Trail Running · Chamonix

🇫🇷UTMB Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix 101 km:
Course Analysis & Race Readiness

101 km with 5,674 m of climbing and 5,834 m of descent across 11 climbs and 9 descents. A relentless downhill balance sheet built on a brutal opening ascent and one 20 km fall.

CourseRecon scores your own training against the descending and durability demands that define UTMB Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix 101 km — the sample analysis below shows exactly how.

101 km

Distance

+5,670 m

Vertical Gain

−5,830 m

Total Descent

Aug 28, 2026

Next Edition · 39 days out

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The Course · GPS-Measured

What 103 km / 63.8 mi and 5,670 m / 18,610 ft of vertical gain actually look like

Measured from the GPS track: 103 km / 63.8 mi and 5,670 m / 18,610 ft of vertical gain. This is the terrain you're signing up for: read it before it reads you.

Course Profile

Segments

Daylight

Terrain summary

Claimed vs GPS-Measured

Claimed · Organizer

101km

Distance

+6,050m

Gain

+1.6 km−380 m

GPS-Measured

103km

Distance

+5,670m

Gain

Climb & Gradient

+5,670 mTotal Gain

−5,830 mTotal Loss

Gradient Distribution

18%

Flat

≤3% grade

25%

Run-Climb

3–15% up

14%

Steep Climb

>15% up

43%

Descent

downhill

Steepest Sustained Sections

Climb

KM 26.7–31.2 · +752 m

+17%

Climb

KM 72.7–77.3 · +739 m

+16.1%

ClimbCRUX

KM 0.1–9.3 · +1,344 m

+14.6%

Climb

KM 60.5–65.6 · +686 m

+13.4%

Finish & Cutoff Times

What it takes to finish

Reference finish times from past results — use them to set a realistic goal pace.

10h 06m

Winning time

10h 29m

Top 5

10h 43m

Top 10

21h 27m

Median finisher

25h 51m

Back of pack

What This Race Demands

Four things this course asks of your body

Every course weights the four pillars of mountain-ultra fitness differently. Descending carries 49% of the scoring weight on this course — the terrain makes that the deciding factor.

Weighting shows where readiness is won or lost at this distance — not whether you need each pillar. An aerobic base is a given for a race this long, so it carries little deciding weight even though it's essential — the gaps open on the climbs, descents and the back half.

AerobicSustained engine

Foundational

Sustained effort over 101 km and 5,674 m of vertical gain.

ClimbingVertical power

19%

Eleven climbs including a 1,344 m opener and pitches above 15%.

DescendingEccentric / braking

49%

5,834 m of loss over 9 descents, including a 20.1 km fall.

DurabilityLate-race resilience

31%

Repeated up-and-down load stretched across the full 101 km.

The Profile in One Line

An ultra-distance course where descending dominates: 43% downhill against a 1,344 m opening climb.

Aerobic FoundationalClimbing 19%Descending 49%Durability 31%

Here's how CourseRecon reads a course and an athlete

Sample Readiness Analysis

What a readiness result looks like for this course

This is a worked example for a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete — not your score. Connect your own training and the same analysis runs on you.

Sample

OUT OF 100

MOSTLY READY

For a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete

This is a sample — connect your Strava to see your own result.

Pillar Breakdown

Aerobic

Covering 101 km with 5,674 m of gain demands steady aerobic output across many hours, though no single sustained-flat stretch defines the effort.

Climbing

Eleven climbs totaling 5,674 m, led by a 9.2 km, 1,344 m opener at 14.6% and steep pitches reaching 17%, require strong climbing legs.

Descending

With 5,834 m of loss over 9 descents and 43% of terrain downhill, including a 20.1 km descent losing up to 1,437 m, quads must absorb enormous eccentric load.

Durability

The alternation of 11 climbs and 9 long descents across 101 km punishes tissue resilience, with major descents arriving late after cumulative fatigue.

KM 0–9

The Opening Wall

From the start the course climbs 1,344 m over 9.2 km at 14.6%, the biggest single ascent, forcing an early decision between pacing and burning matches.

KM 72–77

Late Steep Climb

After 72 km, a 739 m climb over 4.6 km at 16.1% tests climbing power against accumulated fatigue.

Long Descent

The 20 km Fall

A 20.1 km descent losing up to 1,437 m places sustained eccentric demand on the quads, decisive for anyone whose descending has degraded late in the race.

That was a sample