I liked the idea of starting in Alagna (Italy) at 1,192m and running up the 6th highest peak in the Alps, Signalkuppe at 4,554m and back down again, cover 35km and 3,362m of vertical gain. I was running with Frank Persyn who is the first to admit that his body was not really designed for mountain trails, although we used his size to great advantage later in the race.
We knew altitude would be a big factor so just before the race we spent three nights at the Gnifetti hut acclimating and taking in the summits of Vincent Pyramid, Corno Nero, Lugwigshole and Parrotspitze over two days. It makes me very happy that I have developed sufficient skills and experience that I can now look after my friends in the mountains on low grade summits. There was a trade-off though as we did spend between 4 and 6 hours each day mountaineering just before a big race.
The night before I started to get a bit of cough and I could feel my chest tightening. Race morning, I did a warm-up run and I knew I was in trouble as my sports induced asthma left me struggling for breath after only an easy effort. I used my puffer and just had to hope for the best.
The MSM is a tough race, not only because of the elevation gain, the risk of falling into a crevasse, being crushed by a serac collapse, etc but also the really challenging cut-offs. The first cut-off (Indren Cable Car) allows only 3 hours to cover 11km and 2,069m of gain which is a climbing rate of 690m per hour, made more challenging by having to run in soft snow. This race scared me. My body was in full flight or fight mode, at the start I felt like I just wanted to sleep, I kept needing the loo and my mouth was dry, craving fluid – we are just animals.
The race started at 5:30 am and within the first 100m I started to struggle to breath. I have never had an attack this bad and I just had to stop and walk because I could not actually breath. I took some more puffer and walked, hoping that it would pass. Not a good start – we were at the back of the field.
Things calmed down and I felt a little better but the cut-off meant we had no choice but to push hard. We had a plan, which was to push just hard enough to make the first cut-off and conserve sufficient energy to create a buffer on the next cut-off which we new to be a little less challenging. We then hoped to preserve the cut-off to the summit as the cut-offs remained really tight all the way back to Alagna. What makes the race so hard is the unrelenting gradient and the constant pressure of the cut-offs, there is no respite in this race. To put this in context, almost 20% of the teams would either not make the cut-offs or retire voluntarily.
Frank was pushing the pace and I had to ask a few times that we slow down. This was partly because if I went any harder I would induce another asthma attack and having trained with Frank over the winter I knew he had a tendency to go off too hard and then blow up. We needed to keep something in the tank and I could hear from his breathing he was working a little too hard. Frank agreed and I took the lead and we carefully monitored our ascent rate and average speed. As we climbed higher it began to look tight and at one point Frank began to fall back a little. At this point I was pretty certain we were going to get pulled out, if not at Indren, at the higher cut-offs. I decided to put my foot down as best I could to make sure we made the first timing gate and Frank never let the gap to me widen.
We made it to Indren in 2:54:22 with just over 5 minutes to spare. My average heart rate was 153bpm with a maximum of 168bpm. To put this in context, I averaged 103bpm in Menorca and 118bpm on the UTMB. My asthma stayed away.
From this point on Frank and I were much more comfortable and equally matched in terms of fitness. We managed to create a buffer of about 40 minutes by the next cut-off and as we climbed higher, our three nights in the mountains began to pay off. We were 111th out of just over 200 teams at Indren but by the time we reached the summit we had moved up to 81st. We topped out in 5:41:29 versus a cut-off of 6 hours and 30 minutes. We had a buffer of just under 50 minutes. Both Frank and I felt pretty good at the summit. This mattered as the cut-offs on the descent were equally demanding.
The initial part of the descent was fine but we then arrived at the long, steep couloir which we had previously climbed in firm snow. It was now a steep slush fest. There were fixed lines in place to which you attached yourself with a carabiner, because if you slipped you would slide to the bottom, bouncing over rocks enroute. I was pretty comfortable descending but Frank was finding the conditions more challenging. We worked well together, I would lead and then assist Frank at the changeovers between the stakes. We reached the bottom in one piece but it had been slow progress.
By the time we reached Indren, our buffer had reduced to only 15 minutes. In theory, we only had 1 hour and 45 minutes to return to Alagna but in practice we had been told that, provided you made it to Indren, you did not have to worry about the final 9 hour cut-off. I was all for just taking it easy but Frank wanted to beat the 9 hours.
We set off with Frank taking the lead. Below Indren the snow was really soft and slushy and so slippery. After we had both taken numerous falls, Frank just sat down and slid down the slope on his arse. This is actually a legitimate mountaineering technique and is called glissading. Frank, being a big and heavy guy, was like a snow plough and created a perfect luge track. I would then just sit down behind him and career down at great speed. It was brilliant fun and we covered hundreds of metres of descent in this fashion. I just wish I had some video!
Eventually we were out of the snow and onto the technical trails. By this point I was bonking slightly and if I tried to run hard my asthma returned. I just wanted to walk. Frank floated down the trails and his technical descending skills were impressive for someone so big. I clung on as best I could but lagged behind. I then remembered I had partly filled a water bottle with coke and so began sipping this. The sugar gave me an immediate hit and I could keep up but then I ran out of coke and began to flounder again. Frank urged me to keep pushing and we could hear the music and cheering at the finish below and this gave me a lift but the last few hundred meters were tough.
We crossed the finish line in 8:52:25 in 80th position and in the top 50%. I was actually really glad Frank pushed me to make the cut-off and was very grateful that he drove me on. If I had been on my own, for sure I would have taken it easy and would have been well outside the cut-off. I was really grateful to him for bringing us home within 9 hours.
Frank and I had a brilliant time these last few days. We were a great partnership and the MSM ranks as one of the most relentless but enjoyable races I have ever done. I was very happy to tick it off my list of 2023 goals. Now I have to get my head down and prepared for the Tor de Geants.
Expeditions 