Hello Shari, Just few words to say that the "Swiss ski patrol" is a race. It runs every 2 years in the Alps in the canton Wallis between Zermatt (long race) or Arolla (short race) and Verbier. This race began during the second war to test the endurance of the swiss soldiers of the mountain brigade. More informations, with more details, can be seen on the site http://www.pdg.ch/spip/ I'm sorry, this site is only in french or german. You can visit many other sites about this race but none in english. On interesting is the swiss (french) television www.tsr.ch/tsr/?siteSect=746301&sid=4874186 on the 2004 race. Regards Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years to all the list William, Geneva