Diagonal Lines - from WEF to La Diagonela XC Ski Marathon

Wednesday, 01 February 2023 10:26

Diagonal Lines - from WEF to La Diagonela XC Ski Marathon

Written by Henry Iddon

Recently, and for the third time, I headed off to The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland to photograph events in the SDG Tent.

Four days of the world’s business leaders and politicians getting together to discuss what needs to be done to sort out, amongst other things the environmental crisis we all face and social inequalities. Now many people may think it’s just a fancy shindig on business expenses, but believe you me the delegates put a shift in when it comes to meetings, discussions and joining the dots. It’s non stop intense conversation. One of the main conference themes was ‘Addressing the Current Industry Headwinds in the context of a New System for Harnessing Frontier Technologies for Private Sector Innovation and Resilience’. More on headwinds later. Meanwhile in The SDG Tent (It’s actually a very fancy marquee / temporary building), where I spent my time photographing events, one of the big discussions was the environment. And the ‘hot ticket’ was for the ‘Nature Positive’ dinner hosted by the World Wildlife Fund, with a keynote by Marina Silva the new Brazilian Environment Minister.

Now I think it’s fair to say that being in Switzerland in January has its perks, it is the ski season after all. As it happened this years WEF was from 16th to the 20th of January, and the 21st of January was the tenth year for La Diagonela XC Ski Marathon. Having previously completed Norway’s famous Birkebeiner event, it seemed like a good opportunity to put on anther race bib and do something positive in nature. La Diagonela features as part of the Ski Classics series - a grouping of elite Pro races and mass participation events in Europe and North America. Newer than it’s more well known sibling the freestyle / skate Engadine Ski Marathon, La Diagonela covers 48km in classic XC ski format between Pontresina and Zuoz.

Davos isn’t far from the Engadine valley, so when the conference events were finished I hopped on the train to Pontresina. Well three trains actually, that connected like clockwork thanks to the Swiss travel systems efficient timetabling.

I’d been to Pontresina previously in summer the summer of 2017 while checking out the Graubünden mountain biking scene and for a couple of days after WEF in January 2020 just before….. In fact January 2020 had been the last time I’d done any XC skiing on snow. Not ideal with 48km of it ahead of me in January 2023! I had managed to get a couple of short 10km skis in while in Davos to knock the rust off, but was relying on regular ‘double polling’ roller ski sessions at sea level in Blackpool to get me through. The course is largely over 1700m, so sea level training was… er… not ideal. But due to visits to the area I’d made friends locally so had a comfy bed for the night before the race, and some local knowledge to guide me through the ups and downs of the course wasn’t going to do any harm.

Picture This: Race day started cold, -14C to be precise, so it wasn’t a morning for hanging about at the start. A good breakfast then a quick hello to GB’s Andrew Musgrave who earlier in the season had podiumed in the 10km XC World Cup in Beitostolen, Norway. Muzzy was amongst the Elite starters, I positioned myself sheepishly at the rear of ‘B Block’ with numerous tuned up experienced skiers in front of me. The plan being to treat the event as a grand day out in the Engadine, and earning a finishers cowbell.

At 9.07am precisely ‘B Block’ were off (on time just like a Swiss train), double polling down hill from Pontresina XC Ski Centre towards Samaden. A nice steady 5km to find some rhythm before turning back up to Pontresina for some climbs through the woods towards Val Roseg. As I’d headed down hill and along the flats I kept an eye on a couple of other skiers, in the hope of keeping them as markers to my pace, but the up hills began to reveal a rusty technique. Technique is everything in XC as it leads to efficiency. More glide equals less effort especially over 48km. So while others could kick ’n’ glide in the tracks I’d often have to herringbone losing time and expending energy. But heh a day out in the Engadine was to be enjoyed, steady away to the high point at 1835m then back towards Pontresina via the first aid / food station for some Enervit, chopped banana and gels eagerly handed out by local school children. Passing near the start area well within the cutoff time, the first objective ticked off and while still well below freezing the sun was out. Poles squeaked in the cold hard packed snow as I spotted a bright pink headband ahead worn by a lady whose bib informed she was called Helena, ’d been not too far behind her earlier, one of my ‘pacers’.

Rejoining the route towards Samaden also coincided with the skiers taking part on the shorter 27km La Pachifica setting off so it was nice to settle in to a rhythm with other skiers around. Most of B Block had vanished in to the distance, as had C Block who started behind me.

Back on the flats around Samaden the headwind picked up, but my concern was getting some more food at the 25km point aid station at Bever and not ‘New System for Harnessing Frontier Technologies’, meanwhile an airplane landed at Samaden airport (no doubt with passengers heading up to St. Moritz) and drivers were honing their snow driving skills on a track set up by BMW. Thankfully my XC skills allowed me to keep a steady pace as I skied alongside Helena and and enjoyed some small talk about our skiing experiences and objectives for the day. Hers being to finish and earn a cowbell to take back to Prague, while her husband was in Block A looking for a fast time.

Next up was the quaint village of La Punt at 30km, skiing past old houses and gardens bathed in sunlight and the recent snowfall. I was confident of getting my hands on a cowbell as we passed Zuoz on the other side of the valley. By this time the elites had finished and were either in the shower or enjoying a sit down meal, with the winners having got their hands on a big cowbell ‘trophy’. I was happy to down as many paper cups of Enervit energy drink to rehydrate with 10km or so to go as by now energy levels were getting depleted.

The last 10km were probably the hardest, not only with 38km skied but also the small matter of a grim climb at S-chanf to where an alpine ski T-bar finished - described by Muzzy afterwards as “A lot harder than it had been in training all week”. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are - everyone suffers on a climb, and as I laboured up I could hear church bells ringing in the distance. For whom the bell tolls… What goes up must come down, and a technical switch back descent followed. Snowploughing on 2cm wide skies in classic XC footwear that are basically running shoes attached to the skis at the toe keeps you focused. For those who think XC is a sedate pursuit think again, it’s not always. Not surprisingly there was a pole replacement station at the bottom for anyone who had crashed and broken a ‘stick’. Thankfully I was unscathed, and was on the home straight and ploughing on to the low point at 1657m as the route crossed the river Inn. If there had been an Inn I’d have happily stopped for some liquid refreshment and a big plate of food, but onwards and upwards for the last few kilometres to Zouz as I passed Patrick a Frenchman and another of my ‘pacers’.

And the finish line was literally in the heart of Zuoz, the final kilometre climbed towards a narrow street in to the centre of the village that was historically the political capital of the Engadine. Between 1137 and 1139 it was acquired by the Bishop of Chur, but with my friend Darco cheering me over the line I was about to get my hands on not the village, but a well earned mini cowbell.

The big bells went to winners Swede, Emil Peterson for the men in 2 hours 10 seconds, and Norwegian Astrid Oeyre Slind for the women in 2 hours 18 minutes. Andrew ‘Muzzy’ Musgrave came in at 2 hours 1 minute for 29th. And me, well I was second GB finisher in 5 hours 42 minutes. There were only two of us flying the flag, but still…

While I may have been towards the back of the field it was still a fantastic day out in a stunning location, and Zuoz was still alive with atmosphere with local band Prefix keeping the tempo alive. All I needed was a drink as I walked back to Darco’s car clinking and clunking with my cowbell proudly round my neck.

Oh and one way or another I did manage to visit a local ‘Inn’ for some food with a recovery ski the following day up the beautiful Val Roseg for a well earned bratwurst mit brot and strudel.