Exercise Capacity of Amateur Mountain Runners and Ski Mountaineers

People living, working, and performing leisure activities in mountainous areas are exposed to sloping terrain at moderate altitudes (up to 3000 m), requiring a relatively high-fitness level. In contrast, such activities promote the development of high cardiorespiratory fitness. Whereas extraordinary exercise capacity was reported for elite athletes such as mountain runners (Burtscher et al., 2008) or ski mountaineers (Schenk et al., 2011) training and competing in the mountains, much less information exists on the effects of such activities in amateur athletes. Therefore, 16 (8 + 8) local competitions in mountain running and in ski mountaineering, accessible for everyone and including relatively easy ascents with a vertical distance of about 1000 m (maximal altitudes reached 2000–3000 m), were randomly selected in the alpine regions of Bavaria, North and South Tyrol (Germany, Austria, and Italy). This procedure was intended to ensure a study population of primarily amateurs (including a few elite athletes). According to our laboratory recordings, those participants have typically three to seven exercise sessions per week. Official race results were used for the analyses of age- and sex-dependent race times. After controlling for plausibility, race times of 1954 participants (933 mountain runners and 1021 ski mountaineers) were analyzed. Race profile and times were used for the estimation of the individual level of oxygen uptake at the anaerobic threshold and the individual maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max) (Burtscher et al., 2008) also reported as percentage of VO₂max predicted (according to Jones et al., 1975). Competition characteristics and data for both sexes of mountain runners and ski mountaineers are presented in Table 1.

The findings demonstrate a wide range of age and performance of participants within both sexes of mountain runners and ski mountaineers but also confirm a very high average fitness level within all subgroups. The wide range is explained by the fact that participants vary from competition newcomers to elite athletes. On average, male and female mountain runners were able to climb 831 and 725 m per hour in vertical distance and to cover a horizontal distance of 8.7 km. These values were 984 and 878 m per hour for male and female ski mountaineers, respectively, with a horizontal distance of 4.3 km. Estimated VO₂max values were on average 183% and 191% of predicted for male and female mountain runners and 161% and 155% for male and female ski mountaineers, respectively. Linear regression analyses revealed an estimated decline of 6%–7% VO₂max per decade above the age of 30 (data not shown). Both the challenging terrain and altitude effects may contribute to the high exercise capacity within this population (Burtscher et al., 2015). Of course, we do not consider this as a normal population but it represents a subpopulation regularly exercising in the mountainous areas.

The age difference between the two groups can most probably be explained by higher technical and physical requirements of ski mountaineering as compared with mountain running and, therefore, might preferentially attract younger subjects. The lower VO₂max %predicted in ski mountaineers may at least partly be explained by a somewhat reduced age-related decline of VO₂max in mountain runners and a higher body mass in ski mountaineers, which is known to affect VO₂max/body mass. In addition, an underestimation of VO₂max values due to a larger variability of efficiency in ski mountaineering compared with mountain running cannot be excluded.

The presented results may be stimulating for people enjoying outdoor activities, will provide guidance for persons intending to compete in mountain running or ski mountaineering, and may give clues for the effectiveness of training in the mountainous areas.