UTMB Route - Day 1 of 3

UTMB Route - Day 1 of 3

So, arriving in Chamonix I had to buy some new Leki poles, as mine had seized, we both considered doing it without, this would have been a huge mistake and we both would have ended up sourcing some on a village on route 😂.

Once that was sorted and I was 180€ lighter, we set off on our 1st day, was looking like 20 miles to Les Contamines with 1 significant 1400m climb in the middle at Les Houches. Pretty straight forward, but it soon dawned on us there would be 2 significant aspects coming our way.

The heat - fuck me it was hot, roughly 32 degrees in Chamonix.

We both hated our packs, they felt really heavy due to carrying 3 days worth of kit

We set off out of Chamonix, with our preferred paces being slightly different, we both had 8kg packs on and neither of us had tested 8kg out prior, they just felt enormous and bouncy. Ali set off at like 8.30 min mile pace, I think we got around 400 yards before I I come out with "mate ya gona have to cool it, I'm fucked already" after that we settled into a low 9 minute mile pace on the trail to Les Houches.

Coming into Les Houches (a whole 5 miles in) my knee was screaming, I've had the same knee issue on and off for about 15 years now, my left leg is slightly longer than my right, which is un noticeable, but I think it causes the issue, anyways, it's normally easily manageable but it felt exceptionally bad. I honestly was thinking through scenarios where I was going to have to get buses round etc. To meet Ali along the route. However, stopped for a quick stretch and voltarol application in Les Houches and it seemed to fade, a mile later into the climb (with the glutes getting a bit workout due to these massive fucking packs) and it completely subsided! Result!

From one problem came another though, the heat, half way (about 30 minutes into) the climb, we were low enough for it to be really hot and had been climbing enough to get the heart rate up, by this point I was sweating so much the sweat was streaming off my forehead and onto the inside of my glasses, at that moment there wasn't a square inch of clothing on me that wasn't saturated. Luckily getting higher meant lower temps.

Up and over the climb we descended into St Gervais-les bains, with it came the heat again, we stopped at a Carrefore for supplies, which consisted of water, red bull, coke and a box of fake soleros.

After this was a steady rise for around 6 miles go Les Contamines, during this section I felt the worst I would feel all weekend, which at the time was quite concerning as I was blown to shit and completely hanging. Which in hindsight was probably due to the heat than anything else.

We got into Les Contamines at around 7pm, after 4:20hrs run time, which was probably more like 4 hours when you remove all the photo stops and messing about.

Another quick Carrefour stop before our Airbnb (which came with bunk beds, no sheets and no towels 😂)

That night I focused on getting as much food in as possible and came equipt with a few Liquid IV's which may have been placebo but seemed to sort me right out.

After a shit sleep for both of us it was onto day 2..... Les Contamines to Anovouraz