Pierra Menta – 39th edition of the hardest ski mountaineering race in the world. 4 days festival of ski mountaineering, especially pain and suffering. This year it was also very emotional ride full of twists and turns. What was it really like and how did we, my partner and I, were coping with our second participation in the Pierra Menta race?
How did our second Pierra Menta start?
Pierra Menta 2024 turned out perfectly. The weather was as perfect as least three layers of our face´s skins came off and for a few days we looked like we were watching a nuclear explosion up close. I made on my heels of several deep open wounds that would normally require hospitalization. So in the ned we started to call this race with our room mates (Kuba Fabian and Pavel Ondrasek) – Four-day pain fest
It is understandable that once a seemingly normal person can undergo 4 daily daily 20-30 km stages with the positive climb around 2000 – 3000 meters. OK, Pierra Menta is the legend and the hardest ski mountaineering race in the world. I get it, you want to try it. What I can’t understand is that my partner from 2024, Dr. Petr Hasala, calls me in January 2025 to say that registration for the Pierra Menta is opening soon. What does he expect me to say in response?
How to get to Pierra Menta?
Above all, it takes passion. Without that, it won’t work. Bad tongues say that in the season when you want to do the Pierra Menta you should climb 100,000 vertical. Oh, we both do. I’m about 30k, Peter’s 10k. Still better than last year, when Peter didi completely without training. This is bullshit!
The finest sieve that separates the wheat from the chaff is the bureaucratic process. The fact that one must have a “license” as a competitor can still be bent. We cheated that by registering the CHS, since the card has the ISMF logo on it. Also, having insurance for mountain rescue in extreme conditions – you can get that too. Another stupid thing is the Grand Course card. That’s just a money machine. You want a Grand Course card? Give 30 euros and the card is yours. Finally, a certificate from the doctor saying we’re healthy. Fortunately, it’s not a psychiatric examination and I’m taking one doctor with me.
Last, and most importantly, go through the selection process based on your CV. Thank God they don’t ask for weight. Last year it was stressful and I listed every possible and impossible race we had been to and how it turned out. This year it’s a lot easier. We’ve got the results under our belt, right? I’m sternly writing, “Last year we finished Pierra Menta last and this year we want to repeat that with a better result.”
Pay up and let’s go!
After it all went through and Mr. Sebastien Blanc (race director) had a mercy and sent us a QR code for €1,300. Is it too much?? It appears to be, but we already know it’s not. Accommodation for 4 nights, full board, massages, a starter pack and lots of pain for two people. That’s all that’s included in this generous package price.
At the very end, all you have to do is collect material worth of several thousands of Euros, load it in the car and drive about 1200 kilometres, which is 17 hours in the direction of Aréches – Beaufort. I thought it was a good entry parameter to loose a driving licence so poor Peter would have to drive the whole way. For that I must give him a compliment before the start.
The legendary Chalet le Chornais
If any accommodation is legendary at Pierra Menta, it’s Chalet le Chornais. No one knows how many ski mountaineers have turned up here during the 39 years of the Pierra Menta race, and it is impossible to quantify how much pain has been endured. In any case, it is a great base for all the competitors who live here for four days together, having breakfast, lunch and dinner. Together they also get massages and together they stink and suffer.
We arrived at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning, and even after regular calls to the lodge, no one answered the phone. We were just hoping to get to the lodge after a full day of driving. There was only a note on the reception desk saying Hasala, Mastnik room No. 802. The key was on a shelf nearby. Self check-in? This year, for our previous results, they gave us a presidential suite for two with a double bed. Compared to the dark, overheated, oxygen-less hole we had last year, we now have a suite.
Presentation in the centre of Areches
In the morning, after a deep sleep, it is necessary to present the material to the Commissioners. In Areches cinema everything is checked! From head to toe. They check the helmet to see if it has the proper certifications, I don’t understand how my 20 years old one got a pass. They check the boots and if the crampons fit. The harness and the ferrata set are checked. The skis are checked. Whoever passes this gets a jacket and souvenirs at the end and the bib and chip.
On the way out at the cinema we meet our friend the head timekeeper. The gray bearded tiger is immediately calling us “I remmember you!” A friend who had first knocked us out after the first stage last year for not meeting the time limit. He was also the friend we had bagged to letting us go at the start of the second stage. And because it was a friend he let us and thanks to him we also we had the opportunity to finish Pierra Menta 2024. We wonder if there will be a similar problem this year…
Training before dinner
Fearing tomorrow, we go for a little training on the slopes in Areches. The relatively large ski resort is only sporadically used. There are few skiers, probably because it’s only Tuesday. So we have the whole area for ourselves and climb the first preload climb. The metres are counting up faster than we thought and in an hour we are at 700 vertical metres at almost 1900 m. The whole thing is pleasant, but the sky is overcasting and we prefer to go down. At the bottom, after all, we had a briefing for tomorrow’s stage and a three-course dinner.
Pierra Menta- 1st stage
The alarm is ringing at 5:30, as the start has been announced for 7:30. Motivation is at zero. Mostly because we know what we’re getting into. Last year the weather was so great that the organisers opted for a killer stage around 3000m+ from the start. These 4 Pierra Menta stages in 2024 were trying to break our skis, our bones and our psyche and they have to admit they almost succeeded.
This year, thanks to the nasty weather, the first rain stage was announced with an elevation gain of “only” 2250 m+. In total the stage was supposed to be 15km long and there was nowhere to climb higher than 2200m. It looked like a beautiful prologue to the Pierra Menta 2025 race.
3 waves, 200 pairs, great conditions at the start
We leave the Chalet le Chornais at around seven o’clock and we shower during the descent to the start. It’s beautiful to start in the fog and rain. I wasn’t too impressed with Peter’s notice that everyone has these conditions. I don’t understand what I’m doing here, but by the inertia of the whole Pierra Menta machinery I find myself in the start corridor.
Several times our eyes meet sights of other people who we met last year, and we only glance at each other friendly No great emotions, the moment the whistle blows indistinctly everyone starts forward. So we willingly let ourselves be beaten by the sticks of the other racers, who are clearly brimming with enthusiasm, unlike us.
First 7 km = 1400 metres of climbing
I’m relieved when the human snake slows down. Turns out running was just a pose for the cameras. The pace eventually settles down to a comfortable about 1000 – 1200 vertical m/h, which is pretty good for the first 500 vertical. Then turning off the slope on the way to the Col de la Bathie the rain turns to snow and it sticks beautifully to the tracks. At the depot where we tear the skins down and already having 770m in our legs.
It’s a sick downhill á la Pierra Menta. Bumps where even a truck could hide, heavy wet snow and the descent leading as usual by the worst possible option. The habit from the Czech basin, that we will rest in the downhill and that we will go down the shredded slope unfortunately does not apply here. Nor does it apply that you can go downhill in one go. My legs burn like Mexican tacos and I’m not ashamed to stop and rest. After all, there will be plenty of time for heroism and it’s better to be healthy than fast.
Fixed ropes to the sky of Pierra Menta
Down somewhere in the forest, another climb begins. Zig-zag turn after turn. I can’t even perform the turns and I definately look like an amateur. About halfway up the hill, when the steepness becomes unbearable, the organizers are there and with the words “Ski on sac” it is clear what is going to happen. Somewhere above a line is hanging out of the fog. Oh, it’s a fix. So we’re climbing on our own somewhere out of sight and it’s better not to look around.
On the hill where we think the nonsense is over they send us down on our shoes. In a small saddle, another boot climb takes place to great success, up to Epaule Lagette. Here we find another depot. At this point after about 7 km we had climbed 1400 m! It is also a local custom not to give anything to the racers to refresh and to save. No hot tea, no biscuits, no junk food and no bananas. What you don’t bring you don’t have, so take off your skins and get out!
Second half and the soul catchers have us
The downhill was as rough as always, but we successfully completed this one too. We are still not last at the next depot, which is strange. We´re consuming all gels and other food and preparing for another ascend. We fly up like a rockets and weovertake a guy who is pulling a dude on a rope. Unfortunately, at the finish line it turns out that they have withdrawn from the race 😊
The route climbs at zig-zag inclined traverse. I don’t know which is worse. And what I’m looking forward for next one anymore. Anyway, before long we arrive at the depot and descend a small hill to the frozen lake of Lac Tournant. It shouldn’t be far from here. Practically only 350 vertical metres. So we quickly mount the skins and we are still not the last on the climb to the saddle.
In the saddle we are doomed. Looking up the mountain, we see ants climbing up on their boots. At the depot the instruction is clear: “Crampons!” Oh, dear. It’s so long and slow and the last team has kicked aour ases. So the so-called soul-catchers are stuck behind our asses. These are the dudes who are already picking up the track markings. Unfortunately, they’re also faster than us and have the energy to cheer us on regularly. Allez! Allez!
At the top, we take off our harnesses and have a tough descent to the finish of the first stage of Pierre Ment 2025. Of course, the track is as bombed out as Ukraine and we have no choice but to rest regularly. Into this, crowds of soul catchers overtake us and hang around like morons. We ride down the proverbial tobogan and sprint for a while on our boots to the Chornais hut. From there, it’s just a beautiful downhill to the finish. We cross the finish line in 4 hours 14 minutes.
Beer, Recuperation, Massage
At the finish line we have a well-deserved beer and baguettes. Of course we are last again, but nobody knows that we are still playing the game and in the final some of the riders left the race. What’s demotivating is that a team of French masters who appear to be over 60, on the skis made for skiflying, overtook us, and they were still telling jokes.
Before leaving to the hotel, we will fill out the promotional items in the heated tent. We will buy T-shirts and visit the museum of skis and ski curiosities. On the way up we meet Igor from Skimostats with the mountain service and his broken-legged son. He says it’s twisted knee. On the way to Chornais it starts to rain again, so it’s time to hide.
At home, there are only merit and social security waiting for us. The difficulty of today’s stage was confirmed when we arrived at the cottage and found three broken and destroyed skis. For lunch we had again the fish from yesterday. They must have caught a good one to have so much, but the reward was said to be regenerative substances in the form of heavy metals. The highlight of the day was definitely the massage from the physiotherapy students, which literally got us back on our feet and back in the game. Dinner, recuperate and sleep!
Pierra Menta – 2nd stage
In the morning, the bell rang at 5 a.m. We don’t understand much French, but the start was supposed to be at 7 a.m. So we had a classic breakfast of cereal and baguette and climbed into our race suits. Today is supposed to be an epic stage of brutal length and the forecast wasn’t ideal either. After a series of visits to the toilets we descend to the ski room. Unfortunately, it is suspiciously empty and we start to get a slight anxious feeling in our stomachs.
There’s no one outside the house anymore, it’s just snowing heavily. Then there are the Poles from GOPR hanging around. We learn that the start of Pierra Menta is not as we are used to, but that it is in the centre of Areches. Thanks for them! But we may not be able to catch up anymore. Luckily our Slavic brothers drive us down to the main car park of Areches, where the start is ready and the crowds shuffle into the start corridor in heavy snow.
Festive run through Areches and 300 m on boots
The explosions of cannons from the mountains triggering avalanches announces that it has probably snowed a lot overnight and that the avalanche situation is more than favourable for the race. The last avalanche trigger shot starts our wave at the same time and launches us onto a 35km course with over 3000m of elevation gain. The first kilometre is emotional, with 400 Skimo racers pounding the asphalt of the streets of Areches like raging bulls rolling through Pamplona. Hundreds of people are waving red sheets, ringing bells and shouting to make the raging crowd even more furious. Even we can’t help and we pick up the pace.
Fortunately, this Pierra Menta croud slows down after Areches and the first 300 unmeasured metres are at a relaxed pace. We climb through meadows and woods alongside the river, stamping through the mud as he cheerfully discusses with the others. This start pace suits me. I don’t need my heart rate to jump to 175 at 7am and stay there for 4-5 hours. It can be “only” 130 for the first hour. We slowly make our way with the road leading to the Lac de Saint Guerin dam, where we find a continuous layer of snow to line up for the start.
2000 metres, three strips, two descents and one boots ends with a STOP sign.
The start is rather symbolic and fortunately the whole group understood that on a 35km long track there is no reason to run and therefore we sprint uphill to the dam. As Peter said this will be a very gliding stage. So we are gliding up the first 780m uphill. After it we go down again to get to the next hill, which ends with depo, where we put on crampons and climb again somewhere we are afraid to even look.
The last third hill on the skins is bathed in sunshine. The climb is beautiful and we have views of the whole Beaufortian Alps. It’s the Pierra Menta we know from last year. We push it with the GOPR guys to the depot where we learn that we are 2 minutes over the limit. What? What do you mean, out? That’s like, for a 20km route, 2000 vertical, three climbing on skins, two descents and one boot section, the limit is 3 hours? We’re flying like rockets fired from Gaza and there are at least 5 teams behind us.
Everybody there is furious and behind us are still guys who have beaten us last year with ease. No one understands what happened as the teams arrive for inspection and everyone gets the same answer. We just look at each other in incomprehensible resignation.
Cold shower and car journey to Areches
The boys are taking us down off the track even neither of us wants to go down. Let us keep going! Down by the dam we descend to the sharp start where they load us into the car. It’s a shame, we feel like convicts being taken away from the scene of the crime in an anton. It hurts more than the blisters on my feet. 2 minutes? Isn’t that too much punishment for two minutes? We rode our best stage yet on Pierra Menta. No flag pickers behind us. Why is that?
In Areches, the organizers are loading us into another car. What do we get from being shown where our idols Xavier Gachet and William BonMardion live? We want to bawl when they tell us it’s not an easy race and that it’s normal. They’ve done it 12 times, but they say it’s happened to everyone. We walk back to the Chornais wordlessly as if we’re coming back from a lost war.
Once you’re down, once you’re up
At the lunch, we emptied a carafe of wine. Disgusted, we pack our things and carry them to the car. I think about how ugly, fat and slow I am, and why I’m squeezing among the world’s elite in a sport we don’t even have the conditions for. I’m quitting my career and throwing away my skis. We don’t talk, we just sit and stare into the wall… without spirit. We don’t even think of going to the next briefing, our world has collapsed. For the rest of the day I walk around the chalet on the fire escape stairs so no one meets me and no one asks how it went. And that’s it. That’s the end of our ski mountaineering ambitions – we’re going home.
Cut. We hammered two nails into the papundeck wall in room 802 in Chornais, and two skimo careers hang on them. While Petr advertises his three pairs of Movements on the online auction portal, and while I stand on a whisky box tightening the last loop around my neck, the grave silence is broken by a ringing telephone. The name “Marcela Vasinova” appears on the screen. Sure, she wants to laugh at us and dehumanize our life achievements. Okay, let’s at least say goodbye. She immediately snaps at us, “You idiots, you know you can continue on? They admitted at the Briefing that they set the limits wrong and that all teams timed out can start tomorrow!”
“Frogeaters fu****s d**b pieces of s****y c***p!” My now again racing partner said colorfully from the top of his lungs. They are giving us a job to process. Like we said careers on the nail, material in the car ready to go to the incinerator and most of all the psychological damage. It takes all through dinner to shift our mindset from the position of: “we’re dumbass who don’t deserve to live.” To the position of: “Tomorrow we’ll humiliate them all and they’ll still be watching our backs!” Euphoria sets in and we quickly unpack our stuff from the car, glue the ripped chips and numbers back on our overalls and take our careers off the nails.
Pierra Menta – 3rd Stage
In the morning we go to the breakfast proudly wearing overalls and numbers on our feet. Just let everyone see who starts today! Who will excel on the legendary Pierra Menta stage to the Grand Mont! Let them remember the number 190, which will be written in the results list today! At breakfast, we’re slapping our backs with Bonmardion’s brother, the GOPRs and our Catalan friends. The most feared group is back in the game! A few years ago, a legendary Italian told me: “If you want to be a professional, you have to eat like a professional!” That’s why we’re eating breakfast for 4, because even the manager Chornais came to see what pros are out there.
We are at the start at 6:30, where we meet all the skimo stars. Sure smile at them, and they flap their eyes at us and our energy coming out. After we run with Mathéo Jacquemoud because this is the level where we belong to. I mean, we only feel like we’re there until they send us to the third wave again, where our number isn’t even on the list and where they’re surprised we even showed up after yesterday’s debacle. Noting: “Oh, you’re coming? Cool! You can go, but you can’t win.” What does the granny knows about that?
Thanks to the fact that we have relieved ourselves of enormous stress, we have been doing well since the start. The first 1000m ascend we are flying like rockets stoot from Gaza. We’re holding about 350 teams behind us. Realistically, though, it’ll be about 20. Never mind we’re doing our best stage! Despite the sleep deprivation from yesterday and the lack of recuperation we feel good. We’re not afraid of the first descent and we’re enjoying the fresh powder.
The second climb is quite cold and the water pipes are freezing. That would be a killer for me considering that I hardly need 2 litres for the stage. I can’t afford to freeze, so I regularly suck up the bag.
Idiots in Zig-zag turns
On the steep hill, in the switchbacks, where we both wiggle like maniacs with the crowd behind us, we feel like fools. Not only have we run out of engines, but those who chose the long-term strategy have caught up with us, and now they’re having fun as we turn like gypsies in corn. Our French opponents have undoubtedly learned a lot of new Czech rude words that fall out of us in every turn, when our ski tips go under, or when we sink both sticks into deep snow, or when there is a toe chop in the snow during a turn. Each of these scenarios inevitably ends in a fall.
One of the cheeky frogeater even had the guts to feel in a position to teach my partner, who has twenty years of experience in skimo racing, a lesson. So he began to impatiently explain to him how to get into the turn and what the sequence of movements should be to avoid getting into an exhausting situation. But that’s when our Catalan Mafia stepped in, “Hey easy buddy! Those are our flat land buddies, they don’t have to do turns on the slopes!” What can I say? If you think you can ski, sign up for Pierra Menta and you’ll find out you can’t.
This steep ascent soon turns into such a steep culoir that the track marshalls command, “Crampons!” I look up and feel sick with fear. A climb of over 45 degrees leading up Sommet Culoir. Yuck! I’d rather just look at the previous racer’s shoes and wait for it to be over. Around us only chunks of ice and snow from others are flying down, so we get a bump from time to time to keep us awake. At the top it’s the limit again but this time, but we are 1 hour ahead to the limit, now talk!
Ferrata to the most iconic mountain Grand Mont
Next, there was another 400m climb, which could not be otherwise than suffered. My gut and stomach began to rebel. It is probably not a very sporty and healthy diet to eat 4 gels and other loose goodies every day. After consuming these treats, my stomach sometimes protests and personally, I’m not sure if I´m not going to throw up right away. Peťa pretends he’s fine, but I know he is not, he just doesn’t show it.
What makes the Pierra Menta race attractive is the climb up the south side of the airy ridge of Grang Mont. Of course, it starts with some switchbacks at the bottom, but soon the crampons and the approach to the saddle kicks in again. There’s a dude standing there who points to a blue string and says: “it’s like snapping”Snap on!” The dude at the presentation are checking all the certifications on the harness and ferrata set, but the fact that there’s some blue string wrapped around a rock doesn’t interest them anymore. Nevermind that it’s some static line with a brutal sag that nearly 400 people have walked on with crampons. I believe it would certainly have saved out lives in case of fall.
The climb at a pace along the rocky ridge is really an experience. On both sides of the ridge the walls drop deep into the valley and a fall in either direction is certain death. So we click honestly. Even walking in crampons on the rocks does not add to the stability and confidence in walking. The sticks keep getting in the way. We both agreed that last year we found it somehow more cool as a pleasant walk, but this year it had a much more raw feeling.
Top of the Pierra Menta race! Straight downhill and finish mud sprint
The last passage on the snow to the top of Grand Mont (2680m) is accompanied by the classic brothel of fans. Arriving at the depot and summit around the summit cross, we get a view of the crowd shouting allez, allez, allez! Some have cowbells for appendages and make a great atmosphere. Crampons down, strap on your harness, load up your skis, strip your skins down and hooray for the last descent into the valley!
Downhill in a broken descend in a partially powder. It is clear that we are a very great team and we complement each other in every way. Petr is delaying us uphill and I’m delaying in fucking downhills for a change. This approach gives us a significant lead in each section. But no one blames each other and we are together as one team. No one yells at anyone. As the old saying goes: “The best woman is a man.” So we enjoy this mountain sceneries in both good and bad times.
Last run on the skins, and then a long slide down the tobogan to Areches. Here is the last section where we pick up maximum speed around Chornais. What if someone happens to be watching from the bed, so they ca still see we’re fighting for positions. The highlight of all the stages, where the fight is peaking is the finish. The so-called mud sprint. That’s designed to pollute all the equipment so the manufacturers can have a bit of a profit again. As we cross the finish line, we’re congratulated by the race speaker, Pierra Menta, and high-fived. Another stage successfully conquered!
Massages, fame and other emotional demotivation
After beers at the finish and a walk around the salon du materiel we arrive at the cottage. Here it seems that the poisonous fish has run out and only pasta with egg is available. Never mind and we go for a massage with the physio girls from Lyon. After such a success (we weren’t the last) we need a gentle touch by a woman’s hand. Then we just recuperate, stuffing ourselves with BCAAs, ionts and magnesium. Afternoon the lazy one sleeps in the bed while the doctors are woring.
The announcment of the results made us feel a little nervous again. Did they admit they made a mistake yesterday? They did. Did they say we could go? They did! Then why the f**k aren’t we in GC? We’ve only got a stage result, but why haven’t they found a way to lead us in the GC? So I’m putting my career on the line again. Thank God the doctor’s the one with the positive perspective this time. When asked if we’re going on, he clearly made a unilateral agreement with me. We’ll decide on the weather in the morning. They said at the briefing that there would be zero visibility and 25cm of new snow, so we’ll see.
Pierra Menta – 4th Stage
In the morning, I look at the doctor with one eye asking wordlessly: “yes or no?” The weather looks good so far. I don’t have to say anything and he answers me right away: “Let’s go to breakfast and then we’ll see.” After eating, he slips into his racesuit and tells me, “I’ll get dressed and then we’ll decide.” As we get into our skis he says to me, “We’ll just go to the start and decide there.” We’re at the start line. Suddenly we shuffle our warmed legs and wait for the starting shot. I’m thinking to myself… We’ll wait for the starting gun and then we’ll decide right?
But we made the right decision! Save the Skimo style! Punks not dead! There’s nothing in my backpack… If they treat us like they treated us! It’s as light as a feather! It’s a must-have equipement, pché! Training skis and plastic boots. How satisfying.I´m happy again and after the first 1100m we’re in the sunny zone. Again we keep at least a quarter of the starting field behind us to the first summit.
Chainsaws, cannons, disguises, smoke bombs, alcohol, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll!
Perhaps a thousand people are squeezed on top of the Col de la Forclaz. All bathing in the sunshine. This is Pierra Menta at it´s finest. People dressed in different masks. The sound of bells and chainsaws. Everyone cheering powerfully. A mass of people forming a procession as if it were a festive parade in which we are passing. Everyone wants to touch us and they push us forward like we’re rock stars. The music and the roar of the crowd whips us into a superhuman performance. That’s the feeling and reason why we’re going to Pierra Menta!
The descent to the first valley is short and we are flying fearlessly. The next climb is driven by the roar of the fans on the Forclaz saddle whose “Le Bourdel” spreads throughout the Beaufortian Alps. The last climb in the sunshine isn’t entirely easy thanks to the heat. Again I feel like puking from the gels, but the whole hill is danced out and the last run over the ridge on boots back into the crowd of people running is the reward.
At the top they shout our names and chant Czechs, Czechs. It’s a priceless atmosphere. A dude in a suit offers us a red Bordeaux. We toast prematurely and enjoy the highlights of our careers, which have already been hanging on the wall several times this week. We high-five hopefully all the people in the pack as we descend and rush down the mountainside back to Areches. The classic fuzzy downhill can’t stop us anymore. Riding over rocks and mud, sparks flying off the edges of our skis just put smiles on our lips.
Second Pierra Menta successfully behind us
Crossing the finish line up to his ears in mud, our friend is racing towards us. Yes our chief timekeeper of the race Pierre Ment with whom I had such a warm relationship. Congratulations to both of us for giving it another go! In Euphoria, I promise him that next year we will go again, let him wait for us. This time we left two pairs behind, so goal accomplished – not to finish in the last place! Many beers were drunken and to the sound of chainsaws and cowbells we enjoyed the lovely feeling of Euphoria.
We had enough time for the euphoria to pass when we decided to pack our things and drive 1200 km home to the Czech Republic the same day after the hard stage. The Chalete le Chornais was already empty and strangely sad anyway. No clatter of carbon on the steps and excited conversations and lively bustle. It was high time to come back to reality from this ideal and innocent world where everyone is equal and only experiences count.
What’s next?
Yes, we thought this would be Pierra Menta last. Every single stage, I was making sure of that in my mind. Even after the stage, when we were licking our wounds, we were reassuring each other. This race hurts so much, and it’s a pain to suffer. The blood flowing, the blisters ripped off, the feelings of fainting, of vomiting. Feelings of absolute exhaustion and fatigue. Not enough time to recover. Everything bad makes this supposedly the hardest skimo race in the world really the hardest.
But the reward. The feeling of euphoria and exhilaration when you reach the finish line. The satisfaction for all the suffering is enormous and it’s an addictive feeling. The whole skimo community in one place in the mecca of ski mountaineering, Areches. It’s a love we live for. We have now both completed 7 complete stages of the Pierra Menta. We’re already wound up and there’s no getting off this one.
As we have already promised the chief timekeeper of Pierra Menta. Are we really coming next year? It will be the 40th anniversary edition. It’ll be another hard times and we’ll be crying in pain and exhaustion again. But Peter´s wife will have her 40th birthday too on the same date. Let’s be surprised. It’s a sign, and I’m glad he’ll give her love a priority…
…to the love named Pierra Menta!
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