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Left turn. Right turn. Left turn. Right turn. The slow progress of your car journey up the mountain is backed only by the soundtrack of the driver’s foot moving from the accelerator to the brake pedal, a slight twang each time he lets off the brake. You soon tire of driving over mountain passes, particularly

Thanks to Chloë Lanthier for her help with this interview, and to Maia Rauschenberg for the transcription. Over the last decade, Chamonix has become one of the world’s top locations for trail running. It makes sense. Long the world’s center for alpinism, thanks to its location at the base of Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles

We’ve just announced our 2016 tours! These last few months have been one of the busiest periods ever for Run the Alps. We wrapped up our most successful season, departing the trails of the Chamonix valley only when snow started to work its way down the flanks of Mont Blanc. Back here in the states, we spent the

Here in Chamonix, the fall mornings are suddenly becoming much more brisk. Puffy winter shells have made their annual reappearance. Snow comes and goes from the high pastures. Trail des Aiguilles Rouges, organized by the local CMBM trail running club, was run last week. The race, a favorite among locals, bookmarks the end of another season

Autumn is my favorite time of year in the Alps. The busyness of summer has subsided. Cowbells echo over frost-covered hills. Désalpe, the annual celebration when herds of cows move down from summer pastures, is starting to take place throughout the region. In the mountains, a thin mantle of snow comes and goes with each

This past month saw the 13th annual running of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) trail race, arguably the most famous trail race in the world. The race course wends its way for 166 kilometers around the Mont Blanc massif, from Chamonix, France, into Italy, Switzerland, and finally returning to Chamonix. For many runners, the UTMB

Sierre-Zinal is a 31-kilometer mountain race that climbs over 2,200 meters from Sierre in Switzerland’s Valais region to Zinal.

Yitka Winn finds that even adventuring solo and 5,000 miles away from home, I was in good company on the TMB.

In 1976, just two years into the now long and storied history of Sierre-Zinal, five members of a family took part in the new mountain race that was one of Europe’s first. The youngest, Daniel, needed cajoling to cross the finish—his mom Trudi promised there would be a medal awaiting him, and a chance to

This past Sunday was the 42nd running of Sierre-Zinal. The race is both legendary and, often, a true epic. Here’s why. For more than four decades, there have been famously tough competitors present—many of the world’s strongest mountain runners put Sierre-Zinal first in their summer plans. Second, the course includes a sharp, steep climb, an alpine traverse, and finally a