Pierra Menta

Pierra Menta is an annual randonnée ski race in Arêches-Beaufort in Savoie and is one of the three most important randonnée races in the world. Jean Max invited us to go because he has never been and has always wanted to. The race started at 7:00am, so spectators had to start before then to arrive before the racers to the summit. So, we woke up before 5am this morning and Max picked us up at 5:30 to drive to Arêches-Beaufort. Over 4 days the racers had to do a cumulative distance of 10,000 meters between the ascents and descents. Today was day 3 and the resort opened it's bottom chair lifts to the spectators to use for free. The lifts took us up about 300 meters and then we had to randonnée another 700 meters up to see the racers summit. There were way more spectators for this race than there were for the XGames yesterday, believe it or not. People came with flags flying, bells ringing, and people were barbecuing at 9:00 in the morning! Spencer had an American flag, I had a French flag, Max had a Savoie Libre flag, and Max filmed us skiing all day because they flags were his idea and he thought it was hilarious. He walked around the summit asking people if they had seen a guy with a microphone because he wanted "The Americans" to be interviewed for TV. He loved it all so much, he is going to come back every year even if he has to go alone, he had such a great time. Gotta love that guy. These are racers almost to the summit with spectators lining the sides cheering them on.