On Monday 10th April 2023, Benjamin Védrines and Samuel Équy broke the record for crossing the Alps between Chamonix and Zermatt (100 km, 8,300 m D+) in ski mountaineering in less than 15 hours.
They beat the previous record of 16 hours and 35 minutes set in 2016 by Bastien Fleury and Olivier Meynet by 1 hour and 41 minutes. “
"We had only arrived half an hour before Benjamin was already asking me if it seemed possible to me to go under 12 hours!" said Samuel Équy, pillar of the French ski mountaineering team, friend of Benjamin Védrines.
Performance in autonomy and on sight
Samuel and Benjamin carried a DVA-shovel-probe trio, a 30-meter rope and down jackets in their backpacks in case of a problem: "But we're certainly lucky to have light and high-performance equipment “said Samuel. Equipment to which they also added some essential food.
They left on Monday just before one o'clock in the morning from the church of Chamonix and they found almost ideal conditions to race at the foot of the Matterhorn: "We can always do better in terms of snow cover but almost all our climbs were traced from the day before or the day before. »
Next project-goal for Benjamin Védrines
Benjamin thinks already to beat his own record. “In autonomy as we did, it's sure that we can take less time, especially if we know the route well. But below 12 hours it still seems complicated to me. To do much better, we would need tracers just in front who would also act as hares. »
Source: @www.montagnes-magazine.com
