Winter Eigertour 2026: ‘Strong wind and snow showers’

Strong winds, snow showers and high avalanche risk characterised the fifth edition of the Winter Eigertour, which took place over the weekend of 9-11 January 2026.

The three-day event, which combines the disciplines of ski-mountaineering and flying, was won by Rémi Bourdelle and Gaël Droz. Basile Marclay and Nicola Heiniger were second and in third place was Jöel Bruchez and Brian Allaman.

“Neck and neck with Nicola Heiniger and Basile Marclay nothing was certain until the end,” Remi posted afterwards. “A real fight, both friendly and competitive. Everything I love and everything I look for in sports.”

Also taking part was Patrick Harvey-Collard. “It was brutal,” he said. “It’s the winter equivalent of XC hike-and-fly. Instead of just doing fast vertical laps, the tasks make us cover great distances across valleys. I think it’s the only race of its kind! The demands in fitness, mountain knowledge and taking off in the snow in the wild are quite high.”

Race director Michael Witschi said: “I’m very happy with another race without accidents. It was very difficult – we had an avalanche danger of between three and four which is very high. We had winds that were so strong that many ski resorts shut down. In spite of that we managed to make three tasks, two of which were flyable – and where the flying paid off.”

He added: “The level between teams was closer than in other years. We only had one rookie team. The others were all very experienced and the performance was very impressive. It was an incredible adventure.”

The race unfortunately suffered from a low turnout, partly due to the bad weather, but Michu acknowledged that it takes a very particular skillset to take part in the race. “The circle of people able to do this kind of race is not that big with ski mountaineering and flying with skis. It’s a special combination but I really love it.”

He adds: “This combo is also perfect for winters where you don’t have so much snow as uphill it’s working and downhill you fly. It’s a sport of the future!”