Austria´s biggest and toughest ski touring race
The 27th Mountain Attack 2025 took place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm with almost perfect weather and track conditions. Highly motivated athletes from 22 nations were at the start line to prove their skills in the Schattberg Race (1,017 meters of altitude), the Tour (2,036 meters of altitude, 5 summits) or the Marathon (3,010 meters of altitude, 6 summits) and the Marathon Relay.
The Mountain-Attaq-Team Sport Zöls also participated as historically the largest German team. The female star of the team, personal trainer Tina Fischl (WSV Otterskirchen/Mountain-Attaq-Team Sport Zöls) from Fürstenstein, was again considered the favorite in the extreme Schattberg-Race after her two Schattberg victories in previous years and her success at the Vertical Masters World Championships in Werfenweng. From the center of Saalbach, up to the Schattberg, a total of 1,000 meters of altitude have to be mastered in just 4 km. In the steep slopes, the athletes must overcome gradients of over 70%.
As in previous years, the starting signal for this cult ski mountaineering event was given punctually at 4:00 p.m. at the town square of Saalbach. Armed with skies and poles in hand, the race started with a run through the town square of Saalbach over to the ski slope, where the athletes were cheered on by thousands of spectators. Once arrived, the skis were strapped on and off they went into the steep slope. Like every year, the slope on the Schattberg was hard and icy and could only be mastered with special crampons. Tina Fischl got off to a good start, everything went according to plan. Some athletes slipped on the steep slope and slid past the ascending athletes. Fortunately, Fischl was able to avoid them and followed her planned route to the top.
At the halfway point of the course, Tina was informed that she was currently in second place behind Ayaka Ueda from Japan. But she didn’t know about the competition behind her.
Fully focused, the athletes continued into the second section of the route, which most of them then completed without crampons. The upper part of this section was very steep, so it was important to have the optimal climbing skins on. Fischl had made the right choice and was able to master the passage perfectly. On the last few meters below the Schattberg mountain station, Fischl realized that she would no longer be able to catch up with the fast woman from Japan. The important thing now was to keep the competition at bay. Fischl was overjoyed when she reached the summit of the Schattberg at 2,097 meters above sea level in an outstanding time of just 54:37 minutes, coming in second behind Ayaka Ueda from Japan and ahead of Molly Zurn from the United States.
Schattberg Race – Women
- Ayaka Ueda (JPN), 00:51:01
- Tina Fischl (GER), 00:54:37
- Molly Zurn (USA), 01:03:14
For more information and photos of the event, visit: https://www.mountain-attack.at/de/
www.tina-fischl.de
Photo documentation: © Alex Fischl
Read the PNP article here:
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