Round 11 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 21 February 2024

Participation record at the 11th round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel

Full-moon week means a Plum special at the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel (MSTC). This Wednesday 21 February, a beautiful moon was there for the 3rd and last “Full moon” of this 14th edition of the MSTC, with a pair of “Plum R120” bindings up for grabs, offered by the director of the partner brand Albert Félisaz, who was on the climb with a time of 48min18s. The young hopeful Margaux Le Corrone (49min13s) was the happy winner in the prize draw.

With 1,540 starts given and an average of 140 participants every Wednesday, this 2024 season is the busiest since the start of the adventure. This 11th round is no exception, with a participation record: 198 ski mountaineers of all levels lined up at the start of this vertical race, which has become the benchmark in the ski mountaineering world.

Gédéon Pochat Cottilloux and Lucille Germain in the top 5

Faced with the thaw of recent days, the organisers had to roll up their sleeves to keep the official 3.2 km, 500 m elevation gain course between Courchevel Le Praz and Courchevel 1850 in very good condition. Laborious snowmaking work over the past few weeks has allowed the rounds to follow on normally.

Despite rather heavy snow on the first and last parts of the course and a little slalom among the many slower participants, Gédéon Pochat Cottilloux, bronze medallist at the 2024 French Vertical Race Championship held on this same course on 16 December, won the round in 23min30s and confirmed his 3rd place in the provisional overall standings (CGP) in 21min52s. “It wasn’t easy today to put in a good performance. I lost about twenty seconds just in the last few metres compared with last time because of the snow, but I’m still happy with the result for the rest of the programme,” said Gédéon, who is preparing for the World Cup Vertical Race in Schladming, Austria, at the start of March. He will then go on to the Monterosa Skialp in Italy and the Pierra Menta as a team with François D’Haene, before finishing in costume on 20 March at the start of the MSTC grand finale, with the exceptional concert by the band Deluxe who will bring a crazy atmosphere to this great ski mountaineering party. The podium is completed by 2 members of the organising club Courchevel Sports Outdoor (CSO): Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz in 24min58s had to work hard to fend off the assaults of Jean-Baptiste Curtet, third in 25min03s.

Among the women, Lucille Germain of the CSO club confirmed her earlier performances (3rd round win) and won in 28min26s. She remains in 5th place in the provisional overall standings in 27min28s. Second step goes to Agathe Bes of the Maurienne Ski Alpinisme club in 30min15s ahead of the Pole Claudia Chmielowska in 31min10s. The progress made by that nation should be noted: 9th podium of the season, women and men combined.

Note the fine performance of the director of the Courchevel Tourist Office, Alexia Lainé, who on her first climb of the season clocked 56min24s, good for a bronze medal.

Storming Everest…

A big week of ski mountaineering is on the programme in the Courchevel resort. Next Wednesday will see the 12th round of the MSTC, followed by the weekend of 2 and 3 March, when around a hundred athletes will launch an assault on the 3rd edition of the Millet Everest, which is also the venue for the 13th round of the MSTC. The Millet Everest consists of climbing 9,000 m of elevation gain on the Millet Ski Touring course (3.2 km / 500 m of elevation gain), i.e. 18 climbs (57.6 km / 9,000 m of elevation gain), to reach the altitude of the summit of Everest (8,849 m) starting from sea level as fast as possible (only the climbs are timed within the allotted time).

This Ultra Ski Touring Courchevel will take place over 2 days of racing: 5,000 m of elevation gain to be completed on the first day in under 10 hours and 4,000 m on the second day in under 8 hours, after spending a night at base camp in a tent.

It is a unique opportunity, in a challenge open to all, to find your limit and go home with the diploma corresponding to the summit of the altitude reached. For Mont Blanc (4,809 m), you will need to have completed the 10 climbs on the Saturday in under 10 hours.

At the end of the first day, corresponding to the 13th round of the MSTC, a prize-giving will be held from 7.30 pm at La Croisette (the round will count the best time of the 10 climbs completed by Millet Everest participants as well as that of the competitors who will start in parallel with the Millet Everest from 6.20 pm).

Next date: 12th Millet Ski Touring Courchevel on Wednesday 28 February 2024