Races
UTMB
Start in Chamonix. France, Italy, Switzerland, back. Around Mont Blanc. Two nights for most people.
The mountain
A loop around Mont Blanc. Les Contamines, Col de la Seigne into Italy, Courmayeur, Refuge Bertone, then Grand Col Ferret at two thousand five hundred thirty-seven meters into Switzerland. Champex. Trient. Vallorcine. La Flegere. Back to Chamonix. About one hundred seventy-four kilometers and nine thousand seven hundred meters of gain. The line can move with the mountain.
The work
Night running is not a maybe. The race starts in the evening. You need poles, a kit list you can actually carry, and legs that still climb after a valley town. Courmayeur is not a restart. The balcony to Ferret is the roof.
Race morning
It is not morning. Chamonix, late. UTMB is the 100M final of the World Series. Bib, tracker, mandatory equipment check. Cutoff forty-five hours thirty. Most of the field sees two nights.
Watch outs
Weather on the cols. Crowds in the first valley. Sitting too long in Courmayeur. The last climb to Flegere with nothing left. If the kit is incomplete you do not start.