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The Bec des Rosses and the Thirty-Year Competition That Changed Freeride Skiing
In 1996, a small group of skiers dropped off the Bec des Rosses — a 55-degree face above Verbier — in what became the first edition of the Verbier Xtreme. Three decades later, that same face is the closing venue of a global competitive series. The route from sidecountry dare to world championship is not a straight line.
By ZealZag TeamPatrouille des Glaciers: The Military Ski Race That Became Skimo's Oldest Living Tradition
In 1943 the Swiss Armed Forces organized a ski race across high-Alpine glaciers to assess soldier readiness for mountain warfare. More than 80 years later the Patrouille des Glaciers runs biennially over the same terrain, still organized by the military, still requiring a team of three on a rope. It has become one of the largest ski mountaineering events in the world by participant count — and one of the few that exists entirely outside the competitive racing circuit.
By ZealZag Team