La Grande Course is an international competition of ski mountaineering in stages. It includes the most important competitions of the season for teams of two or three competitors.
Ski mountaineering is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipment used, free-heel Telemark skis and skis based on Alpine skis, where the heel is free for ascents, but is fixed during descent. The discipline may be practiced recreationally or as a competitive sport.
Contents
- Events
- Every year
- Even-numbered years (e.g. 2016 and 2018)
- Odd-numbered years (e.g. 2017 and 2019)
- References
- External links
As of 2015 the senior events of La Grande Course represented a total length of 355 km and 38 km in altitude, but not all events are run every year. There are also six races on specific trails aimed at the cadet (15-16-17 years) and junior categories (18-19-20 years) that compete in teams of two.
Starting in the 2014/15 ski mountaineering season the La Grande Course events are integrated into the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) competition calendar, as the Long Distance Team events for the ISMF World Cup. [1]
The International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) emerged from the International Council for Ski Mountaineering Competitions (ISMC) in 2008, is responsible for international competition ski mountaineering.
