4rd Smuggler Trophy

Explore the ski resort on smugglers' trails and bring as much contraband as possible from Switzerland to Austria and back again. Along the way, you'll encounter sporting challenges, tricky puzzles, creative tasks, customs checks, and photo points.

Your goal: to bring as many smuggler coins as possible to the finish line – using skill, knowledge, timing, and team spirit.

There are two routes to choose from: «The Original» with up to ten checkpoints throughout the Samnaun/Ischgl ski area and «The Nouble» – shorter, more relaxed, and with fewer tasks. You can choose when you register.

All teams start with a backpack full of «smuggled goods» and try to get them across the border and back as cleverly as possible. Along the way, you can expect a variety of tasks – athletic, creative, and historical.

The team that works well together, acts cleverly like smugglers, transports valuable goods, collects lots of talers, and masters the tasks at hand has the best chance of winning.

Those who are particularly skilled, collect lots of smuggler talers, master the tasks, and work well as a team have the best chance of winning.

Top teams («The Original« and «The Nouble»)
The best teams on both routes will be honored. They will be judged based on the number of talers smuggled. The top three teams on each route will win Samnaun vouchers worth up to CHF 600. The awards ceremony will take place on stage before the Winter Opening Concert.

Most original outfit
The more nostalgic and authentic the smuggler outfit, the better. The jury will be looking for creativity, details, and relevance to the historical smuggling era. The winning look will be awarded a voucher worth CHF 200 at the award ceremony.

Best social media post
Post your smuggler highlight on Instagram or Facebook by 3:00 p.m. with #schmugglertrophy and a link to @samnaun_ch. Creativity, execution, and relevance to the theme will be evaluated. The best post will be presented on stage and rewarded with CHF 200.

If the cross-border lifts (e.g., Viderjoch, Greitspitz) are closed, the Trophy will take place as a «valley route0» variant in and around Samnaun.

The history of smugglers takes us back to the past: the people of Samnaun traded coffee, sugar, nylon stockings, flour and tobacco for butter, cheese, furs and fabric from the Paznaun Valley. Sugar (saccharin) was smuggled from Switzerland to Austria and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The participating smuggling teams, consisting of 2 to 4 people, followed in the footsteps of the legendary smugglers of yesteryear. The teams smuggled goods between Alp Trida and the Paznaun Thaya. Tricky tasks awaited the smugglers, they had to prove their coordination skills and had a lot of fun on the slopes. The teams repeatedly encountered customs officers who wanted to take the smuggled goods and accomplices who helped with the smuggling.