First there was the UTMB, CCC, TDS and the Trail des Aiguilles Rouges. Obviously, this was not enough for the trail-crazy Chamoniards. So here is a small addition to next June's line-up of the Cross du Mont Blanc, the Mont Blanc Marathon and the Mont Blanc Vertical Kilometre. Introducing... the Mont-Blanc 80km.
Last Friday, during the "Festival des Templiers" in Millau, the organisers of the Mont Blanc Marathon officially and exclusively revealed the route of the new race, on a course described as: "mountainous".
After an early start (04:00hr) in Chamonix, runners will climb directly to the Bellachat refuge. From the top of Brevent, they then drop down to Planpraz. Then on to la Flégère and "Le Chalet des Chéserys", before descending to the Col des Montets, via the Tête au Vent.
The hamlet of Le Buet marks the beginning of a very long technical loop, through the valley of Tré-les-Eaux, followed by a climb to the Col du Corbeau.
From there, the runners reach the "Col de la Terrasse", and then it's downhill to the Emosson dam. The Loriaz pastures should allow the muscles to relax (yeah, right!) after more than 50 km of effort, and down to Vallorcine. After that, the trail climbs "l’Aiguillette des Posettes" and then the villages of La Tour and Argentiere, before heading back down towards Chamonix.
And just when you thought it was all over, comes the final challenge: a climb up to "The Signal" via the Mer du Glace! A final "balcon" at the foot of the "Aiguilles des Grands Charmoz", the Blaitière et the "Fou" finally leads the runners to the refuge of the Plan de l'Aiguille.
1200m of altitude below, the finishing line stretches out its arms to the brave finishers, after their technical alpine journey of 80km. Phew!
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