ROUND 11 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 10 and Saturday 13 March 2021

From Everest… to Tahiti: an innovative 2021 finale for the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel.

To immortalise this special season, an exceptional 2021 Millet Ski Touring Courchevel (MSTC) finale was needed! To do so, Guillaume Prin, president of the organising club Courchevel Sports Outdoor Montagne, and his whole team did not lack imagination. “What if we climbed to the summit of Everest under the Tahitian sun”: a slightly crazy idea to bring these 2 extremes together in Courchevel for a weekend, a fine opportunity to celebrate the arrival of spring.

The qualifiers for the Millet Everest challenge, based on the Challenge Millet 3000, which consisted of completing 6 climbs in under 5 hours between 10 am and 3 pm while the Millet Ski Touring ran in parallel, attracted 148 competitors, of whom 113 validated the 3,000 m of elevation gain. In the end, and after some decided to settle for 3,000 m of elevation gain, around sixty athletes will set off to assault Everest. Among them are big names in the endurance disciplines such as Corinne Favre, Maud Gobert, Alexandre Pellicier, David Poncet, Grégoire Curmer, Nicolas Lebrun, Cédric Fleureton, Yoann Stuck and also René Rovera. This world’s first Ski Mountaineering Ultra, the Millet Everest challenge, will take place over 2 days on 20 and 21 March on the 3.2 km, 500 m elevation gain MSTC course. After the 5,000 m of elevation gain required on the first day, i.e. 10 climbs within a 10-hour window between 7 am and 5 pm, competitors will have to spend a night in a tent at the base camp on the Courchevel 1850 snow front. They will set off the next day for a further 4,000 m of elevation gain between 8 am and 4 pm to reach the 9,000 m of elevation gain representing the height of Everest (8,849 m) starting from sea level.

After Everest, destination Tahiti with Keen’V

Sea means sun. Sun means Tahiti! The transition is all the easier thanks to singer Keen’V, originally scheduled for the closing concert of this MSTC season, who will honour us with his presence. Because of health restrictions, he unfortunately will not be able to get participants dancing and singing along to his summer hit “Tahiti”, but he will pin on a bib to take part in the final on ski touring equipment before co-hosting, alongside Ludovic Collet , the closing ceremony and the prize-giving, which will be held behind closed doors (ceremony to be followed live on the Courchevel Sports Outdoor Facebook page). Alongside the Millet Everest challenge on Sunday 21 March, the final round of the MSTC will run from 10 am to 3 pm with, this year, a suggested fancy-dress theme: Tahiti. At registration, which will take place on site at the start of the race in Courchevel Le Praz, a flower garland will be given to every participant. After that, everyone is free to dress up their outfit or not to look as Tahitian as possible. With the lovely weather forecast announced for the weekend, bikinis and swimsuits will be out in force! The “Deguisetoi.fr” trophy for the best costume will be awarded to the person who best fits the theme. The person with the most “likes” on their photo posted on the Courchevel Sports Outdoor Facebook page will win a pair of “Plum” bindings.

As has been the case for this particular season, this last round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel 2021 will begin on Wednesday 17 March before finishing on Sunday 21 March. These two days will be decisive for the final verdict. As every year, the suspense will be there.

For now, among the women, the very recent World Champion in Vertical Race and Individual ski mountaineering Axelle Gachet-Mollaret leads the race in 25min58s ahead of a pack of 5 women all within the same minute, a few seconds apart: the long-distance ski mountaineering World Champion and this week’s Pierra Menta winner Alba De Silvestro (27min11s), Jessica Pardin (27min30s), Emily Harrop (27min43s) and Laura Deplanche (27min53s), the last two of whom are in the top 10 of the Pierra Menta 2021. Among the men, French ski mountaineering champion Thibault Anselmet keeps the lead in 21min48s, 2 seconds ahead of Gédéon Pochat (21min50s). Long-distance ski mountaineering World Champion and 2021 Pierra Menta men’s winner Michele Boscacci is in 3rd place in 22min11s, but nothing is set in stone with the announced arrival of Vertical Race ski mountaineering World Champion Rémi Bonnet. Suspense ahead…

Véronique Lathuraz and Jonas Buchot win the 11th round of the Millet Ski Touring.

Some big names turned up for this penultimate round of the season, including trail running specialists: Maud Gobert, 2011 trail running World Champion, who is returning to competition, Mélanie Rousset, winner of the Restonica Trail and 3rd at the Trans Gran Canaria 2017, and Anne-Lise Desjacques, winner of the Serre Chevallier Trail Salomon 2019, 3rd at the Ubaye Trail Salomon in 2019 and 9th in 2020 on the long version, all three of whom qualified for the Millet Everest challenge. French Raid vice-champion Clément Valla, president of the Triathlon / Raid section of Courchevel Sports Outdoor, organiser of the Felt X3 extraordinary triathlon on 15 August 2021, was also there, as was Julia Combe , who has numerous mountain running “top 10” finishes to her name since 2009 and is in the midst of preparing for the Dynastar X3 extraordinary triathlon on 18 April 2021.

Among the women, through perseverance and after 4 podiums, Véronique Lathuraz took her first win of the season in 31min03s. She finished ahead of Mélanie Rousset (32min06s) and Anne-Lise Desjacques (32min31s). Maud Gobert and Julia Combe finished just off the podium.

On the men’s side, Jonas Buchot won at the finish in 25min32s ahead of Clément Charles (25min42s). Grégoire Curmer, winner of the latest edition of the Diagonale des Fous and a serious contender for the Millet Everest challenge, completed the podium in 27min32s.

Next and final dates:

Round 12: Wednesday 17 and final on Sunday 20 March from 10 am to 3 pm

Millet Everest challenge: 20 and 21 March