The Inferno Downhill is the world’s longest, oldest and possibly craziest ski race which is held annually in Mürren, Switzerland and was first run back in 1928

On January 27th 2024 I will be racing in the 80th version of the event as part of the DHO Team (Downhill Only Ski Club formed in 1925) and raising money for the Yorkshire based children’s hospice 'Forget Me Not Trust’.

Some stats:

There are 1850 entrants, each skier sets off at 12 second intervals, the course is over 9.25 miles long and descends from just below Schilthorn mountain summit at 9750ft to the village of Lauterbrunnen at 2625ft, that’s a vertical drop of over 7000ft!

The top skiers who are generally ex-pro-racers finish in just over 13 minutes, reaching speeds of up to 80 miles per hour, I’m hoping to be somewhere around 20-minutes. They will be thigh-busting, lung-burning minutes, but nothing a few post-race Schnapps won’t cure.

To put it into perspective the race is nearly 5 times the length of the men’s downhill course at the last Winter Olympic Games and there are also a couple of up-hill sections!

Here is a link from when Chemmy Alcott, British Olympic Skier raced in the event a couple of years ago for BBC Ski Sunday https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/winter-sports/51315118

Special thanks to the 'Downhill Only Club' and Inferno Captain Andrew Davies for enabling me to gain entry into the event. https://downhillonly.com/

I will also be racing in the DHO's Eastwood Trophy Super G race the day before the Inferno in preparation for the BIG ONE! https://downhillonly.com/the-eastwood-trophy/

Wish me luck and thank you in advance of any donations you pledge, let’s try and smash the target…

Paul ⛷️

(all donations will go directly to the charity as the event will be funded privately)

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More about the charity:-

Firstly my reason for choosing 'Forget Me Not' is because I have been fortunate enough to enjoy an active life of adventure and challenges over the years which sadly the children supported by this charity will not encounter, so I wanted to give something back for this amazing charity located in the town I was born.

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice provides first-class clinical care, emphasising dignity and compassion, together with a range of support services including respite breaks, emergency and crisis care including compassionate extubation (the withdrawal of mechanical ventilation, leading to the end of life), sibling support, counselling and bereavement support, in families’ homes and at our hospice, Russell House. The service is safe, caring, responsive, well led and effective, in line with Care Quality Commission regulations and evidenced by our CQC rating of Outstanding.

Babies, children and families can spend time together, benefit from professional and peer support, create precious memories, have a private, peaceful, comfortable place to say their last goodbyes and receive loss, bereavement-related support.

Our main beneficiaries are babies and children with life-limiting conditions and their families across West Yorkshire (Kirklees, Calderdale, Bradford, Leeds, and Wakefield). We support them through distressing situations, when they need us most. To give an idea of scale, we currently support 128 babies/children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and 307 of their family members from across the diverse, multi-ethnic communities we serve.

Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDIC) is the sudden and unexpected death of a child aged between one and eighteen years, this includes RTC’s, suicide, accidents within the home, within our local community or simply any child dying during the night or at any other time. We support SUDIC families, families whose children die unexpectedly and we work directly with West Yorkshire Police to ensure we receive referrals from any family who need us, across West Yorkshire, around 70 families a year.