Author Archives: Doug Mayer

Grand Trail des Templiers is one of Europe’s most famous trail races. An astounding 13,000 runners take part in one of 15 races over three days at the close of October. Based out of the city of Millau, in the south of France, the region is filled with ancient villages, castles, and plenty of great   Continue Reading →

Salut from Chamonix, France! Pssst…. Run the Alps is going on tour!  Okay, it’s just a two-stop mini-tour, but it’s still great to be back traveling in the US and meeting our friends, alumni and future guests. Here’s the scoop! Boulder, ColoradoDate: Thursday, November 11, 5:30 pm Tor des Geants show, 6:30 dinnerLocation: The Westend   Continue Reading →

Here in Chamonix, trail running is rapidly evolving. New races are added and the calendar grows both in depth and duration during the trail running season. No event is more active than the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®, or UTMB®. And, today, the race announced that California’s Western States® 100-Mile Endurance Run will join the new UTMB®   Continue Reading →

Early yesterday morning, Chamonix-based trail runner Hillary Gerardi headed out for a run on the town’s famed Vertical Kilometer with photographer Dan Fitzgerald. Gerardi, a sponsored Black Diamond athlete, is also an Ambassador for Run the Alps. She and Fitzgerald were headed out to capture some photos for an upcoming Run the Alps project. The   Continue Reading →

Here’s a truism about European and American trail runners: they don’t always dress the same. As a friend of mine once said, “Everyone in the US wants to look like Anton Krupicka.” What she meant was: shorts, no shirt, shoes, and– maybe if it’s cold outside– a pair of socks. Meanwhile, my first few years   Continue Reading →

A week ago, I finished running Tor des Geants, the epic endurance trail race in the Italian Alps. “Running” might not be the ideal word, since all of us 711 starters spent most of our 4-6 days fast hiking, shuffling, walking, and basically finding any way possible to keep moving forward. Only occasionally did most   Continue Reading →

Run the Alps friend Emily Schmitz is an American trail runner living in Chamonix, France. In 2019, she finished 5th in UTMB‘s OCC race. This year, she finished 11th. I am not a natural mountain runner. I grew up in Milwaukee, a city that sits in the heart of the Midwestern US, known for breweries,   Continue Reading →

Sometimes, every now and then, the camera is in the right place at the right time and captures something very special. That’s what happened this past July here in Chamonix, when Run the Alps ambassador and Black Diamond athlete Hillary Gerardi won Chamonix’s 90 km trail race, the longest race in the Marathon Mont Blanc   Continue Reading →

Krissy Moehl, 43, of Bellingham, Washington, is one of America’s best-known trail runners. She has competed in more than 100 ultras around the world. A Patagonia ambassador, she has been on a wide range of adventures from the Alps to China to Chile and most places in between. In 2015, she became the youngest woman   Continue Reading →

Sometime a bit more than 20 years ago, a trail runner approached Stefan Tscherry, the operator of the tram at the base of Leukerbad, Switzerland’s Gemmi Pass. The lift runs from the village, climbing 949 meters to its finish at the top of Gemmi Pass in the Berner Oberland region, roughly across the wide Rhone   Continue Reading →