Test your ski skills at these challenging amateur downhill races

Travel

The anniversaries of amateur ski race events take us back to an era of wool sweaters and towering skis.

ByNick Dalton

Published December 6, 2023

• 4 min read

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK)

When the British took to skiing in the early 1900s, we did so with competitive verve, organising clubs and amateur races that still draw big crowds today. The Inferno, held in the elegantly understated Swiss town of Murren, celebrates its 80th event in 2024, and constitutes the biggest public ski race in the world. It’s utter madness, involving 1,850 entrants racing over the nine-mile run, which drops from Schilthorn, at almost 2,970 metres, down to 790 metres, taking an average skier 20 minutes (the winner considerably less).

This season’s event takes place on Saturday 27 January, festivities kicking off the Wednesday before with a cross-country race, then a slalom on Thursday and a parade on Friday night. Saturday sees resort-wide frolics around the big race. The organiser, Kandahar Ski Club, which itself turns 100 on 30 January, was founded in Murren by British skiers, including mountaineer Arnold Lunn. The club now has 1,400 members but events are open to all.  

The Inferno’s closest competitor is the Parsenn Derby. Held in the swish Swiss resort of Davos-Klosters, the event marks its centenary in 2024 and was the brainchild of Swiss spa hotel regular, Englishman Fred W Edlin. A member of the Ski Club of Great Britain (which turned 120 in 2023), Edlin saw the potential for downhill skiing on the Parsenn, the mountainous area that unites Klosters and Davos. Since 1933, the race has started at 2,660 metre Weissfluhjoch, dropping 2,000 metres in eight miles to Klosters. Until the Ski World Cup launched in 1967, it was a major event on the ski racing circuit. Today, it’s one for spirited amateurs — and fun-loving former professionals. davos.ch

A more modern take is City Ski Challenge, a frenetic long weekend of food, drink, music, networking and ski racing, with competitors drawn from London and Europe’s business community. The event was started in 2000 in Courmayeur, Italy (as City Ski Championships) by travel company Momentum Ski but is now held in the Swiss town of Crans-Montana. Whether you want to compete or not, these amateur challenge events are a seriously lively time to be in the Alps.

Published in the Winter Sports guide, distributed with the December 2023 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).

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