Europe ski record attempt crashes in the Czech Republic

On Feb. 24, a quartet of American skiers known as Team ATA (Across the Atlas) arrived in London with the ambitious goal of skiing 30 European countries in just 14 days. Some 9,000 miles of road and 75,000 vertical feet of ski slopes lay ahead.

If successful in the never-before attempted feat, the Colorado-based adventurers stood a great chance of getting into the Guinness Book of World Records.

It sounded incredible, but in the end it was not meant to be. After skiing an amazing 23 countries in 15 days, the group decided to abandon their record bid after finishing their night run at Ski Bílá in Beskydy, north Moravia, March 9.

"Physically and mentally, the toll of the trip is starting to weigh in," team leader Pietro Simonetti wrote on his blog for the Carving Europe adventure the next morning, explaining that he had worsening back trouble and a teammate had the flu.

"Weather forecast is also predicting heavy snow in the Baltics. We had a long talk this morning and the general consensus is that we would be pushing too much. ... At the end, the Russian winter has proved to be too tough."

Speaking to The Prague Post en route from Slovakia to the Czech Republic a day earlier, Simonetti had been much more upbeat about the experience.

He said the team of himself, Rick Compton, Kelly Myers and Jesse Borrell had decided to embark on their adventure, having already clocked up two U.S. records: one for skiing all 28 resorts in Colorado in just three days and another for doing the same in California in four.

"We crashed the record in Colorado from five days, and the California one had never even been attempted," Simonetti said.

"There were no resorts left in the States to ski, so we looked to Europe, and we saw all the different countries with all these different ski resorts, and we decided to give it a try."

He said the skiers did a test run for the European trip back in March 2009.

"At that time, we skied 10 countries in five days, and we spent some time on the maps and talking to the ski resorts, finding the ones that open at night in certain areas."

Having completed 22 countries during their official attempt, Simonetti said their worst problem had been in making the travel times between ski runs.

"Certainly, some of the roads have been more difficult than we expected," he said. "For example, we looked at travel to Romania at an average of 50 kilometers an hour, but we ended up spending 13.5 hours to cover only 365 kilometers, and the GPS was completely worthless in those areas."

Admitting the team's 14-day timescale was "tight for sure," he said they had nonetheless been "averaging about two countries per day, and if we ski Bílá tonight, maybe we will be back on track."

The Coloradoan was already feeling philosophical about the value of the adventure.

"It probably started purely as a ski trip but turned into more of a historical and cultural trip - meeting wonderful people and seeing beautiful historical places. That is what has made this fantastic," he said.

Despite the premature ending for the trek, Simonetti said the quartet will be donating several thousand dollars to Hungarian-based conservation company KlimaFa.

The donation will fund the planting of trees in new natural forest parks in Hungary and Bulgaria, where they are guaranteed protection from being cut down.

"We realized we would use a lot of gas on the trip and contributing to the CO2, so we wanted to do something to offset all the harm we are making," Simonetti explained.

Whether the incomplete Carving Europe trek can still be considered a record remains to be seen.

Given that the feat had never before been attempted, and the fact the group has photographic evidence and statements from the resorts proving their considerable achievements, Team ATA may still have a valid case to bring to Guinness World Records.

In the meantime, readers will be glad to hear of the team's verdict on their final cultural experience in Europe: "A delicious Czech meal of soup and dumplings. Two big pints of beer for 2.50 euros. Loving it."

Bill Lehane can be reached at
blehane@praguepost.com