TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 6

• • Race Reports, Travel

This is part 9 of a series detailing my experiences travelling to Europe and completing the Gore-tex TransAlpine Run. The TransAlpine Run is a 7-day stage race from southern Germany across Austria and into northern Italy boasting a distance of 250 km and elevation gain of 15000 m. Eight of us traveled there together as Team Ultra Crazy to attempt this huge goal.

I participated in the race in September 2016 but am just finished up the last few posts finally in June 2018. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

St. Leonhard in Passeier to Sarnthein

33.6 km | 2440 m ascent | 2153 m descent | 9 hour cut off

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of photos during the first half (or the “up” portion) of the day for my TransAlpine posts. When starting this race, I quickly learned not to take many photos until descending because I desperately needed all the precious minutes and seconds to make the cutoffs. I’m not sure why I took a few this day, but it could have been a disastrous mistake. I remember this was an awesome but difficult day with the last cut off being really tight!

There was lots of beautiful and scenic climbing as per usual. We had to get up over the ridge, down some steep, technical, rocky terrain, through the alpine for a while, and then straight down into town. We saw more cows of course, by this point I was getting a little less nervous around them.

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of photos during the first half (or the “up” portion) of the day for my TransAlpine posts. When starting this race, I quickly learned not to take many photos until descending because I desperately needed all the precious minutes and seconds to make the cutoffs. I’m not sure why I took a few this day, but it could have been a disastrous mistake. I remember this was an awesome but difficult day with the last cut off being really tight!

There was lots of beautiful and scenic climbing as per usual. We had to get up over the ridge, down some steep, technical, rocky terrain, through the alpine for a while, and then straight down into town. We saw more cows of course, by this point I was getting a little less nervous around them.

Chris stuck very close by me the whole race but ran off ahead a bit as we descended through farm land. It’s easier for him to run as his pace down than putting on the breaks to slow down to mine. Every so often he’d wait for me to catch up. So of course this is when I bailed.

I had been running down this weird cobblestone trail near a German lady when she fell. I stopped to make sure she was alright, although we didn’t speak the same language. She managed to continue on. Moments later I fell and cut my hand open on a rock. It wasn’t a big deal, however, I always feel a little off when I lose blood. I wrapped my Buff around it to stop the bleeding and caught up with Chris.

The next aid station was in sight below so I saw a first aid attendant there. He washed it out a bit, wrapped it in a ton of gauze and told me to get it checked out again at the finish line. Chris got me some sugary snacks while I sat and shook off my lightheadedness for a few minutes.

We finished this stage in 8 hours and 18 minutes. I believe we stayed at Hotel Alpenblick that night which was a short drive from the finish line. I remember ordering a three course meal which was heavily cheese and the salad bar was amazing!

More in the series:

TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 5

• • Race Reports, Travel

This is part 8 of a series detailing my experiences travelling to Europe and completing the Gore-tex TransAlpine Run. The TransAlpine Run is a 7-day stage race from southern Germany across Austria and into northern Italy boasting a distance of 250 km and elevation gain of 15000 m. Eight of us traveled there together as Team Ultra Crazy to attempt this huge goal.

I participated in the race in September 2016 but am just finished up the last few posts finally in June 2018. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

Solden to St. Leonhard in Passeier

33.3 km | 1453 m ascent | 2111 m descent | 8 hour cut off

It’s a year and a half since this amazing event and I am embarrassed to say I never finished my series of blog posts. I had basically accepted that I might never complete this task until I was recently contacted by Team RunRun. One of their coaches had been reading my first-hand experiences to provide information to their runners. Their interest renewed my drive to finish this series in the hopes that it can help those already registered for the race or spark an interest in those looking for an epic event to do.

My memory is terrible so these last few posts will be short and sweet. And hopefully accurate, but no promises!

I remember this route was just what we needed after a really tough couple days. It was such a relief. The trails were more runnable, the views were great, and the cutoffs were more obtainable. It felt like a really, really long (let’s face it, it was still 33 km) recovery day.

At some point we crossed the border into northern Italy. The towns had a little different style to them but German was still the popular language. Along the trails were little shrines, especially closer to towns but also in more remote locations.

The downhill near the end as we travelled closer and closer to the finish was simply breathtaking. Towns and houses sat up high on the mountainsides. As I GoPro’d a section through a little town descending rapidly on the windy road, we missed a turn. We were SO lucky that someone behind us saw and called out. Otherwise we would have had an epic hike ahead of us back up the road when we eventually realized.

There was a neat section running on metal structures built into canyon cliffs.

We finished in just over 6 hours.

After probably the most terrifying drive of my life (apparently the lines mean nothing on their super windy, narrow roads), we arrived at our hotel, Gasthof Platterwirt. We were back up in one of the mountain towns and the views were incredible. The food and beer was not bad either!

More in the series:

TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 4

• • Race Reports, Travel

This is part 7 of a series detailing my experiences travelling to Europe and completing the Gore-tex TransAlpine Run. The TransAlpine Run is a 7-day stage race from southern Germany across Austria and into northern Italy boasting a distance of 250 km and elevation gain of 15000 m. Eight of us traveled there together as Team Ultra Crazy to attempt this huge goal.

Mandarfen-Pitztal to Solden

25.7 km | 1887 m ascent | 2214 m descent | 7 hour cut off

It’ll be cold, they said. It’ll be 10 degrees down here and 4 degrees at the top, they said. I would soon regret dressing in long black pants and a black t-shirt.

Stiff and sore from our nearly 50K day, we went through our usual routine of getting dressed, packing our bags, and helping ourselves to the hotel breakfast. From there we walked over to the start line.

The first corral was released at the shot of a cannon which scared the sh*t out of all of us. It was really loud and not very far away. Shortly after, it was our corrals turn to go.

Chris and I ran hard off the start to get a good position in the bottleneck. The sun beat down on us and I warmed up instantly. I already regretted my clothing choices and for most of the day, I could only just barely stop myself from stripping down and running pantsless. I desperately hoped that the temperature would drastically cool as we climbed upwards.

After a steep few kilometres we came to a small lake that we ran around. It was accessible by gondola so there were a few tourists walking around. It would have been a great place to spend the day, but unfortunately we had places to be.

We were treated to a short downhill and had to traipse between more cows at the bottom. There was a bit of singletrack before we came to a dirt road and the first aid station. From there we were going straight up to the glacier.

I was relieved to find that the “dangerous sections” of this day seemed way less sketchy to me than the previous day. There were some rope sections that you could have got through without the ropes but having them made you feel a little more secure.

The trail was very narrow and there wasn’t much opportunity to pass anyone. As we got closer to the top I worried about time. It never seemed to end. When we finally reached the top but there wasn’t much time to celebrate as we had to get down to the next aid station. I didn’t think we’d make the cut off but since they had changed one the day before I figured we just had to be close. There were still a number of people around us … and they wouldn’t cut us all off would they??

The original race route took us onto the Solden glacier but we were told it wasn’t safe due to crevasses so they had to re-route us. We headed down a snowy stretch which they had covered with white mats. A string of us runners shuffled all down holding onto a rope. I was super slow and I held up some people (sorry!).

We made it through the aid station, albeit a little after the cutoff. It was all down hill from here! … supposedly. There was another stretch of uphill before we’d cruise all the way to the finish line.

I took the downhills slow (as if I have any other speed) and Chris patiently waited for me. Runners passed me but I didn’t care. We had lots of time now.

Chris and I arrived at the finish line with a time of 6:39.43,3. Hailey, Eduardo, Kyle, and Ward were already there and Dayna and Courtney finished shortly after us.

That night we all stayed at a really nice, modern hotel called the Backelar Wirt.

More in the series: