Notes and Photos from Skiing the Engadin Ski Marathon

Gunnar Knapp finishes the Engadin Worldloppet

Written by long-time Lumi guest from Anchorage, Alaska: Gunnar Knapp

On March 8, 2026 I skied the Engadin Ski Marathon in the Engadin valley of Switzerland. I was very pleased to complete my tenth Worldloppet, thus earning my Worldloppet Master Diploma and gold medal.

To ski the race, I joined a trip organized by Lumi Experiences to Seefeld (Austria) and the Engadin Marathon. I had taken numerous other fun trips with Lumi, including trips for all but two of my ten Worldloppets.

Here are some excerpts from my journal for this trip which give a sense of the Engadin valley, the race course, and the race experience.

Gunnar high above the Engadin Valley atop Muottas Muragl

Thursday, March 5, 2026

After I arrived at my hotel in Samedan following a lengthy – yet beautiful – train ride from Zurich, part of me wanted to just sleep all afternoon.

Muottas Muragl Base Station

However, I stuck to the plan, which was for me to take a city bus over to the base of Muottas Muragl, a funicular railway which rises high above the valley, where I soon met the Lumi group led by trip leaders Vale and Elisa, along with founder Garrott and guest communications manager Nathan.

The ride up the funicular was long, steep and somewhat scary. At the top there was a fabulous view of snow- and glacier-covered peaks in all directions.

Groomed trails atop Muottas Muragl make for easy exploring at 2400m

The Engadin Valley below stretched down to Lake Silas far in the distance where the Engadin Marathon will start, progressing up the valley beyond us. It was really spectacular.

At the top was a restaurant where I could have relaxed with a beer and soup and enjoyed the view. Instead, I spent my time walking around on the packed hiking trails, taking in the view, snapping pictures, and watching paragliders take off right next to the restaurant and soar into the sky above, below and in front of us.

After we rode back down the funicular we had a quick and easy ski back to Samedan, just a few kilometers away.

Liftoff!

Riding the funicular down from Muottas Muragl

Friday, March 6, 2026

The next morning our group took a short bus ride to St. Moritz. At a plaza in the center of town we got off and put on our skis before heading out along the middle part of the Engadin course. I took it very easy, enjoying the excellent conditions and warm sunshine, stopping frequently to take pictures of the gorgeous scenery. 

Approaching the Mattress Hill walk-around

One kilometer before the finish of the half-marathon at Pontresina we came to what is called “Mattress Hill.” It looked scary enough and there were indeed lots of mattresses on trees throughout the narrow course. I had heard that if you didn’t want to ski down you could walk on a path alongside the race course. It was true, and it wasn’t just a path of trampled-down snow as I had expected, but rather a paved path which had been sprinkled with sawdust to make it less slippery. Walking down was very easy. It wasn’t “cheating” at all: there was an actual official Engadin Marathon sign saying that the path for skiers to walk on was 250 meters ahead, and another sign for the actual turnoff to the path.

Just beyond the bottom of Mattress Hill is the 21 km mark and the finish of the half-marathon. From there it was a wonderful long gradual downhill that might be almost two miles long.  

Matress Hill and the walk-around for skiers who wish to skip the most challenging part of the Engadin course

Lumi skier enjoy exploring the Engadin Valley

Saturday, March 7, 2026

With my legs tired after a fair amount of skiing yesterday, my goal for the day was to relax in my room and get rested. I didn’t join the more gung-ho members of our group who skied the final part of the course down towards the finish. Instead, I relaxed for several hours and took a much-appreciated late-morning nap. But it was such a pretty day that I decided to go out for an afternoon walk with my camera.  

Capturing the Swiss Alps

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Geared up for the 2026 Engadin Worldloppet

Today I skied and finished the long-awaited Engadin Ski Marathon. And with that, I finally finished my tenth Worldloppet race and earned my Worldloppet Master medal and diploma!

Here are a few, or maybe more than a few, details about my day and the race.  

The first bottleneck on the Engadin course

Everything turned out to be very well organized, as we had been promised. I scouted out the location of the porta-potties (many, and without lines!), the drop-bag trucks, and the (crowded) warming tent. I hung out in the warming tent until it was time to finally head over to the start area and find my way to the “G” bin for my “27G” start.

And then we were off. For the next 8 km or so I had fun, fast and easy skiing down this wide, uncrowded course. It was even more fun because I kept reminding myself, “Take it easy! Your only goal is to finish and have fun!” 

All this wonderful skiing on the flat portion of the course came to an abrupt end when the trail turned off the lake, narrowed, and headed into a forest, where I almost immediately came to the first bottleneck. Three rows of skiers were herring-boning up the hill on the left, and a long line of skiers was walking up the hill on the right (encouraged to do so by a race official). I was glad to walk: there was less risk of someone stepping on my poles.

Walking around Mattress Hill on the prepared path during the Engadin Worldloppet

After about 2 km in the woods we came out onto another lake with a wide open trail before skiing through the center of St. Moritz. It was a relief to finally come to “Mattress Hill,” which I knew was right before the half-way point. I skipped the chaos of the crowded hill and walked down the path.

From the halfway point on, it was mostly easy, fast and fun skiing, starting with a wonderful long downhill, followed by long stretches of flat on which I found myself steadily passing slower skiers from earlier waves. I alternated between skating (V1, V2, and V2 alternate) and double-poling, with more and more double-poling as I got closer to the finish. After the lakes ended there were long stretches of rolling hills. They were not too steep up or down and were actually more fun than the continuous flat. But the last 21 km was still a long way and I was definitely tired and ready to finish.

One last bit of excitement that I did not expect was a sharp left turn into a steep, narrow and winding downhill just a half-kilometer before the finish. With the snow scraped away to ice with snow berms on the side, I skirted around several very tentative skiers just in front of me. I made it down in one piece and after that there was only a short uphill before a left turn into a broad flat finishing stretch. 

Gunnar Knapp is presented with his finisher medal at the Engadin Worldloppet

Finally, I was done. Ooof! A big relief! I was pleased that I had finished the race, hadn’t injured myself, and had fun throughout.

Garrott was waiting in the finish area and he took a few pictures of me and then pointed me to where our Lumi group were sitting at a picnic table, relaxing with a few drinks. After a few minutes with the Lumi group we left to walk up to the train back to Samedan. 

How did I actually do in my race? My time was 4:10:43. Not very spectacular results from a “racing” point of view. But it doesn’t matter. I achieved my goals: I finished, and I had fun. And achieved my Worldloppet Master certification, completing 10 Worldloppet events.

Gunnar Knapp, Worldloppet Master! Presented by Epp from the Worldloppet

Would you like to join Lumi’s 2027 Seefeld & Engadin trip? There are still a few spots available, but we expect this one to fill by April 30. Reach out to reservations@lumiexperiences.com to request a detailed trip itinerary or to sign up and receive the $200 early booking discount for reservations on all trips by April 30.

See you on the trail,
Garrott

Founder & Olympian
Lumi Experiences