Les 2 Alpes World Record attempt torchlit descent

As night fell, the skiers and snowboarders moved into a queue in the middle of the Toura bowl, and the sea of waving blue and white torches made an impressive sight. The start of the run was just before the tunnel leading onto the Jandri 3 piste. All the ski schools in the resort had volunteered to help marshal the event along with the ski patrol, so there was a shorter queue of instructors and ski patrollers waiting to guide the line down the mountain. It takes quite a long time for nearly three thousand people to set off in single file, so the start of the descent took the best part of an hour. The organisers counted people off in groups of fifteen followed by an instructor or ski patroller who had the task of looking after them.

My start was at around 6.45pm. I joined the group and followed through the tunnel in the dim light of the torches. At first, we skied quite quickly to allow all the participants to pass through the start in a reasonable time. Emerging from the tunnel, I saw a line of lights descending a mountainside far ahead of us. It looked like a second torchlight descent was taking place in Alpe D’Huez, but in fact it was the snow cannons on the Sarenne piste which are illuminated at night.

A few metres further on, as we passed the turn-off to La Fée, there was a control gate to pass through where presumably the official count was being done. We carried on at a good speed down the Jandri 3 until the flat section around the Bellecombes chairlift where the line slowed right down. The rules for the record attempt state that participants must be in single file, no more than 2.5 metres apart in order to count as a single torchlight descent. Slowing down allowed everybody to get back into their place in the line after spreading out over the first part. Up on Bellecombes, away from the light pollution of the town, the night sky was truly spectacular. It was easy to pick out all the fainter stars of Orion’s Belt and Sword for example, brightly studding a deep velvet firmament. For me, this view of the night sky from the mountains was the best moment of the event.

As we moved from the Jandri 3 to the Jandri 2 piste, the rate of progress became slower and slower. I saw fast moving lights ahead which must have come from the nightly skidoo excursion, while the lights of our file were almost stationary. Everybody’s feet were getting colder and grumbles started to be heard along the line. It seemed to take forever to reach the Crêtes and the start of the Jandri 1 piste – the newest piste in the resort, and the one that the torchlight descent was planned to inaugurate.

As we hit the Jandri 1, the line speeded up again. Perhaps the leaders had been told that the count had been completed so there was no longer a need to go slowly. With people of differing abilities negotiating an icy slope in darkness whilst trying to stay in line, this part was a little chaotic. We swept down the piste and onto the Lutins slope in the centre of the resort at a good pace before crossing a finish that was lined with spectators. In the main square beyond the finish, giant dancing puppets were entertaining those who had already completed their descent.

In order to break the record, 2854 skiers and snowboarders were needed. All of the participants wanting to know if we had managed to get into the record books had to wait until the following morning for the news. The official count was 2602 people, short by 252. This was disappointing news but at least we had had the opportunity to take part in the attempt, and perhaps there will be another go next winter.

Read more from Ian on his website.