After a fantastic weekend of endurance skiing and snowboarding, 18 teams have returned to the UK after competing in the 2014 Snow-Camp Alpine Challenge.
The teams awoke early to perfect powder snow conditions in Morzine on the opening day of the Challenge, and set off in their attempt to reach 21 checkpoints across the huge Portes de Soleil ski area, clocking up GPS tracked km as they went.
Local team Morzine Source Magazine were crowned Alpine Challenge Champions for 2014 with a staggering combined team ski and hike total of 316 km, whilst hitting all 21 checkpoints over the two days. Second place went to Mountain Mavericks who missed first place by just one km, with a total of 312km and third went to team MASS with 306 km.Snow-Camp Director, Dan Charlish, said, 'This event, now in its fifth year has been a huge success. We added even more checkpoints this year, and on top of the mountain hike, a sledge relay ensured this year's Challenge was the toughest yet! As always the atmosphere was fantastic with all the teams enjoying the level of competition and experience of navigating around 15 resorts and 100's of km's of pistes.'
Justin Mountstephens from Team Ebay said,' It was a fantastic event – we thoroughly enjoyed the skiing and raising money for such a good cause, but we underestimated how hard the Challenge would be – it's not called an endurance event for nothing!'
Alpine Challenge 2014
Over 80 people took part in this year's Challenge, representing companies including PWC, Delancey, Ernst & Young, eBay and EA SPORTS. Combined fundraising across all teams is still coming in but the event has already raised over £30,000 to support Snow-Camp's work with young people. A special mention to top fundraisers this year Team Delancey, with second place going to the Ladies That Launch and Loose Cannons winning third.
Dan Charlish said, 'All teams are continuing to make a fantastic effort with their fundraising and this will have a huge impact on our work with young people – as a small charity we are so grateful for all the support from everyone involved in this year's event. The money raised as a result will mean we are able to support five young people through our Apprenticeship Programme for a full year – training them for future employment across the snowsports industry at the end of their apprenticeship'.
Sponsors Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports were proud to have supported the event once again and have been supporters of Snow-Camp for many years. They were joined by Morzine Tourist Board, Hotel Aubergade, Delancey, Ski and Snowboard Magazine & EA SPORTS as key event sponsors.
The Alpine Challenge 2015 will be launched soon! To enter your team please contact Snow-Camp or see www.snow-camp.org.uk/alpinechallenge to find out more.