Athletes complete a trip along the ridge of the Alps from Austria to Nice in France

Five athletes arrived in Nice on Sunday after crossing the main ridge of the Alps from Reichenau an der Rax in Austria to the French city. Swiss Bernhard Hug (SUI), Philipp Reiter of Germany, Austria's David Wallmann and the American pair Janelle and Mark Smiley completed the journey in a record time of 36 days. The group covered 1721 kilometers in distance and 89.644 meters of cumulative elevation gain on skis and on foot. Altogether, they were on the move for 375 hours. At times the group had to deal with extreme conditions of snow, strong winds and poor visibility on their long, exhausting marches.