ROUND 5 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 27 and Sunday 31 January 2021

Corinne Favre and Benjamin Chamoux win the 5th round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel 2021

Lockdown, no lockdown: it is not easy in this context for the organisers of this 11th edition of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel to plan for the long term. In any case, the decision has been made. As long as there is no ban, the MSTC will continue as planned until 17 March, every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. As for the grand fancy-dress final with the 2021 prize-giving and the concert by Keen’V, “We still have time to see how things develop and to adapt solutions according to government decisions. We are studying several options. If we cannot validate a minimum of 10 rounds in 2021, this 11th season will be played over 2 years (2021-2022) and will resume every Wednesday from 22 December 2021 to 16 March 2022,” said Guillaume Prin , president of the organising club Courchevel Sports Outdoor Montagne.
In the meantime, the rounds keep following one another with the same enthusiasm. This 5th round, which began on Wednesday 27 January in the snow, ended in an apotheosis in glorious sunshine this Sunday 31 January, a postponement made necessary by tricky weather conditions on the Saturday.

The final podiums of this 5th round were again decided on the second day of racing. Exceptionally moved to Sunday 31 January because of the disastrous weather conditions on the Saturday, this second day was held in excellent conditions.

Among the hundred or so competitors at the start, Benjamin Chamoux turned in the best performance of this 5th round in a time of 24min18s ahead of Sébastien Fayolle (24min49s) and Swann Juillaguet (25min18s).
Among the women, the tireless Corinne Favre, a multiple MSTC round winner since its creation, returned to the top of the podium in 31min03 before stringinging together 5 more climbs. She finished ahead of Véronique Lathuraz in 31min43s and Poland’s Claudia Chmielowska in 32min52s

French Ski Schools in the spotlight!

This second day of racing was also an opportunity to put the spotlight on the 2021 ESF challenge by inviting instructors from all the French Ski Schools (Écoles du Ski Français). Historic partners of the MSTC since its origin in 2010, the resort’s 5 French Ski Schools have effectively contributed to the development of this competition. For 7 years, they have also benefited from a specific challenge dedicated to all instructors across the country. A special ranking lets them position themselves to determine the best performers among them at the end of the season. For this 5th round, ESF Aime 2000 came out on top with fine performances from Nolwenn Monin (35min32s) and Jonathan Lamy (27min30s).

Doing as many climbs as possible: the “Millet 3000 Challenge”

Doing as many climbs as possible in 5 hours! That is the new challenge proposed by Jonathan Lamy between 10 am and 3 pm on the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel!

In April - May 2021 he will set off to climb Everest on the Nepalese side (departure on 11 April). In this context, he has decided to prepare on the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel throughout the winter. By working on intensity in this 3.2 km Vertical Race with 500 m of elevation gain, he must also think about developing endurance, hence his idea of stringing together MSTC climbs.

A fine success with 16 participants who got caught up in the game this Sunday 31 January!

The toughest completed 6 climbs! Among them were Corinne Favre, Antoine Rodriguez, Clément Mugnier, Jonathan Lamy, Chanse Devey, Stéphane Pfend, director of the Courchevel ski area at the S3V, who took the opportunity to earn his first Golden Trace of the season by going under 33min30s. A special mention goes to David Poncet who completed each of his climbs in under 30 minutes! Fine performances praised by Jean-Christophe Vidoni, deputy for sport of the commune of Courchevel.

Given the success of this challenge, the organisers have decided to make it permanent by creating the “ Millet 3000 Challenge ”, which will consist of doing 6 climbs as fast as possible during 5 hours between 10 am and 3 pm to reach 3,000 m of elevation gain: Millet 3000 (M3000), with intermediate stages at 1,000 m of elevation gain: Millet 1000 (M1000) and 2,000 m of elevation gain: Millet 2000 (M2000).

This new “Millet 3000 Challenge” will be possible from the next date of the season. To get to the end, each participant will be able to leave a bag at the start or finish to manage their supplies. Only the climbs will be timed, the descent being left to each participant’s own responsibility with no time limit, so as not to take risks for themselves or for other users of the slope.

For the official MSTC overall standings, only the best time of the day counts.

To close this 5th round of the season, held during the full-moon period, a pair of R150 bindings from partner brand “Plum” was drawn by lot among all participants of this “Full Moon” special. John Colas was the lucky winner, which will let him gain precious seconds on the MSTC thanks to this lovely gift.

Next dates: Round 6: Wednesday 3 and Saturday 6 February from 10 am to 3 pm