Patrouille des Glaciers – record breaking times in 2018

The biennial high-altitude race from Zermatt to Verbier, completed on touring skis, wrapped up on Sunday 21 April 2018.

Irrésistibles, les militaires italiens explosent le record de la Patrouille des glaciers: Robert Antonioli, Matteo Eydallin et Michel Boscacci ont assumé leur statut de favoris et ont rallié Zermatt à Verbier en 5h35’27. La patrouille italienne était… https://t.co/xFKeXoGwNa pic.twitter.com/U7tS7rGiUF

— Le Nouvelliste (@lenouvelliste) April 21, 2018

This year brought two new speed records. The Italian team of Robert Antonioli, Matteo Eydallin and Michel Boscacci made it from Zermatt to Verbier in 5 hours 35 minutes and 27 seconds, winning them first place and a new record. The trio bet the previous men’s record set in 2010 by close to quarter of an hour.

SKI ALPINISME / Laetitia Roux et ses deux coéquipières, Axelle Mollaret et Jennifer Fiechter, ont remporté la Patrouille des Glaciers 2018 et signé au passage un nouveau record de l’épreuve : https://t.co/jMYrEqnCyx

— Alpes 1 (@alpes_1) April 23, 2018

The women’s team of Jennifer Fiechter (CH), Axelle Mollaret (F) and Laetitia Roux (F) made it to Verbier in 7 hours 15 minutes and 35 seconds, winning them first place and a new record. Their time put them 12 minutes ahead of the previous record.

The race covers 53 kilometres on a map. This translates to around 110 effort-kilometres, calculated by adding 10 times the height climbed and 3.3 times the altitude descended to the map distance, a measure that allows flat and steep courses to be compared. The journey involves climbing 3,994 m and descending 4,090 m.

Around 4,800 contestants took part in this year’s race. The next event is scheduled for 2020.

More on this:
Swiss army press release (in French) - Take a 5 minute French test now

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