Winter 1968-1969. Confronted during all the season with the steering wheel of their racing cars, the greatest world drivers had decided to meet themselves for less dangerous games and especially less noisy during a weekend of snow. It is made, but job conditioning doubtless, these two days were still placed under the sign of the competition and the stopwatch. To nominate the champion of the Alps disciplines, they had chosen the skibob which asks quite skill, sense of balance and, naturally, the taste of the speed, the ice hockey for its quality of virility and courage and finally the tenpin bowling for the head and the arms.

The regulation stipulated that the famous race overall would be replaced by the reel and the anorak but that the competitors would have to wear the racing helmet with which one identified them on circuits on every Sunday, a point which allowed the numerous spectators to follow and to support easily their favourites.
During the trainings, the ardour and the envy to win were such as the rather numerous exits of… track which made the breakage 14 skibobs. During the race the fight was even stronger but 8 monoskis only were destroyed. The most unlucky competitor person was the Swiss Clay Regazzoni. Braking too late in the passage of a bump, he made after it such a sway as he had to break his skibob and be sewn on the left leg ( ten stitches). Let us clarify that he had the number 13. ” I did not participate to the race by superstition, but by caution”, had declared the Helvetian pilot. We shall forgive him all the more easily this retirement of last minute, because, except its wound during the training, Regazzoni has just signed a contract with Ferrari for the next season.

In skibob, the best was Jacky Ickx. Passing everywhere ultimately braking at the last moment, the young Belgian with very audacious but very beautiful trajectories realized the excellent time of 2’15” 4/10. We can see Jacky in full action and resting some moments later for the photographers while he still “recovering”.

                               Thanks to Claude Millabet for having found this old article dated from 1969.