2024 Engadin shortens marathon: TOO MUCH SNOW!
Tue, Feb 27, 2024 - By Mike Muha
Oh to have such a problem in the Midwest this year... The Engadin Skimarathon is the largest cross-country skiing event in Switzerland and the second largest in the world. It runs the second Sunday in March each year - March 10th in 2024. In the past few days, 57 inches of snow has fallen - so heavy that it has pushed the ice sheet down in Lake Sils. This has allowed water to soak the snow into slush!
Here's the latest news weth a couple pictures:
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Dear friends of the Engadin Ski Marathon
In 2024, the Engadin Ski Marathon will not start in Maloja for the first time, but in Sils. The heavy snowfall of the last few days prevents the preparation of a cross-country ski trail of the usual quality on Lake Sils. Since more fresh snow is expected by March 10th, the start has to be moved to Sils.
At the start of the Engadin Ski Marathon in Maloja and on Lake Sils, 145cm (57 inches) of fresh snow has fallen in the last 5 days. More snowfall is expected in the coming days. This leads to problems on the first section of the route: the enormous weight of all the fresh snow pushes the ice sheet on the frozen Lake Sils deep into the lake water below. Water rises from below onto the ice surface through cracks in the ice sheet. It has mixed with some of the fresh snow to form slush.
For safety reasons, large cross-country ski trail vehicles cannot currently be used on Lake Sils. However, these would be necessary to prepare the new snow so that it, together with the slush, becomes a compact cross-country ski trail and can freeze. Since further, sometimes heavy snowfall and rather mild temperatures are expected in the coming days, the situation will not improve significantly.
The cross-country ski trail over Lake Sils cannot be prepared in the usual quality until March 10th. That's why the start of the largest cross-country skiing event in the Alps has to be postponed by almost seven kilometers to Sils.
Familiar infrastructure at the start
Little will change for the up to 14,000 participants: the usual start infrastructure will be set up in Sils and the start times will remain the same. It is not yet clear how long the marathon route will be on March 10th. We are examining options to compensate for at least part of the shortened route on additional sections of the route. All information is continuously communicated on the website.
Apart from Lake Sils, the Engadin Ski Marathon route is in excellent condition. Lake Silvaplana and the rural routes are constantly being prepared with heavy machinery. The Engadin Women's Run (Sunday, March 3rd) and the Engadin Night Run (Thursday, March 7th) will take place on the normal routes.
As of Monday, over 12,500 cross-country skiers had already registered for the Engadin Ski Marathon. They make it the second largest cross-country skiing event in the world. Online registration is possible until March 7th, last late registrations will be accepted on Saturday, March 9th in Pontresina.
We wish everyone a good final training day and look forward to welcoming you soon in the snow-covered Engadine.
Your Engadin Ski Marathon team
