How fast do top Ski Mountaineering Racers climb?

Hello and greetings from the US. I hope it is alright this message is in English, I unfortunately no very little French.

Some friends and I were discussing how fast top Ski Mountaineering Racers climb in competition. My friends tell me that at the Wasatach Powderkeg in Utah last year the top European racers ascended the first 548meters in 18 minutes. Which is a pace of 30.4meters per minute. Does this sound accurate? How long can they maintain such a pace for?

Also, what is the world record for the 1KM skinning ascent? I understand races with 1KM of vertical climbing are popular over there.

Thank you in advance for your response! 🙂

Jeff
Portland, OR
US

PS: I'm sorry about the riots that happened in your country. 🙁

PS 2: I did not vote for George Bush, and I do not like him either. 😄

Welcome Jeff !

I have not a direct answer for your question, but I can give the time made by Stephane Brosse and Pierre Gignoux (who are our top french ski mountaineering racers) for Chamonix (1042m) -> Mont-Blanc (4810m) -> Chamonix.
They climb the about 3800m in 4 hour and 4 minutes and where back to Chamonix 5h15 after they left the town.

I think if we search on the web it's possible to have other times for the last races... but this is a first result.

Tim

P.S. Sorry for the approximative english
P.S.2 Even if you had voted for George Bush it would be possible for us to answer some mountains question !

The Altitude of the Mont-Blanc is 4810m so it's a high mountain and the last meters are very hard.
For an example, in the last Pierra Menta (a famous compétition) the bests do (up and down) :
Day 1 (500m) : 30"03
Day 2 (2424m) : 2'21"16
Day 3 (3000m) : 3'28"36
Day 4 (2681m) : 2'53"11

You can see the slope and the results here :
www.pierramenta.com/resultats.htm
www.pierramenta.com/profils.htm

PS: I'm sure thats the riots are not as terrific you can hear in the us 😉

What kind of climbing speed do you thing that is Jeroen? I would say you could split each lap 2/3 climbing 1/3 descent which gives you 1500 m an hour climbing. This corresponds to Gaper's experience at Wasatch.

As far as 1000 meter races I've not heard of them although the Croix de Chamchaude must be somewhere around that level. It sounds like a Swiss or Austrian thing.

Gaper Jeffey a dit :PS: Adding that comment about not liking George Bush ensures I'll get a better response, right?
Probably an american thinking's way, not our's 😉

Merci beaucoup Tim, David and Jeroen for the respones!!

I'm still interested in hearing if there is any world record for 1KM of skinning ascent.

Thanks! This is a great community you have going here.

Cheers,

Jeff 🙂

Hi Jeff,
in my modest opinion there couldn't be such a thing as a world record for 1km of skinning ascent as each mountain profile is different. And that's what we like about mountains!
There are records but in given places.

Anyway here is additional info/results about what is since last year known as "Vertical Race" (about 1 km of vertical ascent).

European Championships this year (900m/42mn:45s for the winner):
www.ffme.fr/ski-montagne/resultat/2005/vertical-race.pdf
(Note that the winner is not a skier... if there had been the descent he would not have won. He is nevertheless an athlete, that's clear)

French Championships this year (932m/37mn32s !!!!!!):
www.ffme.fr/ski-montagne/resultat/2005/chatel.pdf

Cheers,

David