SEND IT! - Behind the Thrills of the Inferno Ski Race in Mürren with Ryan Regez and Tim Jones
Updated: Aug 19
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There are plenty of ski races where the goal is simple: get to the bottom faster than everyone else.
Then there is the Inferno Ski Race in Mürren, Switzerland.
The Inferno is a little different. It combines serious ski racing with an unusually open, international and distinctly Swiss atmosphere. Elite racers, strong amateurs and dedicated recreational skiers all show up to test themselves on a course that can stretch from Schilthorn all the way down toward Lauterbrunnen. The race has been running since 1928, and the official event describes it as the International Inferno Ski Races. The next edition is scheduled for January 20–23, 2027.
On a recent Where to Ski podcast, I had the chance to talk about the experience with Ryan Regez, Swiss Olympic gold medalist, and Tim Jones, a Utah-based ski videographer. All three of us had raced the Inferno, and comparing notes quickly made one thing obvious: this is a ski race that you really have to experience to understand.
Ryan had perhaps the best perspective because, as he explained, he had raced the Inferno twice while also having spent plenty of time around the highest levels of ski racing..
Across the valley, the Wengen World Cup downhill held the previous week had the best racers in the world competing on its famous course. At the Inferno, meanwhile, approximately 1,850 competitors could take their turn, starting just eight to ten seconds apart. As Ryan put it, one race has 50 or 60 of the world's best racers, while the other is almost an “outrageous free-for-all” where anyone fortunate enough to get a registration can take on a serious downhill course.
Welcome to Mürren
Before you even get to the starting gate, the setting makes the trip memorable. Mürren sits high above the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Bernese Oberland, and arriving there is an experience in itself. Tim remembers traveling in with his ski bags late at night, taking the tram and then the train toward Mürren. Because it was already dark, he didn't really understand where he was until the following morning.
Then he looked outside. “I had never been to Lauterbrunnen,” Tim explained on the podcast, and seeing the valley for the first time was simply incredible. He hadn't realized that Mürren was perched high above the valley, either. Once daylight arrived, the surroundings became a major part of the experience. "That is one of the great advantages of the Inferno. You aren't traveling to an anonymous race venue. You're staying in one of the most beautiful mountain environments in Switzerland and you're surrounded by people who came for exactly the same reason you did: they love skiing."
What Is the Inferno Ski Race?
The traditional full-length Inferno starts near the summit of Schilthorn, at about 9,744 feet, and can descend more than 6,500 vertical feet over approximately 14.9 kilometers toward Lauterbrunnen. The full course is dependent on snow conditions, so shorter versions are sometimes used. The course itself isn't simply one long, straight downhill. It contains fast sections, flatter terrain, turns and uphill sections, making the race considerably more complicated than the name “downhill” might suggest.
John Morgan, host of Where to Ski, raced the long (14km) course in 2019. The first few minutes were essentially an exercise in trying to maintain a tuck while dealing with the physical demands of the course. By the time he reached the first timing station, his legs were already burning.
John recalls being several minutes into the race and realizing that the combination of speed, bumps and sustained skiing was taking a serious toll. His legs were sore for an entire week afterward.
The Full-Length Course Is Something Special
Ryan has raced the Inferno twice, but neither of his races was the full-length run all the way to Lauterbrunnen. That's because the complete course requires the right snow conditions, and according to Ryan, it happens remarkably infrequently — perhaps only a couple of times in a decade.
One of his races started at Schilthorn and finished around Winteregg, while another was even shorter. That makes a full-length Inferno almost a separate category of accomplishment. Ryan remembers arriving in Mürren in 2019 and seeing the course information posted in the village. People were standing around looking at it and realizing that it was going all the way to Lauterbrunnen. That was the year John raced the full version. His reaction afterward was pretty straightforward: it was really long. And that's the thing that comes through most strongly when listening to the conversation. The Inferno isn't necessarily difficult because every section is exceptionally steep. It is difficult because it keeps asking you to ski And then ski some more.
Choosing the Right Skis
Tim Jones approached the race from a slightly different perspective because he and his team were also there filming. They arrived with one pair of Super-G skis and two pairs of GS skis. The question was which skis would be best for the course. At first, the logic seemed to favor GS skis. The Inferno has plenty of tighter turns, and shorter, more agile skis can make those sections easier. But then Tim and his crew experienced the course.
There are long, long flat sections. that change the equation. As Tim explained, even if you gain time in the turns with a more agile ski, it is difficult to make that time back on the seemingly endless flatter sections. That's why so many racers use long downhill skis.
John had another reason for preferring GS skis. Woodcutters.
Woodcutters: The Hardest Part of the Course
Woodcutters is one of the most unusual features of the Inferno. Several minutes into the race, after you've already spent a considerable amount of energy skiing downhill, you reach a section where you actually have to go uphill. It's not particularly long, but the timing is terrible. You're tired. You're running race skis and you're carrying all that uphill.
John used Super-G skis on his first attempt and discovering that they felt incredibly heavy by the time he reached Woodcutters. He switched to lighter GS skis in other years because of that experience.
Tim laughed at another aspect of Woodcutters: you're not exactly alone. Other racers are around you, and if someone passes you on the uphill, you know you've just lost time.
As John put it, you can get passed going up, get passed going down and occasionally pass somebody yourself. It's racing, but it is also a very unusual social experience.
The Lower Course Gets Interesting
The terrain below Winteregg adds another dimension. Tim described entering a snowfield before reaching the switchbacks, where racers encounter river crossings and turns that can become extremely icy. By the time he raced the course, some of the switchbacks had developed substantial banks, with hard ice underneath. The technique was simple enough: bank the turn and hope you came out the other side.
That's one of the reasons experience on the course matters so much. It's difficult to understand how to manage those sections until you've actually skied them.
And that was one of Tim's biggest takeaways from the Inferno. He immediately began thinking about where he could have been faster. Five seconds here.
Ten seconds there. The race teaches you what you would do differently the next time.
The Best Part? The Finish
For both Tim and John, one of the most satisfying parts of the Inferno was reaching the finish. Not because they had necessarily posted a spectacular time. Because it was over.
Tim describes that moment as essentially, Oh my God, I made it. John remembers watching the wide range of competitors arriving at the finish, which was fascinating in itself. There were racers on long downhill skis, Super-G skis and GS skis, and competitors with dramatically different levels of experience. Some people were clearly very accomplished racers. Others were taking on a challenge with equipment that seemed almost absurdly difficult to handle in the slower sections. And they all had the same objective: Get to the bottom.
The Inferno Atmosphere
The race itself is only part of the Inferno experience.
Tim remembers getting onto the tram during race week and suddenly realizing that virtually everyone was carrying enormous skis. He recalls seeing downhill skis ranging from roughly 215 to 223 centimeters long. Then race day arrives.
The organizers have traditionally add to the atmosphere with AC/DC's “Highway to Hell” playing full bore on the tram. Tim remembers the entire tram rocking as competitors stomped their boots on the floor. From the start area, they could hear the noise of another tram approaching from below.
The atmosphere starts even earlier with the Burning of the Devil, a traditional event in Mürren that brings the town together the night before the race. The official Inferno organization maintains a long history of the event dating back to 1928, and these traditions are an important part of the race's identity.
Tim described the ceremony as a somewhat bizarre, almost “borderline satanic” ritual.
Ryan agreed that it adds something to the week. By that point, racers are already thinking about the next morning. The fire, darkness and spectacle only reinforce the sense that race day is approaching.
There's More Than One Race
The Inferno weekend isn't only about the downhill.
Competitors can also take part in giant slalom and cross-country events, including combinations that challenge racers across multiple disciplines. The official race program includes the broader Inferno race tradition and its associated events.
Tim's favorite spectator experience was watching the nighttime cross-country event.
His description was memorable: “It was just carnage.”
The course included downhill sections leading into tight hairpins, and he estimated that more than half the competitors were crashing in some sections.
The funny thing is that this doesn't seem to diminish the spirit of the event.
It reinforces it.
The Inferno isn't about creating a sanitized version of ski racing. It's about giving people an opportunity to test themselves, compete with friends, enjoy the mountains and be part of a very old ski tradition.
Ryan Says You Should Do It
Ryan's summary of the Inferno is probably the best reason to put the race on your ski bucket list. For him, there are three things that stand out.
The atmosphere.
The competitors come from different countries and have very different levels of skiing ability. Everyone is there because they enjoy skiing and want to be part of the event.
The challenge.
Ryan has competed at an extremely high level, yet he describes the Inferno as one of the hardest things he's done. The combination of skiing fast, dealing with difficult conditions and simply sustaining the effort over the length of the course makes it a genuine test.
And then there are the surroundings.
Mürren and the Lauterbrunnen Valley provide a remarkable setting, and being able to race through that landscape is a big part of the appeal.
Ryan was also part of a team combination that won, which made the experience particularly memorable for him.
But his advice isn't really about winning, It's about participating. If you can get a spot, he says, Do It!
Should the Inferno Be on Your Ski Bucket List?
Tim's answer is equally convincing. He wants to return.
Not because he thinks the first race was perfect, but because racing the course taught him things he couldn't have learned by simply looking at it. Once you've skied the Inferno, you start seeing opportunities to improve: a turn where you could have carried more speed, a flat where you could have built more momentum, a section where different equipment might have helped.
The Inferno Ski Race in Mürren is more than a downhill competition. It's a celebration of skiing, a test of endurance and technique, and an opportunity to participate in one of Switzerland's most distinctive ski traditions. You get the spectacular mountains of the Bernese Oberland, the unique village of Mürren, the history of a race that dates back to 1928 and the chance to line up alongside hundreds of skiers from around the world.
And then there's the course. If the full 14.9-kilometer version is running, you have a lot of mountain ahead of you.
As Ryan and Tim discovered, the best strategy may be not to worry too much about what happens after the start.
Just get out of the gate and keep going. And eventually, hopefully, you'll hear the best words of the entire Inferno weekend:
You made it.
And if you want to hear Ryan Regez and Tim Jones tell the story themselves, look for the Inferno episode of Where to Ski at wheretoski.org.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to this bonus edition of Where to Ski. I'm John Morgan and today I'm joined by Swiss superstar and Olympic gold medalist Ryan Regez and Utah-based ski videographer Tim Jones. We're at the Inferno Ski Race in Murren, Switzerland, deep in the Bernese Oberland, and we've all skied this crazy race.
The Inferno is the world's oldest, longest, largest, and probably toughest downhill ski event. It's a balls-to-the-wall run starting from the Schilthorn Peak at 9,744 feet above Murren to the village of Lauterbrunnen. Over 6,500 feet of vertical and 14.9 kilometers in length when they have enough snow for the full course.
Fastest time is 13 minutes 24 seconds. That's an average speed of 66 kilometers an hour or 41 miles an hour on a course that includes downhills, flats, uphill sections, and icy turns. Ryan, Tim, thanks for joining.
Talking about the Inferno. What was it like for you to sort of pull up into Lauterbrunnen and go, wow? Yeah, I mean, I had been over to Switzerland a couple times, but I had never been to Lauterbrunnen, and so rolling into that valley is just, it's insane your first time, and I didn't actually realize that Murren was up on top of the cliff, and we rolled up pretty late in the evening with all of our ski bags and everything and having to take the tram up and then the train over to town. It was just, and then I think it was actually dark when we arrived, so I didn't actually see everything until the next morning.
And yeah, I mean, it's just an amazingly beautiful place. You were there for a few days before. You did some, you did training runs, and did you do other skiing too while you were there? Yeah, so we timed it.
We got there early enough so we could head over to Wengen for the World Cup downhill, so we were able to go there on our first or second day and just be spectators and fans of the World Cup, which was super cool to watch. Just seeing how many thousands of people show up for that race was amazing. And then, you know, like the thing we talked about all week was kind of comparing and contrasting the World Cup downhill race across the valley to the Inferno, just how insanely different they are.
You know, how on one side you got the best racers in the world, but there's only 50, 60 people that get to run the race. And then on the other side, it's like this outrageous free-for-all where anyone who gets a registration can run, you know, pretty much a full-on downhill run. So yeah, it was really cool to be able to be there that week and see both of those events.
And to put it in perspective, what there's probably 70 racers on the Labrahorn in the downhill, and there's 1,850 that go in the Inferno. They're starting people, you know, eight or ten seconds apart. You get in the start and it's like three, two, one, go.
Then the next one. Ryan, you've done the Inferno a couple times, right? I've done it twice, if I remember correctly. Have you ever done the full-length one, all the way into Lauterbrunnen? Honestly, that only happens very rarely, probably twice every 10 years where you can actually do the full one.
So therefore, I only had two shorter versions. One was from the top, so Schilthorn to Vintnerich, and the other one was even shorter. So that's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, if I'm going to be able to ever do that, all the way down to Lauterbrunnen.
It's not getting easier with the global situation. In 2019, my first trip over, I got to Murin and they had the little sign up there saying what the course is, and everyone's standing around it going, oh, it's full-length. It was a full-length one, all the way into Lauterbrunnen.
I thought I was going to die by the time I finished. Oh, it's so long. I remember the first time I did it, that was the one to Winteregg, that's probably eight or so minutes, or even if it's 10, it doesn't really matter.
Just the thing was, I remember going out at the start, I had giant slalom skis on, just for the reason I'm more agile with those, and the massive bumps, which will be with that late start number of 1840 or whatever. I remember going out and after the first minute, just that first straight, oh, my legs were burning so on fire, the lactate pumping, and I just somehow managed to get down. I remember I was sore for a full week in my legs after, but muscles were completely destroyed.
You don't realize just how long that is. You're five minutes in a tuck, or some semblance of a tuck to get to that first timing station. At the beginning of the flat, you're going 70 miles an hour, 100 kilometers, something like that.
By the end, you're barely moving to get up there, but it's a long way, and it's a different environment. You're in a high alpine environment. What was it like for you, Tim, just stepping out of the start and diving into that mess? Yeah.
We showed up with one pair of Super-G skis and two pairs of GS skis, and there was three of us. There was Marcus, the athlete, and then myself and our photographer. The goal all along was like, oh, it'd be awesome if Cam and I could race.
He's the photographer, but we didn't know if we'd be able to because we were there trying to make a video and get photos and stuff. Marcus was conflicted all week. Do I run the Super-G skis or the GS skis? His thinking was in those tighter turns, you'd be so much more agile, like what Ryan was saying, that you'd be able to make up so much time there that you wouldn't need the long skis.
What we quickly realized after running the course was that there's so long of flat sections that you really need the glide of the longer skis. I think that's why pretty much everyone there runs big downhill skis is because there's just so many gliding sections. Even if you are fast through the turny bits, you can't make it up on the sections that are just never ending flat.
We ended up figuring out that Marcus was going to run the Super-Gs, Cam and I would run the GS skis. Like you were saying, John, you get all the anticipation of starting this race, but then by the time you step in the start house, your countdown is already at five seconds and you just got to go. You don't get to stand in the start and think, it's just like, get the hell out.
It was almost like, for some reason in my head, I was like, okay, when I get up there, I'll get in the zone and be ready to go, but I didn't even have time. I was just out of the start gate and that first little section is pretty rowdy. You get going really fast and then you've got a long time to just prepare yourself for the gnarlier sections in the middle of the course.
It's just a wild ride for sure. I settled on GS skis to do it because I did it, the first time I did it, I did it on Super-Gs and I got to Woodcutters. There's an uphill section of the course called Woodcutters, which is about, well, depending on the length of the course, but you're about eight or nine minutes into the course, seven or eight minutes into the course when you hit it and you have to go uphill and you've got to carry some speed into it so you don't have to go uphill as far.
The Super-G skis were so heavy, I thought I was going to die when I did that. I went back to lighter skis and that's one of the reasons I ski on the GS is doing that because it's just so brutal. Yeah, that's another good consideration is Woodcutters because even if you take speed in, you're still skating for a while and it's really hard when you're already that tired.
You've got everyone yapping at you on the way up too. That means you got passed on the way up. I got passed on the way up, I got passed on the way down, I passed a few.
You guys haven't skied the lower part. You get past Winter Egg and you make those turns onto essentially a snowfield there and then you get into the switchbacks. There's two places where there's rivers crossing the switchbacks.
You've got to jump those and it's total ice. Even though it's total ice, the switchbacks have got these four-foot banks by the time I went. They're straight ice.
You just got to bank the turn and hope you make it out the other side. After about the fourth or fifth one of those, it's like, what was the best part of racing it for you guys? For me, being in the finish with all the others because when we finished in Winter Egg, you came in and had to do a snail loop or a spiral into the people and then that was the finish area because you had zero speed there. For me, the passing people, because that was hugely fun, and just seeing what level skiers are competing, I thought that was fascinating.
Especially, like you said, or let's say the three of us have been skiing with Giant Slalom skis. I see people on Super G, on downhill skis, who have barely had a day on snow the whole season and then they just crack out the old Super Diesel downhill skis and they're super hard to ride. If you've never been, they're horrible to ride with no speed and just to get them to turn.
I think that's quite impressive that people with close to zero ski days actually crack the downhill skis down that piece because it's got bumps and it's got those hairpins, the switchback turns, they're horrible to do. Just the highlight when you actually finish because then the torture is over. Yeah, the finishing for me was the best part.
It was like, oh my god, I made it. Talking about all these guys that are getting on downhills the first time. You get on the tram on Wednesday and it's very seldom you see a couple people with downhills.
All of a sudden, you're on a full tram and everyone's got long skis. Long skis, 223s. They're all, or 215s to 223s.
They're from everywhere, all over the place. Then getting on the tram on race day is pretty cool too because I don't know if they did it the years you did it, but they put on ACDC highway to hell. And the entire tram is rocking the whole way up.
One thing that was cool about that, John, is when they're playing highway to hell, everyone's stomping their boots on the floor of the tram. We noticed when we were standing waiting to start and the next tram was coming up, we could just hear that banging from way down there of everyone hitting their boots on the bottom. Did you go to the burning of the devil the night before, you guys? Yeah.
No. No? Well, every year. Honestly, that was one of the cooler parts of it for me, was just seeing this bizarre borderline satanic ritual going on.
Yeah, it was cool. The whole town gets involved in it. It definitely increased that feeling of intensity and what was looming the next day, because by that point, you're already nervous.
Then the burning of the devil, it makes you more nervous because it's pretty intense and it's dark and there's lots of fire. Yeah, it definitely just added to the overall coolness aspect of the week. There's a whole culture around that race and the burning of the devil is a really unique part of that culture.
Just a quick question, John and Tim, have you ever done the combination of the giant slalom, the downhill and the cross country? No. Marcus, who we were filming, was trying to do the combination. He did the downhill and the cross country, and he was going to race the GS, but that was a powder day.
I said, sorry, man, we got to go film powder today. He was bummed because he wanted to do the combined, but we ended up having an awesome day shooting off-piste and got some really great footage that day, which really helped our video out. He had to bail on the combined.
Watching the cross country skiing was a highlight for me, because it's at night and it was just carnage. There's a bunch of spots where it's downhill into a hairpin turn and more than 50% of the people were just completely crashing out there. It was pretty fun to watch.
They've also got some bumps, not just small bumps, massive bumps in the middle of town on the bottom row. Oh my, and the cross country skis, obviously your heels aren't attached to the ski, just the front, so you're not used to it. That took me by surprise as well.
You must be pretty good with that. Oh, well, I didn't do extremely good. That was my weakest discipline of the three.
Ryan, did it run right through town when you did it? Yes, yes. If you arrive with the train part, so you get on the tram, it's a cable car now, and then you take the train over to Murren. If you get out there, that steep hill up to the, say, sports center, swimming pool, hockey pitch area, that's where you go up and then you go around the back through the ski school area and then come back on the lower main street.
So it's a loop and you have to do it twice. Okay, cool. When we were there, it didn't run through town for whatever reason.
It started up at the top of the funicular there, and it was a big loop up there. So what are the three things that you really remember about doing the week in Murren? Yeah, I mean, I would just say it's one of those things if you love skiing and ski racing and just the culture of skiing, it's one of the coolest events. I've ever been to in my life.
There's nothing like it, especially in the States. It would never fly to do an event like that. Not a prayer.
Insurance companies would cut it off in two seconds. Yeah. So it's like, if you can manage to get into that race, you got to go do it.
It's just like, drop everything and go because it's that unique and cool. I would love to go back because I feel like I learned so much that you can only learn by running the course that it makes you want to go do it again because you start thinking, oh, I could have shaved off 10 seconds here, five seconds there. So hopefully someday I can go back.
But yeah, it was just an amazing thing to be a part of and such a beautiful place. I'd recommend it to anyone. Ryan, you live there.
What's it like for you to do that? What are the three things that you think of that? All right. So the atmosphere for one, just because there's so many different races with different levels of skiing and different nationalities, it just makes the whole thing extremely special and everyone's there for the great experience. So I'd say atmosphere and then just the experience as so to run the race, to actually ski down the mountain as fast as possible in horrendous conditions, piecewise, and just to push yourself to the limit.
I thought that was one of the hardest things I've ever done, probably. And I've done a lot of different things already. And third thing, obviously, the surroundings are stunning, beautiful, just fantastic.
But also the team, I was together with them in the combination and taking home the win in the team combination. That was very special for me. And I completely agree with what Tim said, if you ever get the chance to race it, because the spots are limited, you got to do it.
Just be safe. Well, that about sums it up. You get the chance and 70 miles an hour doesn't scare you.
Do the Inferno. It's a life changing experience. If you like our podcast, please share them and subscribe on our website, wheretoski.org. It's free.
Stay connected to us, listen to perspectives on some of the world's best mountains and the legends that live there. If you want to see a full-length feature of the Inferno, look for the Inferno video as part of the Return of the Turn series. You can find the link and the show notes on our website.
Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Ryan. And thanks to the Grits for the music.
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