The Ice Trail Tarentaise is Europe’s highest trail race with 65km of trail and about 5,000m vertical ascent and descent. It reaches a height of 3,653m and the line up consists of over 600 highly trained athletes who specialise in trail running. The nickname for the race is “where earth meets sky” as, at points, the athletes race above the clouds.

Ice Trail Tarentaise - Credit icetrailtarentaise.fr

The winner last year was Kílian Jornet Burgada, a Spanish athlete who is a three-time champion of the Skyrunner World Series. He ran the treacherous mountain race in 7 hours 35 minutes and 32 seconds beating his team mate by nearly 5 minutes!

Ice Trail Tarentaise will begin at 4:00am when the temperature is cool. The Altispeed Race  at 8:30am is 32km long with 2500m vertical ascent and descent and this is usually for beginner mountain runners. La Montagnarde is a 13km hike and this will start at 7:30am and the prize giving for all races will be at 4:30pm.

Ice Trail Tarentaise 2013 - Credit icetrailtarentaise.fr

Starting in Val d’Isere, Ice Trail Tarentaise passes through Tignes and Chalet du Charvet before going into the the Refuge du Fond des Fours and the Pont de la neige regions.This then leads to the Col de l’Iseran and the first runners arrive back at Val d’Isere just before midday.

The trail must be completed only by professional athletes as the high altitudes can cause sickness if you have not trained properly and this is more than a marathon so it takes a long time and a lot of energy! Go to support those fantastic athletes in Val d’Isere on the 13th July at Europe’s highest trail race. Your support will be gladly received.