Category Archives: Friends

At some time unknown, the 31km Alps trail race known as Sierre-Zinal slipped into my subconscious as a special event.

Yesterday, Run the Alps Senior Guide Simon Conroy and I ran from Courmayeur, Italy to Chamonix, France, along the second half of the Tour du Mont-Blanc. The route we chose was 85 km with about 4,300 meters of climbing. I’m getting ready for a certain trail race in a few weeks.  Here’s how I fueled:

This summer, Run the Alps added a new position to our list of seasonal crew – intern and staff writer. Julia Maxwell, a recent graduate of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calfornia, joined us in Chamonix in June and will be staying through the end of August. Julia splits her time between Run the Alps

We’re pleased to share this story from Bret Bechis, who discovered the Alps trail running scene through Run the Alps’ Doug Mayer. Bret is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, works for Airbnb, and runs the outdoors clothing company HeyHeys. For his part, Mayer confirms the accuracy of the story, but wants none of

A late-season trail race in a quiet corner of the beautiful Italian Piedmont valley, well-organized and offering something for everyone. ‘Bellissimo! Forza!’ shout the hikers in encouragement as I run past, although beauty and strength seem more of an aspiration than a reality for me. The more disconcerting cries of ‘dai, dai, dai!’ (‘Come on!’),

For almost a minute, we considered planning and mapping our trip ourselves. Then, we landed on a far better idea: a self-guided trip with Run the Alps.

Sometimes, things just fall into place. That’s what happened this last month when Run the Alps’ friend Brian Tinder and fellow Flagstaff, Arizona runner Rob Krar announced they’d be taking part in the DDM Trail, one of the oldest trail races in the Alps. As a result, Run the Alps is able to offer a

Every year for the past 31 years, the Montée du Nid d’Aigle (literally, the “Eagle Nest Ascent”) has started at 580 meters in Le Fayet, close to St. Gervais, and has finished at 2,400 meters at the Refuge du Nid d’Aigle. The Refuge is also the starting point for the Mont Blanc Voie Royale or

In the history of trail running in the Alps, there isn’t an event that goes back much farther than Trail des Dents-du-Midi, held in Champéry, Switzerland.

We get a lot of really nice reviews here at Run the Alps. Then, every now and then, we get a letter like this one — something that just stops us in our trail running shoes and reminds us why we love this work. Shannon, thanks. (And — oh! — read on for Simon’s response,