St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria — Welcome to the wonderful chaos of Der weisse Rausch (translation The White Rush) the annual mass start ski race in Austria where 500+ skiers and snowboarders line up on a ridge waiting for the starter pistol and simultaneously drop in for an all out battle to the bottom of the mountain.
The course runs 9km with a 1,346 meter vertical descent and the action is spectacular. The following video is POV footage from the winner of the 2026 woman’s winner, Petra Zeller.
Conditions were perfect for the 2026 running of the White Rush and fans were out in mass to cheer on the athletes. One interesting feature of the race is the so-called “Mountain of Pain” which is a short but brutal climb in the middle of the course which often separates the field and determines the victor.
The legendary ski race in St. Anton:
When the lifts close on the afternoon of April 18, 2026 , the real action begins in the St. Anton am Arlberg ski resort . It’s the day of the “White Rush”—the iconic ski race that pushes its participants to their athletic limits every year. Even during the day, there’s a palpable sense of excitement in the air: a striking number of skiers are wearing racing suits and masking their rising nervousness with jokes in the gondola or deliberately nonchalant expressions. At 5 p.m., things get serious: 555 skiers, snowboarders, and telemark skiers head to the mass start at the Vallugagrat.
