I like to think that running for your country is a fairly big deal. Call me a romantic, sure, but to represent a nation of people, 99.9% of whom admittedly have no idea that they are being represented, is the pinnacle of sporting citizenship. Every sport worth its salt has manufactured its own opportunity for state-sponsored chest-beating. There is a World Championship in darts, for example, a sport in the loosest possible sense played in pubs and drinking houses the world over by men and women who couldn’t run a bath, let alone the hundred meter dash. It seems only fitting, then, that there ..read more

Book Preview and Interviews with Jim Walmsley and Courtney Dauwalter Twenty years ago, a small band of runners came up with an idea: hold a trail race around the Alps’ highest peak. A loop around Mont Blanc covers more than 106 miles (171km) through France, Italy, and Switzerland. They expected a few crazy souls would come out, but instead, more than 700 runners showed up. Running was changed forever.  We have a talented crew at Run the Alps (okay, we’re biased), and another one of our staff has ticked off a pretty cool trail running project. This one was behind a screen, not on the tra ..read more

Do you ever feel stuck? For example, you have good intentions to get out trail running, or train for a Personal Best in a race, -or achieve a non-running goal, but never quite manage it? We’ve all been there. Run the Alps’ friend and Chamonix-based Ultrarunner Meg Mackenzie talked with acclaimed coach Mareli Kruger about the internal and external obstacles preventing us from living the life we want and what we can do about them.  Highlights from their conversation are below. You can also listen to the full conversation or watch it here: Listen on SoundCloud Watch on YouTube On Ru ..read more

The Tor des Glaciers is the longer, more challenging sibling of the already colossal Tor des Géants in the Italian Alps. At 450 kilometers (280 miles) and 32,000 meters (104,987 feet) of cumulative altitude gain, the Tor des Glaciers is the beast that beasts are scared of.  Of the three editions of Glaciers, there have been 124 finishers out of 356 starters. (A few participants ran and finished more than once.) And of those 124 finishers, 9 of them have been women. In an ideal world, we’d hope to see more women in those numbers, but as it is, we want to celebrate these badass women.  ..read more

Gear to Keep you Covered Trail running is often said to require little or nothing more than a pair of shoes. But we’ll admit to owning and using a bit more gear than that. Some of our most important gear is protective – it keeps us covered in a variety of conditions, including sunny summer days.  But there are an overwhelming number of choices– the paradox of choice can cause paralysis. We get it! So, whether you’re running in the Alps on your own, or joining us on a guided or self-guided Run the Alps trip, we’ve collected advice and gear recommendations from Run the Alps guides, staff ..read more

The signs of climate change are clear in the Alps. Glaciers are retreating, the snowpack is thinner and the summer season is extending. While none of this is good news, it is increasingly possible to get out on the trails before summer officially kicks-off.  All the same, the Alps still receive several meters of snow over the winter, and new snowfall can continue as late as May.  In spring and early summer, the trails become visible from under the snow, and we can smell the trees and the flowers calling us up our favorite trails while there are fewer people on popular routes and bef ..read more

Because we can all use a minute to make us smile today, let’s look at photos of dogs.  Specifically, dogs who trail run. (Now you’re smiling even more, right?) These aren’t just any trail running dogs, though. These are dogs that trail run through the Alps, and are the four-legged companions of Run the Alps staff, guides, and friends.  And we love dogs so much, we even have an entire trip built around them in summer 2024: Trails and Tails. We hope you enjoy meeting some of our favorite four-legged friends. (And if you are headed to the Alps, toss a few treats in your trail running v ..read more

Over the years that we’ve been offering the Tour du Mont-Blanc trail running trip, we’ve encountered growing numbers and some disappointment from prospective guests who can’t experience the “TMB” because our trips are sold out.  At Run the Alps, we like to think of ourselves as innovators. So to alleviate this issue, we tested something radically different this year. While we love the summer tour around Mont Blanc, we’ve decided to put a new spin on an old classic, opening up more exciting opportunities for our guests. Introducing the TMB-W! That’s “W” as in “winter”! Our new TMB-W offer ..read more

At the foot of the Matterhorn, Zermatt, Switzerland is one of the most famous towns in the Alps and rightly so. Surrounded by 4,000-meter peaks, it’s got plenty of climbing, mountaineering, and high-elevation glacier skiing. What’s less known about Zermatt, is that this lively mountain village also has lots of dramatic trails for runners as well, and it’s home to one of the Alps’ best-known trail race series, the Matterhorn Ultraks each year in August.  Trail running above Zermatt. (Photo: BeckiPenrose) While the town has a bustling feel, one major difference sets it apart from most ot ..read more

I hadn’t been running much during Europe’s sweltering 2022 summer, and so I liked the looks of the UTMB Wildstrubel® Wild 25 course. It was the shortest distance of the options 110, 70, 50 kilometers. I told myself it was actually two races: first an 11km slog up almost 1000 vertical meters, then a flowy 15km descent into Crans-Montana. I wasn’t ready for 26km, but I could probably manage 11 plus 15, right? Crans Montana, Switzerland is the setting of the UTMB® Wildstruble race series. (Courtesy photo) That I was there at all was thanks to my time at UTMB Mont-Blanc® in Chamonix two weeks b ..read more