The Millet Everest presents a racing format that is unusual in the world of ski touring.

-

Courchevel Sport Outdoor

  • The festive Millet Ski Touring in Courchevel (Savoie) will experience a crazy evolution on Saturday and Sunday, with its Millet Everest version.

  • The concept is as follows: the sixty or so committed touring skiers will make 18 climbs in two days on the route of the usual "vertical race" of 3.2 km of ascent for 500 m of elevation gain.

  • Interspersed with a night in a tent on the snow front at 1,850 m, this XXL challenge will symbolically reach the bar of 9,000 m of D +, the equivalent of Everest.

Patrick Sébastien, the Creole Company, Emile et Images, Magic System, or even Nelson Monfort as godfather… All these beautiful people have taken part for ten years in the festive Millet Ski Touring in Courchevel (Savoie), which organized 140 races and more than 15,000 departures.

Reference among the “ 

vertical races

 ” in ski touring, with its 500 m of elevation gain (from 1,350 to 1,850 m in altitude) for 3.2 km of ascent, this one allows amateurs and high level runners. , all in disguise, to mix before a big party bringing together more than a thousand participants each year.

An outcome necessarily impossible for the 11th edition of the event because of the Covid-19.

But this race had the idea to switch for the first time in a dingo formula.

The concept was initiated by Jonathan Lamy (24), ski instructor in La Plagne (Savoie), who will soon be leaving for a 60-day expedition, from April 1 to May 31, with the aim of climbing to the top. from Everest (8,849 m).

To prepare for this challenge, this volunteer firefighter came to train alone in Courchevel in January, where he climbed the formidable ascent of the Millet Ski Touring six times.

The Millet Ski Touring has become a must for 10 years for fans of "vertical races".

- _Courchevel Sport Outdoor

"It's important to hurt yourself sometimes"

“I then said to myself that doing this climb 18 times, or the equivalent of the altitude of Everest, would be the best possible preparation for me,” recalls Jonathan Lamy.

It is very repetitive but in ski touring, we are

addicted

to the drop.

It's important to hurt yourself sometimes.

"A maxim that risks accompanying the sixty or so runners entered on Saturday and Sunday in the Millet Everest 2021, including Le Plagnard.

Because the organizers of the Millet Ski Touring did not miss the vein launched by Jonathan Lamy.

To have the right to take part in this crazy adventure, you had to be one of the best performances, in recent weeks, during the M3000 Challenge, by making six climbs (or 3,000 m of D +) in less than five hours.

“There are a lot of stupid challenges in the

outdoor world

, but until then, we would never have thought of organizing an ultra ski touring on a

vertical race course

, smiles Hervé Franchino.

After four consecutive climbs during the M3000 Challenge, I was already seeing faces decomposing, so we will have to hold out mentally this weekend to make the 18 climbs… ”

The M3000 Challenge, which made it possible to qualify for this first Millet Everest, was taken up by more than 150 cross-country skiers in Courchevel.

- Patrick Pachod / Millet Ski Touring

"You will still have to provide a good sleeping bag"

The program put together by the

outdoor

sports manager

at Courchevel Tourisme is strong, with ten climbs to be done between 7 and 5 p.m. on Saturday, in order to respect the curfew and to reach the Courchevel 1850 snow front for an unusual bivouac. .

"It should be -4 ° C so it will still be necessary to provide a good sleeping bag", notes Hervé Franchino.

Then again on Sunday for those who will have crossed the 5,000m D + bar on time the day before.

On the menu for this second day: eight new climbs, or 4,000 m of D + to inquire between 8 and 4 p.m., after a night that does not promise to be the most restful.

In total, ski touring adventurers will therefore cover 57.6 km, with an incredible elevation gain of 9,000 m, all without being able to receive any outside help, excluding supplies.

The profiles of the participants in this first edition are varied, between ultra-trail runners, triathletes and obviously touring skiers, all accustomed to XXL challenges.

Our dossier on the trail

"This race can push me back to my limits"

Second fastest time in M3000 qualifying, Grégoire Curmer is used to extreme performances.

The Chamoniard ultra-trail runner, winner of the Diagonale des Fous in October 2019 in Reunion Island (165 km and 9,580 m of elevation gain) is also an amateur of ski touring.

“It happened to me to do days of more than 5,000 m of D + like that, for the pleasure, he says.

The height difference therefore does not scare me at all.

But usually I sleep warm in a shelter, so I'm interested to see how my body will adjust and go back for eight climbs on Sunday.

This race can push me to my limits.

I feel like I'll be happy to finish this one.

"

In a completely different setting, Grégoire Curmer won the last edition of the legendary Diagonale des Fous in Reunion Island, in October 2019. - Richard BOUHET / AFP

With the feeling of reaching the top of the world in Courchevel to celebrate the arrival of spring?

"The runners will end up in the same condition as those who plant their flag at the top of the real Everest", estimates Hervé Franchino.

Jonathan Lamy would be delighted to strike a double blow at the end of May, and thus become the fourth youngest Frenchman in history to climb to the mythical summit of the Himalayan range.

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