This year the the ski marathon was a time-it-yourself event, which worked very well for me. You pick up a timing chip in several locations (tourist info in St Moritz for me) , which comes with a useful ski pass holder, and have a week or so in which to complete the challenge. Also an energy bar, more usefully a loipen pass for the day, and finally an unexpected gift at the end of a ski marathon binder to hold the skis together.
This winter was the snowiest in my time in Switzerland, the timing for this event meant another dump of snow had arrived and so conditions were perfect. I had picked up some skills in Engelberg and Goms before tackling this event, and without the holdups at the squeeze points, I was able to knock off 50 minutes from my previous ski marathon time!
There were plenty of other participants around me for the entire distance, enough to make it feel like an event. Also very unexpected but a nice touch to have an announcer reading out names and time split in Pontressina.
A shuttle bus was laid on from the finish, I took it all the way to La Punt, and after some rest and another gel, I was feeling fine to ski all the way back to St Moritz.
