It was a race to the top! National and tribal pride was on the line as people around the world tried to prove their country or sport is king of the hill. World Vertical Week 2016 has closed and the stats are in so it's time to see who came out on top!
WHICH COUNTRY CLIMBS THE MOST?
Surely alpine nations have an unfair advantage? Mostly, yes, but not always. There were a couple of surprises! This visual shows the top 10 countries for average ascents in human powered outdoor activities.
Congratulations Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia!
WHO CLIMBS THE MOST?
Trail runners, cyclists and trekkers were humbled as – maybe unsuprisingly – ski touring and mountaineering led the highest average ascents. As a consolation, remember there would be very different results in summer!
Skiers climbed the most
NUMBER ONE CLIMBERS IN THE WORLD
The Swiss are on top again and nearly breaking the thousand-meter mark in both ski touring and mountaineering. The other two countries with two first places were more surprising: Colombia was on top in running and cycling and Hong Kong topped the chart in both trail running and trekking.
The toughest mountain goats come from the Switzerland.
TOP COUNTRIES IN DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES
And to give you even more to speculate here are the top five countries in the activities mentioned above.
Top 5 in ski touring
- SWITZERLAND 996 m
- SLOVENIA 941 m
- FRANCE 908 m
- ITALY 895 m
- SLOVAKIA 885 m
Top 5 in mountaineering
- SWITZERLAND 971 m
- FRANCE 881 m
- ITALY 798 m
- AUSTRIA 710 m
- GERMANY 696 m
Top 5 in trail running
- HONG KONG 890 m
- CHINA 684 m
- ITALY 640 m
- JAPAN 553 m
- SLOVENIA 543 m
Top 5 in trekking
- HONG KONG 705 m
- SOUTH AFRICA 519 m
- MALAYSIA 428 m
- SLOVENIA 424 m
- NETHERLANDS 420 m
Top 5 in snow shoeing
- ITALY 558 m
- AUSTRIA 488 m
- GERMANY 428 m
- SWITZERLAND 426 m
- FRANCE 416 m
Top 5 in mountain biking
- PORTUGAL 533 m
- ITALY 518 m
- SPAIN 479 m
- SOUTH AFRICA 452 m
- SWITZERLAND 400 m
Top 5 in cycling
- COLOMBIA 481m
- SOUTH AFRICA 409 m
- ANDORRA 403 m
- SLOVENIA 396 m
- SPAIN 391 m
Top 5 in cross country skiing
- SPAIN 367m
- CZECH REPUBLIC 351m
- FRANCE 298m
- NORWAY 261m
- JAPAN 248m
Top 5 in running
- COLOMBIA 193 m
- SLOVENIA 164 m
- ANDORRA 148 m
- HONG KONG 140 m
- PORTUGAL 140 m
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