Our friend Billi Bierling, mountaineer and journalist, came to the 2021 UTMR to volunteer and to race. Here’s what she has to say about it! Billi we are looking forward to welcoming you back and wish you good luck for your 2022 race! The COVID-19 pandemic was tough for runners all over the world. Even […]

Ancora una volta l’Europaweg cambia il suo percorso! Questa volta è stato migliorato per fare una salita più facile verso l’Europahütte con meno tempo sui vecchi percorsi del balcone Europaweg, ma ancora un sacco di bei paesaggi. Puoi scaricare la traccia GPS (e il file KML di Google Earth qui sotto).

The iRunFar introduction for David reads “David Laney was born and raised in Oregon, and that just about covers it. David runs for Nike Trail and coaches with Trails and Tarmac. You can follow him from mountain tops to donut shops on his Instagram account.” With numerous wins to his name, a 3rd (2015) and 4th (2016) place […]

Brennan is a trail and fell runner based in Keswick in the Lake District of the UK. He lives with his wife Kat and step daughter in the shadow of his local fell (small English mountain), Latrigg. He is currently studying Sports Science at Manchester Metropolitan University, and with his wife has a coaching business […]

We were set to welcome elite runner, Marián Priadka, from the Slovak Ultra Trail Team to the 2020 edition of the 170 km Ultra Tour! We’re really happy that he’ll try again for 2021. We asked him some questions to get to know a little more about him…. Q. Can you remember how you first heard […]

We like also to heartily welcome back our loyal runners! Philippe Aurelle, La Capretta, will be participating for the 6th time at UTMR. Thank you Philippe & see you again in September! Philippe’s participation at UTMR: the 2016 edition 116 km Ultramarathon, the 170 km Ultra Tour in 2017, 2018 & 2019, the Grächen Berglauf in […]

For the last few years we have partnered with Kikourou, an endurance sports community in France, to offer a competition for a free place for UTMR. This year Xavier Jacquel was the lucky winner and will be competing in the UTMR 100 km 3 Passes ultra. We asked him some questions to see how he […]

In 2020 we invited Julien Gilleron, a journalist “Trans-Versale” who writes for Wider Magazine and Alpinemag amongst others, as a media participant in UTMR. Of course with cancellation of the longer events we extended his invitation to our Grächen Berglauf, which ended up as a happy, sunny day of mountain running even while adhering to […]

We welcome Darcy Piceu to the 2021 Ultra Tour Monte Rosa to compete with Jasmin Paris, Roman Evarts, Tom Owens, Matthieu Girard and others! Darcy has been running ultramarathons for 20 years and has completed over 103 ultra races. Some of her notable accomplishments include 3 time Hardrock 100 winner, 3 time Wasatch Front 100 […]

Back in 2018, Roman Evarts was a UTMB Podium Finisher and then he chose the 2019 UTMR 100 mile ultra trail for his ‘next big challenge’. Of course in 2019 the weather gods intervened and the race was halted in Gressoney, around the halfway mark. He says he is ‘stoked’ to return and finally do […]

The 2018 winner of the 170 km Ultra Tour (32:59:33), Matthieu Girard, is returning for 2021! Here he gives his thoughts about UTMR and offers some insight for 2021 race competitors. Thank you Matthieu & best of luck, see you in September!  N.B Matthieu is co-president of Trail Verbier St-Bernard a beautiful set of races at the […]

We’re very happy to welcome Jasmin Paris as one of the elite women running the 170 km Ultra Tour in 2021! Jasmin is British and is extremely well known in Great Britain as a fell runner, and became known on the international stage as a sky runner after her victory in the 2016 Skyrunner World Series (Sky Extreme) and bronze medal […]

Ultra Tour Monte Rosa, 10th May 2020. It is with great regret that we announce the cancellation of the 2020 edition of Ultra Tour Monte Rosa.  We have carefully considered the current pandemic situation and the risk that holding a race like UTMR would present to our runners, volunteers and hosts. We take this decision […]

Siamo lieti che Sacha sarà un ambasciatore dell’UTMR sui sentieri e sui social media! Grazie Sacha & non vediamo l’ora di darvi il benvenuto nel settembre 2020. Potete trovare Sacha su facebook se volete contattarlo!   Sacha (Turbosnail) Mijatov Nato: 1971 Città natale: Bruxelles, Belgio. Su di me: Vivo in Svizzera da 20 anni e […]

A big thank you to all of the children who stepped on to the start line for the 2019 Kinderrennen event at the UTMR in Grächen. It was 100% effort from the start to the finish as you might expect if you’ve ever seen a children’s running race. There were two distances, 2 km and […]

Il nostro vincitore 2018 dell’Ultra Tour di 170 km, Matthieu Girard, tornerà per il 2020! Ecco cosa pensa di UTMR. Grazie Matthieu & buona fortuna, ci vediamo a settembre! N.B Matthieu è co-presidente di Trail Verbier St-Bernard una bella serie di gare all’inizio di luglio all’altra estremità del Vallese. Vale la pena provare! —- Non […]

Grazie al fotografo Hervé Le Gac e Trails Endurance per aver dedicato tempo e fatica a percorrere l’Ultra Tour Monte Rosa 2019 e a sfidare le sfortunate condizioni climatiche che abbiamo affrontato. Ci auguriamo che torniate per i giorni di sole che ci aspettiamo più spesso!

Siamo lieti di dare il benvenuto ad un corridore d’elite, Marián Priadka, dalla squadra slovacca Ultra Trail Team all’UTMR di 170 km! Ecco cosa ha da dire ….. Ho iniziato con la corsa come allenamento e attività alternativa per la MTB, che mi ha riportato allo sport dopo diversi anni di pausa. Dopo i miei […]

Uno dei nostri passati concorrenti UTMR, David Byrne, ha appena pubblicato un libro sull’ultra running che contiene un capitolo sull’edizione zero della gara UTMR Tappa nel 2015. Dice: “Per me l’edizione 2015 è stata fantastica, perché è stata un’occasione per vedere una nuova location e per spingermi a fare molte altre cose. Il mio libro […]

Abbiamo avuto buone notizie dal consiglio di amministrazione di “Hardrock”! I finalisti della nostra gara di 170 km nel 2020 si qualificheranno per la lotteria Hardrock del 2021. Per chi non ha mai sentito parlare di Hardrock, si tratta di un’ultramaratona di 100 miglia nella catena montuosa di San Juan nel Colorado meridionale, negli Stati […]

https://www.graechenberglauf.ch/europaweg/ L’Europaweg da Grächen a Europahütte è cambiato dall’agosto 2018. Una nuova rotta è stata aperta nel giugno 2019. Il nuovo percorso ha due varianti, una più difficile, una più facile. Tutte le seguenti informazioni sono solo a titolo di riferimento e non vengono fornite senza garanzia! Variante uno Prima si esce da Grachen verso […]

  Ida Nilsson non ha bisogno di presentazioni con una serie di performance vincenti in alcuni degli ultras di montagna più venerati al mondo! L’atleta svedese ha avuto una stagione eccezionale nel 2018, compresa la sua terza vittoria (consecutiva) a Transvulcania (73km), una vittoria a Maratòn Alpina Zegama-Aizkorri (42km) & un secondo posto nel Serie […]

La Sportiva atleta d’elite, Christian Insam, sta tornando a FINISH unFINISH ha fatto affari sulle piste del Monte Rosa! Buona fortuna, ci vediamo a settembre!     Dopo il ritiro dell’anno scorso al km 120 il mio primo pensiero è stato quello di tornare definitivamente a concludere il percorso intorno al Monte Rosa! Troppo forte […]

  Dan Lawson è un corridore internazionale GB, nel 2016 ha vinto i Campionati Europei della 24 Ore della IAU e detiene il record mondiale per la corsa sulla distanza su tapis roulant in 7 giorni. È fresco di un FKT sul Jordan Trail con Robbie Briton. Perché si rivolge alla UTMR & la montagna? […]

Siamo lieti di dare il benvenuto ad un corridore d’elite, Peter Brestovansky, della squadra slovacca Ultra Trail Team alla 170km UTMR! Ecco cosa ha da dire ….. “IOltre all’arrampicata, allo sci alpinismo e alla mountain bike, mi piace anche correre. Le lunghe distanze in corsa. Ultra corsa. E’ venuto completamente all’improvviso. All’epoca ero così occupato […]

Siamo felici di dare il benvenuto a due talentuosi corridori nepalesi alla gara UTMR 4-Tappa durante la loro prima visita fuori dal Nepal! Non vediamo l’ora di sapere cosa ne pensano dei sentieri intorno al Monte Rosa! Buona fortuna ragazzi … Mahesh Thapa e Bikash Tamang sono due giovani ed entusiasti ultra trail runner nepalesi […]

UTMB Podium Finisher sceglie il percorso di 100 miglia dell’UTMR 2019 per la sua prossima grande sfida, al fine di rimanere concentrato e di mantenersi snello. Si unisce top 5 UTMB finisher Damian Hall e 11° posto Petter Restorp. Dopo l’UTMB dell’anno scorso, arrivando sesto, ho realizzato le mie ambizioni sportive ed è stato quasi […]

Here’s a nice insight into the 2018 4-day Stage Race from Rebeca Ehrnrooth, part owner of myRaceKit. A Swede living in the UK, she is an outdoor enthusiast and ultra-runner who travels the world for adventures and races. We look forward to welcoming you back in 2019 Rebeca! ——-   In Lizzy Hawker’s book Runner there […]

Damian Hall, giornalista e corridore d’elite, è iscritto al 2019 170 km Ultra Tour. Con un impressionante 5° posto all’UTMB 2018 in 22:35:13, e avendo recentemente fissato un FKT (il tempo più veloce conosciuto) per il Cape Wrath Trail con Beth Pascall, non è estraneo al lungo e difficile. Non vediamo l’ora di sapere cosa […]

Petter Restorp has joined UTMR through our programme for elite runners… Restorp finished 11th in the UTMB this year in a very respectable 23:34:35 and is looking for a new challenge for 2019 as he explains below. —— I ended my 2018 season with a full month of rest. Instead of running I went climbing in […]

When people enter for the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa, the ultra trail race around the massif of Monte Rosa, we ask them to tell us why they entered, with this question. Of all the races in the world, why did you choose to race the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa? And here are the answers! Massimo […]

Some questions to Christian Insam, an Italian athlete on the team from La Sportiva, on why UTMR and what he is looking forward to.   What you are looking forward to? I’ve been hearing about UTMR for a few years now. The idea of touring Monte Rosa has always  fascinated me, as all wild, technical […]

“Qual è una buona alternativa a UTMB – Ultra Trail Mont Blanc?” Internet è un ottimo posto per anteporre il nome di un grande prodotto con “Alternative to” per trovare un modo per trovare qualcosa di più economico, più semplice, ancora ‘scoperto’ e più tranquillo ecc. Soprattutto il caso in cui il prodotto in questione […]

Guest post by Nicky Spinks. Nicky is the current double Bob Graham Round record holder, two laps of a ~106 km mountain route in the Lake District in the UK.  With entries closing in two weeks I thought I would remind everyone what a fantastic race this is and to say that I’m so looking forward […]

JASON POOLE : COLORADO, USA We’re delighted that Jason has offered to share his experience of the 2017 Ultra Tour Monte Rosa with anybody interested in learning more about the course from an American trail perspective. Here’s a little info about Jason and contact details.  Jason became involved in endurance sports in 1987, primarily competing […]

小野　忍（おの　しのぶ） １９５８年生まれ。東京在住の元アルピニストで現在はスロートレイルランナー。仕事は登山ガイドと海外登山のアドアバイザーです。個人的には１００㎞以上のロングのレースに好んで出場し、制限時間を最大限につかいレースを楽しんでいます。 ＵＴＭＲの舞台であるモンテローザ周辺の山やトレイルは、４０年近くにわたり毎夏通っており、モンテローザやマッターホルンのほかにも多くの山の登頂経験があります。また今回のレースコースの一部は、それらの山からのの下山の途中に歩いたことのある、懐かしくまた慣れ親しんだコースです。 このエリアの山やトレイルの知識や経験を生かし、大会のアンバサダーとして参加される皆様の完走のためのサポート、現地での移動や宿泊、レース前後の観光や登山、ハイキングなどのお手伝いをさせていただきます。 chamonixshinobu@yahoo.co.jp http://mountain-ma.com/katorisenko

  Lloyd Belcher, our photographer in 2015 and 2017, is coming back in 2018. This time he is leaving the cameras behind and this is why! Good luck Lloyd!   “I’m very fortunate that I have a job that I enjoy and it takes me to some beautiful places around the world. But don’t be […]

So exciting! It’s a tough race, very difficult. Very difficult. It’s not a normal ultra race. If you finish this race [you’re] very tough, the very long climbs up and do – so big – also the altitude, and also the technical… it’s so technical my god! Unbelievable. It’s not just one or two sections. […]

While feedback is sometimes critical (and constructive) there is a lot of happy feedback from many race competitors. Here is a selection from 2017…. Basil Geoghegan “The UTMR was awesome. Putting together a race on this terrain is impressive. I loved it. I have never run a stage race before. Standing in an Alpine village […]

We have a new poster for 2017!  

On 29th July 2016, Lizzy Hawker completed a full tour of Monte Rosa solo, to “test the course”. Here is what she wrote back then in answer to five questions about the route. You started at the same time as the race will start next year, so passed around the route as a mid pack […]

The route of the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa is challenging! Bold, beautiful and brutal …. There are two reasons why we ask for the experience we ask for – we want you to be safe and we want you to enjoy your race experience. It is a tough trail – high, wild and technical in […]

The Great Himalaya Trail is a vague concept, really a network of trails through the Himalayas. When you set foot on the trails, it’s anything but vague: it’s tough, wild, enormous, humbling. Lizzy Hawker, as you may know, has a passion for making long solo journeys across tough terrain. In 2011, a attempt to cross […]

Mark was standing below the Monte Moro pass on the Swiss side. While monitoring the runners down the slope, he kept his camera busy. Mark wants to offer printed copies of his images to you for a reasonable price in order to collect money for Trail Running Nepal’s athlete fund. The athlete’s fund raises money for […]

Runners, with one week to go we would like to highlight the importance of the obligatory equipment. Mandatory equipment list. “There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.” I have just attended an event that was hit by severe wind and rain for the full 5 day duration of the event. Most […]

“The terrain was rougher than we could possibly imagine. It was in stark contrast to the flowing trails that we’d encountered while racing the UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc).” Ben Read and James Noorkoiv’s account of a summer fastpack adventure on the Tour de Monte Rosa. The threat of a storm forces them to return […]

Lizzy Hawker runs training camps around Monte Rosa. These are part UTMR trail familiarisation trips, part running training camps, part trail running instruction from Lizzy, if you ask her nicely. Covering around 170km in four days with some 11,000m of elevation change is a fantastic boost to your training for trail. It’s great preparation for […]

UPDATE: Lizzy completed in 37 hours 10 minutes The climb is more than Everest from sea to summit, and fortunately the distance is much shorter than bay of Bengal to Everest’s top. But the comparatively short 169km on mountain trails with over 11,000m of climb and descent, all at an average altitude of around 2200m, […]

We’ve just held 2016’s first UTMR training camp – completing the full tour of Monte Rosa in four long days. A mix of running the downs and hiking the ups, to get familiar with the course and get long hours on our feet. It’s the kind of course that needs that. One of the participants, Fergus […]

The 2017 ultra will be a full tour of Monte Rosa, from Grächen to Grächen, with a 4-stage race along side. This nicely builds upon the experience from the stage race only zero edition, and 2016’s single stage ultra along side the stage race. 2017 thus adds the Europaweg from Grächen to Zermatt, and the crossing from Switzerland […]

  True, Ultra Tour Monte Rosa is only in its second year as an organized running event, but the long-distance hiking route around the Monte Rosa massif has been trod by people for quite a while previous to this. Wild and high and ridiculously scenic as it is, it’s punctuated by signs of habitation—vestiges of […]

Words by Sarah Barker. I was rude and inquired the age of two finishers of the 2015 UTMR. Like most things, Roger and Bridget took my impertinence in stride, shared their experiences and gave some tips. Prepare to be blown away and inspired. In their own words… “Roger is 70 and I‘m 64. We have […]

Words by Sarah Barker. I’ve observed that runners read. This is strictly anecdotal, and scientific rigor could easily prove me wrong, but I find that when runners return from seven or eight hours of scissoring the pins, they like to have a knees up. Because they are obsessive multitaskers, reading ensues. Next day, they’ve got […]

Words by Sarah Barker As race volunteers go, you could do a lot worse than Keith Byrne. Super-chipper at dark-thirty in the morning? Eternal summer of the feet? Ah yes, that Keith Byrne. Byrne’s job at last year’s UTMR was to brief runners in the morning, then scurry quick to the finish line and get […]

Today is the 1st June already but everything is still possible. Registrations are open until July 1st – sign up now! Register here!   Words by Sarah Barker “All things seem possible in May.” I might have said that, after a few beers, but naturalist, photographer and writer Edwin Way Teale said it first. On the […]

Words by Sarah Barker So, the knee’s acting up again, or there was that frantic spot at work such that your training was reduced to the round-trip hike between desk and water cooler, and, well, you’re a bit unsure of your fitness. And particularly as it applies to the (ridiculously scenic) 116K of Ultra Tour […]

Words by Sarah Barker. Women’s runner up of last year’s zero edition, Krissy Moehl, has plenty of trail racing experience—multiple UTMB finishes and two Hardrocks to name a few. Here are some things that made UTMR special for her: “The route, when done as a single-stage ultra, will be more challenging than UTMB—more technical trails, burlier […]

We take pride in marking the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa course well with florescent markers such that nobody get  lost. But everybody sometime gets into the zone of deep concentration, or deep conversation with a running partner and has missed that sharp right turn and continued down the trail. If you carry a smart phone with […]

Words by Sarah Barker Since I’ve been writing about ultras—not doing them, mind you, just hanging out in cow pastures shaking a bell and talking to people who actually carry themselves over nights and rocks—certain words have taken on a completely new meaning. Words like challenge, exposure, mountain, dinner. Fun. Take for example, mountain. Having […]

Say celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain opened a restaurant; you’d want to go, right? The guy’s eaten at and written about seemingly every famous restaurant on the planet. He’s an expert on dining. What would be on the menu? What would the atmosphere be like? If—didn’t happen, but if—guitar god Eric Clapton had put […]

    Today is an exciting day!   We start to tell the news and story of our race.   Welcome to Ultra Tour Monte Rosa.   We have been working hard on this new project to develop a beautiful trail race around Monte Rosa on the Swiss / Italian border. We will hold a zero […]