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A ratrac championship? yes, Pal Arinsal hosts the Challenge PistenBully

Published: Mar 27, 2023

Content

1 An original event that attracts more and more professionals with each edition

2 The Challenge Pistenbully 2023 is back in Andorra.

3 Editions of the PistenBully Challenge

The Andorran ski area of Pal Arinsal has hosted during Wednesday and Thursday of this week the Challenge PistenBully, an event that brings together the best drivers of snow groomers (or ratrac) from France and Andorra.

The event, which was held for the first time since 2019, took place in the Pal ski area with a hundred professionals from more than 50 French and Andorran ski resorts, who competed to win the prize for the most skilled ratrac driver.

In this case, the winners were the representatives of Peyragudes, who scored 1,302 points in the total balance between the different skills with the machines that were valued. In addition, one of the tests was a slalom alpine skiing or Nordic skiing competition.

For its part, Grandvalira Resorts had four representative teams: one from Pal Arinsal and three from Grandvalira, divided between the ski areas of Pas de la Casa, Soldeu and El Tarter.

Particitrousers of the 2023 competition

An original event that attracts more and more professionals with each edition

Over the years, the Challenge Pistenbully has become an unmissable event for ski slope professionals from all over France and Andorra due to its not only competitive but also educational and, above all, festive nature.

At the competitive level, the drivers gave their best and demonstrated their skills in the field at the wheel of snow groomers and were evaluated by a voluntary and independent jury composed of ski resort professionals. This year's program included driving tests such as precision shoveling tests, as well as other technical, mechanical and theoretical exercises.

New technologies such as GPS snow height measurement or eco-driving, which favor energy savings, were also part of the exercises to be mastered to perfection. But the particitrousers also had to prove their worth on skis with alpine and cross-country skiing tests.

The Challenge PistenBully is, in short, a unique spectacle for the public, who are not usually familiar with these impressive machines weighing more than 9 tons, which only come out after dark.

On a pedagogical level, the event is also an opportunity to discuss the evolution of the ski area and new challenges. In this regard, the main topics addressed this year were the technological revolution in the motorization of snow groomers and the management of an increasingly unpredictable snowpack.

Snow groomers or ratrac

The Challenge Pistenbully 2023 is back in Andorra.

The Challenge Pistenbully has been held since 1996 on a biennial basis in odd-numbered years. It always takes place at the end of winter and in a different season each time. With this edition, which took place on March 22 and 23 in the resort of Pal Arinsal, it is the second time that the Challenge is held in Andorra, after the Soldeu ski area of the Grandvalira resort in 2002.

A voluntary jury composed of some thirty mountain and snow groomer professionals scored the tests and established the classification of the teams.

In addition to the trophy, the winning team in the "alpine" range won the free loan of a PistenBully for a whole month during the 2023/2024 season. PistenBully is the name of the most widely distributed model of this type of machine, from the German company Kässbohrer, the leading brand in the ski area.

Editions of the PistenBully Challenge

1996 La Plagne
1997 L'Alpe d'Huez
1998 Les Arcs
1999 Flaine
2000 Les Deux Alpes
2001 Megève
2002 Soldeu (Andorra)
2003 Courchevel
2004 Isola 2000 Auron
2005 Le Grand Bornand
2006 Saint Lary
2007 Les Saisies
2008 Serre Chevalier
2009 Saint Gervais
2010 Les Angles
2011 Val Thorens
2012 L'Alpe d'Huez
2013 Chamonix Mont-Blanc
2014 Peyragudes
2015 La Toussuire
2016 Courchevel
2017 Villard de Lans / Corrençon
2019 Les Rousses
2023 Pal (Andorra)

The event was attended by its historical godfather, Luc Alphand, snow specialist as skiing champion and winner of the World Cup in 1997, but also mechanical expert as rally driver, winner of the Dakar in 2006.

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