UTMB – A Spectator’s View

It’s been 2 months since Paul and Paul (who became better known as ‘the Pauls’) ran the UTMB: the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc: a 107 mile traverse of the Mont Blanc Massif, with 10,000m (yes, meters!) of ascent. Whilst they have the incredible staying power to run for nearly 2 full days, neither of them has sat down to write a blog about their experience – despite of my persistent nagging. So, I’ve taken matters into my own hands and, one rainy Sunday after the Abbey Dash, wishing I was back in Chamonix mixing with trail running elite, I’m writing my own account of our week in the Alps in the hope that it might prompt them to put theirs together, too.

Anyway, for those of you here that maybe aren’t mad enough to do the full race, this is a little account of some of the other things you can do in around Chamonix, whether that be during race week or not, and some of the options for shorter races available during the UTMB festival week and how you might go about getting in to the races themselves.

First, here’s some photos to hook you in… (Chamonix tourist board, if you’re reading, I’m available!).

Looking over at Mont Blanc from Brevent
Les Aguilles – the Needles – from the Top of the Aguille du Midi Cable Car
What a vertical km looks like whilst you’re doing it (1000m of climbing in 4.2km up the Planpraz lift
The ‘Mer Du Glace’ – Sea of Ice – A huge glacial valley
A lake close to La Flegere lift station

Logistics

Firstly, a few quick top tips to ensure you have the most mountain time possible, whilst maximising your budget and beer-drinking time too:

  • Being walking distance from the town centre of Chamonix just gives you loads more free time to spend in the mountains although with a lift pass and a ‘tourist pass’ – which you get with hotels and Airbnbs – you can ride the bus and train for free all the way to Vallorcine.
  • Buy your lift pass at least 5 days in advance to get the best price and benefits:
    • Lift passes are really expensive, but they do mean you can spend loads more time in the mountains.
    • If you’re heading up Aguille du Midi, that’s £60 anyway, so if you put £2 more in you can get a full day’s lift pass, and do something else that day, too. Or buy 2-3 day one and really get the most of the area.
    • If you’re heading up Aguille du Midi (recommended!), book your lift time in advance.
    • Lift passes also allow you to go on the Glacier Train to the Grotte du Glace (an awesome train journey AND a cracking ice cave).
    • Your lift pass also allows you to get on buses and trains in the area – great for getting to other places to spectate your loved ones (or Killian, we won’t judge fan-girls!).
  • Airbnbs often have free parking, but you won’t need a car much when you’re there unless you’re going to Itlay/Switzerland to spectate.
  • The Big Mountain Brewing Co is FANTASTIC.
  • If going to spectate UTMB, get your spectator bus pass AT LEAST a month in advance, they sell out fast.
  • Bars/restaurants get really busy in UTMB week, so book a day or two ahead.
  • You can’t volunteer for UTMB unless you speak French fluently. Boo.
  • The mountains are really hard work and it’s a hot time of year – make sure you pack enough water/snacks.

Spectating Tips

Like I said in the top tips above, if you really want to see people the whole way around, you’ll either need a car, or a UTMB spectators bus pass, which is about 45euros and is only available for watching specific races. The buses sounded great, but I missed out as I didn’t prep early enough (which won’t surprise anyone that knows me!). I did look for lift shared to get me through the mountain to the half way point at Cormayeur, but the way timings worked I wouldn’t have been back to see the first male finishers, so decided to leave the Pauls to it until their last 8 hours or so.

General tips:

  • The UTMB app is great and gives timings every time the runners get to an aid station.
  • It also give predicted times at the next one, which, give or take, are generally pretty good predictions.
  • You can favourite runners so you see them on one page.
  • Use public transport or lifts to get between places and see people more.
  • You can also run, remember you’ll probable be going faster than them after 107 miles.
  • TDS is the only race that finishes into Chamonix from the other way. Sit in a bar on the main street on the Tuesday evening and watch the runners come in. Then do the same when having breakfast the next day for the masses.
  • Watch CCC, OCC etc. runners coming in along the river or on the road into town, you’ll see loads finishing. They have names on their numbers so you can egg them on personally!

UTMB Specific Tips below…

Start

  • You have two choices really: Lining up along the start line or going further out of town to see the groups as they’re more spread out.
  • You could also drive or get a lift to see the 20km point at Saint Gervais, but this might be late into the night.
The start line in town
Runners coming past our Airbnb at 1km into the race

Middle

  • There’s numerous options, but will all depend on the schedule of whoever you’re following and whether they’ll be there in the dark/light etc.
  • I do recommend getting the train to Vallorcine, though, as you can see a number of runners coming through here. The first train is around 7am.
  • From Vallorcine, I actually ran along the race route for around 5km. It’s plenty wide enough, but don’t be a dick and make the runners themselves avoid you!

End (elites)

  • Here’s what I did. It kinda worked out, it kinda didn’t.
    • Spent the day running (see Chamonix: Planpraz to Flegere below) to get me to La Flegere for when Killian was due. Had a beer and waited and watched him and his team come over from Tete aux Vents.
    • Watching him come up the hill after 102 miles meant he was going nice and slowly to enable me to get some photos!
    • I then ran with him for a bit and took the short cut down the service road whilst the racers go through the woods, meant I saw him again on the descent.
    • Here’s where I went ‘wrong’ / didn’t run fast enough. I ran back to Chamonix along the lower path. Killian was on the higher path so I just missed him coming into the finish. I did see the 2nd and 3rd men come in though.
    • I then had time to get the train up to the Grotte du Glace and back before seeing Katie Schide finish first for the ladies!
Katie Schide, first female in UTMB

End (masses)

  • Again, I did the same for the Pauls as I did for Killian. This time I got them a Callippo each, which they were very grateful for.
  • Another quick top tip, dependant on where you’re staying, is that from the finish line it’s 1km walk to collect runners drop bags. For us this was in the wrong direction from home. I discovered that you can collect on behalf of a runner if you take their race number with you. The Paul’s were very grateful for this, as when I returned to find them, they were both fast asleep!
Kilian coming up the last climb.
I raced him to the mid point of the downhill.

My Recommended Routes

I could write forever about the routes I did whilst I was out there, but Strava speaks for itself, really. Here are a few links with the key highlights and a star rating out of 5 for views. Most of these routes were a mix of running and walking (I don’t really run up hills!) so take the timings with a pinch of salt. These are moving times from Strava and don’t count copious stops for photos and snacks.

I didn’t by any means cover it all, so if you have any other recommendations, add these in the comments.

There’s a great trail running Chamonix app, and a few good maps. There’s also loads of running groups in town, especially around race week, who will be able to show you the place.

Racing

You don’t have to be an ultra runner to run at the UTMB festival. You do, however, have to be pretty organised and it’s definitely not an inclusive sport. You’ll need to collect ‘racing stones’ from other qualifying races, and you’ll then need to use these stones as ‘tickets’ / ‘chances’ to enter the ballot for the UTMB races themselves. This has become harder and harder over the years, and now the easiest way is to enter a UTMB branded race: of which the only UK-based one is Ultra Trail Snowdonia.

Here are the races available at the UTMB festival itself.

  • UTMB: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (171 km +10,040m)
  • CCC: Courmayeur – Champex – Chamonix (101 km +6,100m)
  • TDS: Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (145 km +9,100m)
  • OCC: Orsières – Champex – Chamonix (56 km +3,460m)
  • PTL: La Petite Trotte à Léon (approx. 300km +30,000m)
  • MCC: De Martigny-Combe à Chamonix (40 km +2,300m)

The races start on all different days across the week in August. PTL starts at 9am Monday morning and teams run all the way until Sunday afternoon. The TDS starts at midnight on the Monday night and finishers start to come through from Tuesday 8pm ish. The OCC and the CCC start on the Friday morning, and the UTMB starts 6pm on the Friday night. The elites finish the UTMB on the Saturday afternoon, and the cut off for everyone else is 4pm on the Sunday. So, if you’re in Chamonix sometime that week, you’ll experience that finish line feeling!

Final Thoughts

If you love trail running, running, mountains or even just beer – get yourself to Chamonix! If you have any questions, Paul or Paul will be able to answer – who knows, they might have even written a blog about it!

Finally finishers, two Pauls looking chuffed.
A Callippo goes a long way (107 miles!).