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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

In the world of trail running, the vertical kilometer has quickly developed a well-deserved reputation for being as challenging as it is short. “Thirty-seven minutes in the pain cave,” as US mountain runner Max King rightfully concluded, after last month’s Chamonix’s Vertical Kilometer, or “VK.” Climbing 1,000 meters in 5 kilometers or less (and often

As I gasped for breath, my legs on fire with the lactic acid building in them as I climbed, and the sting of sweat in my eyes, I yet again wondered why I thought that Lodrino Lavertezzo Skyrace, more fondly known as LoLa, was a good idea. Twelve months ago it had been our baptism

I am on a glacier, crawling across a ladder, a gaping abyss of a crevasse below, when the thought occurs. Ice Trail Tarentaise has got to be one of the most extreme trail races in all the Alps. This race, founded in 2011, has quickly garnered attention in the Alps, where there is no shortage of

Mira Rai, the young Nepali runner, is being interviewed. Her gentle face is radiating an infectious smile. She looks incomprehensibly fresh after winning Chamonix’s 80-km Continental Skyrunning Championships just moments ago with a new course record of 12:32:12. Her nearest competitor, Spain’s Anna Comet Pascua, didn’t see the finish line for another 22 minutes. Place