4900 people take part in the Patrouille des Glaciers
Published: Saturday, Apr 13th 2024, 13:20
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The 40th Patrouille des Glaciers starts next week. Almost 4900 participants will run from Zermatt VS or Arolla TI to Verbier VS. The event is overshadowed by the death of one female ski tourer and five male ski tourers on the Tête Blanche mountain on the route of the race.
A total of 1633 teams of three are taking part in this year's Patrouille des Glaciers. The organizing committee announced that registrations would be roughly the same as in 2022. The starting fields are full.
Depending on the category, the starts take place between Tuesday and Saturday. The most experienced athletes start in 713 teams in Zermatt to tackle the 57.5-kilometre route with its 4386 meters of ascent.
The other 920 teams of three will start in Arolla on the shorter route, which involves 2200 meters of ascent over 29.6 kilometers. Records were last broken in 2018, when a patrol completed the long route in 5 hours, 35 minutes and 37 seconds. On the shorter distance, the record-breaking team reached the finish in Verbier after 3 hours, 32 minutes and 7 seconds.
At the last event in 2022, almost a quarter of those who started in Zermatt had to give up. That should not happen again this year. The organizing committee points out that the cancellations in 2022 were mainly due to the lack of snow.
This forced the participants to walk several kilometers and carry the equipment. However, some observers identified a lack of training and a lack of mountain knowledge as the reason for the task. They therefore demanded training days. The organizers did not respond to this. The participants would organize the training themselves.
Drama at the Tête Blanche
In the run-up to the Patrouille des Glaciers, a drama occurred in Valais in March. A female alpinist and five male alpinists were surprised by adverse weather conditions on the patrol route on the Tête Blanche. The five men were found dead and there is still no trace of the woman.
The patrol organizers are not commenting on the tragedy, but commemorated the victims at a memorial service at the cemetery in Orsières VS on Wednesday. It was held for three members of a patrol who died in an accident not far from the Tête Blanche 75 years ago. They fell into a crevasse.
The commemoration heralds the start of the Patrouille des Glaciers and is only open to military personnel. The 2024 edition is under the command of Brigadier Christian Sieber. With more than 1600 military personnel, the army is responsible for the entire organization of the high alpine race, in particular the safety of the route and the runners.
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