Act 6 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 20 January 2016

New record for Florent Perrier and victory for Elsa Nodet in the 6th Millet Ski Touring Courchevel.

This Wednesday 20 January, conditions were right for a good time in the 6th round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel (MSTC). On this Vertical Race course of 3.2 km and 500 m elevation gain, groomed the evening before, the climbing skins of the 111 ski mountaineers present glided and gripped perfectly. Many participants in this night climb under the stars managed to improve their times, such as the local Jean-Marc Sullice, who reached his goal by going under the 40-minute barrier (39min15s).

While many come to take on a personal challenge by setting a time target, others come to play for the win and measure themselves against the season record. This is the case for Florent Perrier, the absolute reference in ski mountaineering with 8 World champion titles, 6 European champion titles and 10 French champion titles in Ski Mountaineering, who, after taking 3rd place in the MSTC in 2015, won this 6th round, setting the new provisional record in 23min57s. From 2nd to 5th place the times are very tight: Arnaud Mazet came second in 24min44s and Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz of Team Scarpa placed third in 24min47s. Of note is the fine performance of Sébastien Figliolini, 1998 Pierra Menta winner and director of the partner shop "Le Camp de Base", who finished 13th in 27min31s.

Among the women, the provisional record of 28min10s set by Corinne Favre last week was not troubled. Elsa Nodet of Chamonix Ski Alpinisme won this 6th round in 31min40s ahead of Géraldine Bau in 33min26s and Marie Dohin in 35min, both from Méribel. Florencia Malbran, director of the partner chocolate maker "Piste Noire", came in at 52min49s.

In the ESF challenge, Tony Portanier of ESF Courchevel 1550 won in 25min10s. Among the women instructors, Corine Chauchaix of ESF Arêches took the lead of the provisional overall standings in 35min28s.

1st Grand Slam this week…

The first round of the Vertical Kilometre (VK) of the Plum KV Courchevel (PKVC) will take place on Friday 22 January. At the end of the 4 rounds offered this season on this 5 km course with 1,000 m of elevation gain, approved by the French Mountain and Climbing Federation (FFME), the 2016 French VK records will be awarded.

In the weeks when the MSTC and the PKVC are organised, a ranking is drawn up for those who complete the “Grand Slam” (taking part in the 2 events in the same week).

This week, the season’s "1st Grand Slam" will take into account the combined times of the MSTC this Wednesday 20 January and those of the PKVC on Friday 22 January. The 2015 "Grand Slam" records were won by Yoann Sert (1h05min03s) and Charlotte Le Roux (1h32min04s).