History of ski mountaineering

The competition of Ski Mountaineering is a rather modern specialty at the mountaineering field, though it is not as new as an activity in itself.  At the beginning of the last century, the first skis made of wood became an essential element to move from one place to another at rural areas where the snow conditioned every activity.

It is evident that at the very moment that skis stopped being a practical element of survival and came to be part of the material used by the mountaineers, its action field took a standing that nobody could imagine, at a sportive, financial, and social level.

The evolution of the skis, “allowed our predecessors crossing during the winter season most of the snowed valleys and reaching some heights which were closed to the man’s “daring” until that moment.”

So it is not strange that natives from the northern countries were the ones who introduced the first sliding techniques, contributing to the possibility of applying the biggest effectiveness with a controlled effort.

The diffusion of the Ski as a sport practice gave path to the first team competitions that had completely different characteristics to the present ones, since doing a cross or reaching a height was as significant as or even more significant than arriving first.

Therefore, during the first half of the last century, we see the first competitions taking place at the alpine zones organized as rallies and mountain crossings which in a way answered to the idea of measuring the physical and technical capacity among participants, even though the organization criteria was very far from Ski Mountaineering of competition. Moreover, climatologic conditions and environmental respect were always taken into account.

The great number of athletes of this alpinist specialty, the continuous appearance of new materials, and the competitive spirit, innate among young people, has evolved and expanded so much in countries where the snow covers the mountains that the most prestigious brands of ski manufacturing were the first to understand that they could not stay apart from this evolution.

This way, competitors and technicians made great efforts to obtain light materials of a high quality that would contribute with an improved safety and the best performance features, helping to achieve a better efficiency both at the ascend and descend according to the field features.

In Europe, at the second half of the last century there took place some competitions of Ski Mountaineering such as the Mezzalama Trophy at the Italian Alps, or the rallies organized by the Italian Alpine Club and the French Alpine Club, which in a way were the point of departure of the popularization and practice of this alpine modality.

The competitive spirit of the Ski Mountaineering provoked certain reactions of different kinds in different countries. The most reluctant questioned about safety problems, others questioned about alpine ethics or environmental damage.

In spite of these considerations made by the most skeptical ones concerning issues related to mountaineering competition, the practice of this modality was already imposed in a clear way, and competition was expanded to the majority of countries until becoming a really popular discipline. Most of the Latin countries of Europe understood it on this way.

In 1988, there started the negotiations which gave place, a few years later, to the creation of an independent committee: CISAC (International Committee of Ski Mountaineering of Competition). Its aim was to agglutinate those countries interested in Ski Mountaineering of competition, being its first president  Mr. Sasanyani.

In its origins, CISAC’s presence was significant since during many years it made possible the spread of Ski Mountaineering of competition, assembling the best mountain skiers, and also potentiating the European Cup, a prestigious competition whose final result was the sum of many races done at the winter season in different alpine zones.

Yet with the second president, Mr. Michel García, the major exponents of Ski Mountaineering of competition were the preparation of regulations and the European Cup, apart from the preparation of other races, not less significant, as the “Patrouille des Glaciers” in Switzerland and the “Pierra Menta” in France, both really hard races with an international run prestige.

In spite of the progressive increase of competitions in the alpine countries, as well as the increase in the number of participants and the high level achieved by them, the UIAA, which was the maximum representation of alpinism at a worldwide level, kept standing out of this evolution. There were repeated intentions from the CISAC and from some UIAA member countries so that this sports organism would assume the Ski Mountaineering of competition, as it was previously done with Climbing of competition, creating the ICC (International Board for Climbing Competition).

It was extremely important that the UIAA and the countries affiliated to this International Federation would understand how significant was to create a committee of Ski Mountaineering of competition with the aim of potentiating this speciality among all the country members, and establishing, from the very beginning, by means of the statutes, what worried many countries: mountaineering ethics, safety, and environmental respect; all of them a common base for the international mountaineering movement.

Finally, after many debates, the UIAA General Assembly  approved in 1999 the integration of the Ski Mountaineering of competition as another activity within the International Federation, creating a Committee similar to the Climbling of competition.

With this approval, which took place in Olympia (Greece), and after the election of the Management Committee chaired by Jordi Colomer, the International Board of Ski Mountaineering of Competition (ISMC) becomes the organism which rules and controls this activity having the aim of promoting Ski Mountaineering of competition among those countries members of the UIAA.

From that moment onwards, the ISMC is developing a great activity promoting the sport and carrying out official races in Morocco, Chile, and EE.UU, which together with the Cups and the European Championships show the degree of internationalization of the Ski Mountaineering of Competition.

The first World Championships of this discipline were celebrated at the French Alps in 2002, with the participation of 22 countries from 3 different continents. These championships are celebrated every two years, being the last one in Portes de Soleil in February 2008.

Through its affiliated associations, the ISMC develops courses for international referees, a figure that is essential to guarantee the good development of the races. It also carries out rankings from the first sportsmen of the official seasons and from the nations which participate at the races of the official calendars, developing an active anti-doping program according to the existing rules.