Courmayeur - Champex-Lac - Chamonix

At the end of August each year there is a mountain trail festival based in Chamonix in France. This year Daniel is competing in the 'CCC', a 101km race from Courmayeur (Italy) through Champex-Lac (Switzerland) to Chamonix (France). We spent part of our summer doing a recce of the route. Daniel learnt the trails and I renewed my impression of how hard his job is (those mountains are high!!).

Chamonix and Mont Blanc - where the trail ends

The race starts in Courmayeur, an Alpine town in Italy which is accessed through the Mont Blanc tunnel. We hiked up to Grande Col Ferret at 2537m which forms the international boundary between Italy and Switzerland. How cool to hike to another country!

The Aosta Valley in Italy where the race starts in Courmayeur

The international border in the Alps (from the Swiss side)

The route down into Switzerland is beautiful. The Alps were at their most majestic as we descended the fairly steep path. Fortunately there was a convenient and much-appreciated refuge en route where we stopped for a rest and lunch.

La Peule Refuge - great sandwiches here!

Green mountains and cascades

Lots of hiking options. We followed the TMB route.

Glacial rivers abound in this region

The halfway point of the race is at Champex-Lac in Switzerland. We've visited here before on a day trip, and it was good to return to an old haunt. We spent two nights in nearby Bourg-St-Pierre, including the Swiss National Day on 1 August, but the clouds rolled and the wind picked up at night so we didn't see any fireworks.

Champex-Lac

The race route continues to wend its way up and down the Alps, reaching a total of 6,100m of vertical gain. I joined Daniel for a hike between Vallorcine and Chamonix, the last 18km of the race. At the top of the pass at Tête au Vents we saw three chamois, including a baby! It was a sturdy little creature, true to its goat-antelope heritage. The views from the top were spectacular - a panorama of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and of course, the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc.

A chamois mother and kid

Glaciers overlooking the Chamonix Valley

The peak at Tête au Vents with Mont Blanc in the background

The race reaches its grand finale in Chamonix, where we've spent time before. This season, we've visited the Alpine resort a few times for Daniel's training. During some of his runs, I did a bit of sight-seeing around the region, including visits to Parc de Merlet, Gorges de la Diosaz and Gorges du Durnand.

Mont Blanc overlooking Chamonix

A rainbow in the clouds above Chamonix!

Eiger Trail

Last weekend Daniel ran the Eiger Ultra Trail race, 101km of trails and 6700m of climbing through the Bernese Oberland. This is an extraordinary trail through the Alps and a good one for runners and supporters. In trail races, I usually drive to each checkpoint to meet Daniel along the route, but this time I got a special pass to travel up into the mountains on the trains, gondolas and cableways! The race start was early at 4:30 in Grindelwald and Daniel was feeling confident from the get-go. As soon as the runners set off, I caught a series of gondolas up to First where I saw the sun rise over the Alps.

First is a minor summit on the Schwarzhorn and is famous for its cable car station with a walkway along the side of the mountain, including a suspension bridge and 'skywalk' view point. The runners passed close to First 13km into the race and then came into the official checkpoint at 22km so I got to see Daniel twice up there. While I waited I enjoyed the views of the sunrise, the mountains, glaciers and waterfalls.

Looking strong after 13km

A very steep ascent up to First!

The suspension bridge was part of the race route

Daniel running along the 'skywalk' into First

The 'skywalk' overlooking the Alps (See the glacier across the valley!)

Daniel ran up a few more ascents after First - such as Faulhorn at 2,680m and Schynige Platte at 2,076m - and then descended into Burglauenen, which was my next stop along the route, 53km into the race. This is a small village just down the valley from Grindelwald and is the starting point for various hikes up either side of the valley.

Arriving at Burglauenen

The next big peak after Burglauenen was Männlichen at 67km and 2,343m high. It took Daniel a steady 2 hours 40 to reach the top, but I was able to take the Grindelwald-Männlichen gondola, the third longest passenger-carrying gondola cableway in the world. It took me 30 minutes to complete the 6km trip from Grindelwald and it was breath-taking. I was surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains, green valleys, Alpine flowers and the sound of cow bells!

The Eiger from Männlichen

A view over Lauterbrunnen and Wengen (You can see the Staubbach Falls!)

Daniel looking good as he negotiates the avalanche barriers

The last big climb on the race is from Kleine Scheidegg up to the Eiger Gletscher. I met Daniel at the start of the climb, 78km into the race. I caught a train up from Wengen to the Kleine Scheidegg, which is the centre of skiing in the area. It is also the lower terminus of the Jungfrau railway which climbs steeply through tunnels inside the Eiger and Mönch mountains up to Jungfrau, the highest point reachable by rail in Europe.

The Eiger, looming over Kleine Scheidegg

The race ended in Grindelwald and Daniel came across the finish line in 14:05 - a super time for 101km!

Trail Vallée de Joux

We spent a lot of time over the summer exploring the Jura, and in particular the Vallée de Joux. Daniel does much of his training here and we both love the area for its rolling hills, forests and open spaces. On Sunday, Daniel rounded off his trail running season with the Trail Vallée de Joux, a 54km race on some of our favourite hiking routes.

The race started in L'Abbaye before heading up and down to Dent de Vaulion, Col du Mollendruz, Châtel, Montricher, Mont Tendre, Col du Marchairuz and ending in Le Sentier. It was a fast race and Daniel did brilliantly to finish third overall - his second podium finish in as many weeks!

It was a beautiful time of year to be in the Jura as the landscape is a riot of rich Autumn colours, providing beautiful pictures and great backdrops for action shots of Daniel!

Daniel at Col du Mollendruz, an hour after the start 

The road down from Mont Tendre

Arriving at Col du Marchairuz

The finish was in Le Sentier

Daniel smiling as he heads down the finishing straight

Daniel on the podium!!!

Les Diablerets 2015

We went back to the Alpine town of Les Diablerets for Daniel's second Humani'Trail race. Last year it was his first trail race in Europe and he finished 5th; this year he gained his first podium finish in a European trail race in 3rd place! It was a tremendous improvement on last year's race and he ran 37 minutes faster than in 2014!

Daniel running into the halfway checkpoint
with the snowy Alps in the background

A winding wood chip path in the race

A suspension bridge with Tibetan prayer flags over the Grande Eau river.
All the proceeds from the race support disadvantaged children in Nepal.

Coming down to Col du Pillon having just gained 3rd place!
Daniel eventually finished 23 minutes ahead of 4th place.

The awards ceremony with an Alphorn band!

Podium finisher!!
The goodie bag contained fondue cheese,
local wine and Alpine breadsticks :)

While Daniel was out running the 55km race, I explored the Parcoursvita on the edge of town. It was a crystal clear Autumn day and I enjoyed a 6km stroll around the base of the Alps, enjoying the Parcoursvita and an Alpine garden.

Les Diablerets village

Beautiful green fields on the outskirts of the village

Autumnal scenery in the Alps: the view from the
suspension bridge over the Grande Eau river

The Les Diablerets Parcoursvita which was also part of the race

Nothing like an Alphorn band in the Alps!

Bourg-St-Pierre

We went to the Alpine village of Bourg-St-Pierre in Valais for the Trail du Vélan, a 45km trail race. It's a beautiful village and I enjoyed exploring its secrets while Daniel achieved a top ten finish!

Bourg-St-Pierre is known as the gateway to Italy as it is the last village in Switzerland before the Italian border. It has an important historical tale as it has been the thoroughfare of Hannibal, Roman troops, the Saracens, soldiers and troops of Charlemagne and Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as pilgrims, travellers, smugglers and traders crossing the Alps through the St Bernard's Pass.

The village of Bourg-St-Pierre

The ruins of Chateau du Bourg just outside the village

The Valsorey valley leading towards Italy

Bourg-St-Pierre is also home to Le Moulin du Valsorey, an old mill dating from 1681 which was built along the Valsorey River. The mill was restored and now offers tours throughout the year and a mulled wine party at Christmas. I enjoyed investigating the old mill workings and reading up about the last meunier, Eric Max.

Bridge over the Valsorey River leading to the mill on the left

The old mill house

The mill workings

The region is famous for its rich fauna and flora, and I discovered the La Linnaea Alpine Garden which was opened in 1889. This is a small botanical garden set into the mountains with beautiful little trails and a well-labelled cross-section of Alpine plant species.

Le Jardin Alpin

Daniel's race went well although the conditions were tough at the start. The race began at 4:30am and it was pouring with rain. He headed off in the cold, wet, darkness and emerged a few hours later in 9th place and sunshine!

Running happily towards the finish line in Bourg-St-Pierre