and requirements.
The sprint: the most spectacular event because it lasts just over three minutes.
As its name suggests, it is a rush, with climbs and descents, skis on your feet or on your back.
The final takes place after qualifying.
The vertical race: it's a bit like the middle distance in athletics, with a ski climb on a positive elevation between 500 and 1000 meters.
The classic individual: the most prestigious event because the most demanding in technical terms.
It includes at least three ascents and descents with an elevation sometimes close to 2,000 meters.
Athletes should expect to go up, down, take off, carry skis on their backs because the slopes are sometimes far too steep on skis.
All in magnificent settings, meandering through the forests, on the aerial ridges.
In general a treat and a huge breath of fresh air, even when you're behind your small screen.
The steps, one of the difficulties of the sprint event.
Christophe Angot, FFME
A sport at the 2026 Winter Olympics with five Olympic titles at stake
The good news fell in July 2021: ski mountaineering was integrated into the program of the next Olympic Games, in Italy, in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2026, at the request of the organizers, but without any guarantee of being renewed. four years later.
In Italy, 48 athletes will compete with five Olympic titles at stake and therefore fifteen medals at stake: sprint and individual race for women and men as well as a mixed relay.
Exhaustion after crossing the finish line.
A classic image of the end of ski mountaineering events.
Christophe Angot, FFME
France also excels against the formidable Italians
It is not surprising that Italy includes this discipline in its Olympic Games: the Transalpines are the best specialists in this very European sport.
Some key nations like Switzerland but also France, even Spain and Germany, give the answer to the formidable Transalpine.
The Blues have in their ranks a few "stars" of the discipline: Emily Harrop, Axell Gachet-Mollaret and her husband Xavier Gachet who between them have accumulated 12 medals (9 in gold) this season in the World Cup (six stages) , without forgetting the revelation of last season, Thibault Anselmet.
Promising for the Olympics in less than four years.
Alpine hunters, supplier of talent
Ski touring is obviously one of the specialties of the mountain troops who, for decades, compete in national and international competitions, especially against the Italians.
The 27th Battalion of Alpine Hunters from Annecy, part of whose troops have been sent to Romania, will help organize the World Cup finals in Flaine this week.
Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet (see above) are also members of the Army of Champions, an independent structure of the army which allows top athletes to train while being integrated into the army corps. or at the police station.