The Grand Course is to skiing (and alpine travel) what the Tour de France is to cycling and the Kentucky Derby is to horse racing. It is a multi-stage, multi-area series of multi-day races tackling some of the wildest, steepest, and most rugged terrain on the continent of Europe.
In North America, we truly have nothing at all that compares to the type of excitement and prestige generated by hundreds of world-class ski athletes pushing the standards of alpine travel, with entire villages emptying to witness and cheer on the competitors.
As the sport of ski mountaineering (Ski-Mo) continues to grow in North America, CAMP USA will be at the forefront of pushing standards, skills, and equipment here at home, just as the many generations of climbers and skiers who run CAMP in Italy have helped grow the sport abroad.
The Pierra Menta is a 4-day Grand Course race, in which skiers gain over 10,000m (more than 30,000′!). This race was recently won by CAMP-sponsored athletes Damiano Lenzi and Mateo Edyallin, who stood atop the podium after dominating the field once again.
Here’s a look at this year’s race, filmed from ancient cobble streets to gnarly alpine summits.
