RED BULL – DER LANGE WEG
The world’s longest ski tour
The crossing of the Alps from Vienna to Nice in 36 days | March 17 to April 22, 2018
Der lange Weg 2018 | The analysis
In 36 days on skis across the Alps.
Red Bull Der Lange Weg was inspired by four Austrian ski mountaineers. Robert Kittl, Klaus Hoi, Hansjörg Farbmacher and Hans Mariacher mastered the route in 1971 with only one support man in a VW bus, Alois Schett. The five athletes did not pass all peaks and valley locations of the 1971 team.Common decisions and experiences bonded the team, which had originally consisted of seven individual athletes, more closely together during the course of the tour. Two of the athletes who’d started in Reichenau an der Rax had to retire on their way to Nice for different reasons. Nuria Picas (ESP), one of the most successful ultra-trail runners in the world, and South Tyrolean alpinist Tamara Lunger (ITA). The five athletes the did complete were all the more proud when they arrived on the beach of Nice.
With her impressive performance, Janelle Smiley showed that not only physical conditioning played a big part, but also tactics, mental strength and team spirit.
Bernhard Hug
“It was really tough,” Hug admitted in Nice. “Every day, you had to recharge your energy to re-focus and move forward step by step. These 14-hour days cost a lot of physical energy. And we had to adapt the route very often and to reorganise again and again because the weather was very difficult. This took a lot of mental energy. But now, we are relieved that we made it!”
David Wallmann
“The biggest challenge was certainly the bad weather, which made life difficult for us almost every day,” Wallmann said. “Actually, only on the previous days we were finally rewarded by some sunshine for all the stresses and strains.”
Philipp Reiter
“We were 36 days on the road, we were stuck in a blizzard at 3,700m, we rode in knee-deep spring-snow, and now we’re at the beach, this is totally crazy,” Reiter recalled. “I still can’t believe we really made it. It was damn far, it was pretty hard, but that doesn’t matter any more, because we’re here now!”
The Expedition on Instagram.
Experience the expedition on Instagram.
Der lange Weg | NEWS BLOG
The daily stages on our news blog.
RedBullDerlangeWeg – Finish in Nice
Red Bull | Der lange Weg: 22.04.2018 - Finish in Nice The team "Red Bull der lange Weg" reaches the finish in Nice after 36 days Videos | Outdoor Leadership #redbullderlangeweg https://ww [...]
Video #redbullderlangeweg
36 days. 1,721 km. 89.644 vertical meters and 375 hours of movement, movement, movement. Janelle Smiley, Mark Smiley Bernhard Hug, Philipp Reiter & amp; David Wallmann are super-humans and have written their own story on their journey through the Alps.
