Tor des Geants Race Report - Part 3
Donnas to Gressoney
I dubbed Donnas to Gressoney “the thunderdome”. 35 miles with 20,000 feet of climbing across the most wild and rugged part of the course. At this point you have done around the equivalent of UTMB (100 miles with 35,000 feet of climbing) and have 120 miles and ~50,000 feet of climbing remaining. Wait, what? This was so far beyond what I had ever done. I just had to shut off my brain and exist in a world of moving, eating, and occasionally sleeping.
I felt great coming out of Donnas, quickly passing several runners. There were 3 different checkpoints - Perloz, Sassa, and Coda - on the 7,500 foot climb from just above sea level back up to the high alpine. We wound through the town with some climbs and descents through steep, rooted forest trails. I was still fully stocked up at Perloz and just grabbed some juice for the road.
The famous bridge as you leave Donnas
During a runnable forest road section, I called my parents and had a delightful chat with them in the middle of the night. A great feature of this race and the time difference was that I could call home for some company during the wee hours. I feared the nighttime sections before the race but actually enjoyed them more than I expected. Well, at least some of them. On the second and third nights, I slept earlier in the evening than I had planned, and I felt fresh and alert for much of the nights. It also got very hot during the days, so the cooler temps at night felt great.
I motored through Sassa on up to Coda and back into the wild high alpine. As we crested the steep climb, suddenly we were on a ridge overlooking the valley towards Milan and civilization. It was a strange contrast, but soon enough we’d be back into the remote wilds of Tor.
I had a fantastic split to Coda, picking up some of the time I lost on the Cogne to Donnas section. I had also planned to sleep at Coda originally, which I didn’t need since I slept at Donnas, so that would be more time picked up. I took my time to fuel up here with soup and other treats, and then I put my head down on the table for a few minutes. I never was able to sleep this way, but it was nice to calm and relax my body. James was here, and it was good to see a familiar face. He left soon after I arrived, and I hoped I’d catch him down the trail.
Back into the night it was initially very cold and windy. The descent from Coda was just ridiculous – 2,000 feet per mile on scree and rocks in the dark. I was in no rush and just focused on not hurting myself. We came down to a wooded section, and I bumped into James and another UK runner, Pat. I think they stayed together from here through the end of the race, which is just so cool. They were waking up from a short dirt nap and reported feeling quite refreshed.
Yet another breathtaking sunrise
The sun was just starting to come up, which is often when you feel sleepiest during these races. I’m not sure if it was the time of day or having seen them do it, but suddenly I started falling asleep on my feet, and a dirt nap sounded VERY good. It took a little while to find a suitable spot, but I came upon a nice grassy section and laid down for 8-10 minutes, sleeping for a few minutes. I felt fairly refreshed and pushed on to the remote outpost of the Barma rifugio. It was nestled alongside a lake in a stunning rocky landscape. I had some soup, coffee, and a banana, a lovely breakfast to start day three on the trail.
Barma rifugio in the middle left. This is truly in the middle of no where and at least a 5 hour hike from the closest access point.
Inside of Barma - it is incredible how these rifugios support the Tor, and it is a significant undertaking for them
On the traverse from Barma, we could now see Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn and were approaching the far eastern edges of the Tor course, so far from where we started next to Mont Blanc. I enjoyed the climb up to Col du Marmontana, feeling good and soaking in the jaw-dropping views. It was a steep, scrambly descent to Lago Ciaro, another treasure of an aid station. A helicopter was just taking off as I arrived, presumably dropping off supplies at the bivouac.
Day three landscape
Looking out at the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa in the distance. You can see the “trail” in the bottom right.
I powered up the steep climb to Col della Vecchia, pumped to get there and descend down to the major aid station of Niel, where I’d see my man Christophe again. The climb was fine, but then instead of heading down we traversed across this sheer mountain face, going up and down scree and rock fields as we traversed over. It was difficult, slow going to finally arrive at the Col della Vecchia aid point. I assumed we would now finally have a reasonable descent through the forest to Niel and moved through the aid station fairly quickly. Another mistake.
The Col della Vecchia aid station is in the center. We somehow traversed the rocks and gullies in the bottom left.
The trail down was just horrible. Zero stars. It kept traversing across the mountain face and through steep gullies, and it was wet, slippery, steep, and technical. I fell twice, once pretty hard on my right hip, and it took a lot of effort not to tumble down the trail. It took me so much longer than I thought to get to Niel, and I was again finding myself depleted and dehydrated.
This had become a bit of a theme, where I would feel terrible towards the end of a section. I typically started each section with 800 calories of Long Haul and 1500 calories of Spring Energy, which worked really well for me. But each section was so long that I would run out two thirds of the way through, and I could only stomach so much of the food they had at aid stations, which was basically the same throughout the course.
I felt unworthy of my cowbell welcome as I staggered into Niel, and I sat down to regroup. I drank a ginger beer and ate some of the famous Niel Polenta. I did my best to eat other food and raided my future supplies to grab more Spring Energy gels. Jen was going to try to bring extra gels from home since I was going through them faster than planned. I filled one bottle with water and one with Coke. I still didn’t feel great but figured it was best to push on and get to the life base at Gressoney.
Even the cowbells couldn’t put a pep in my step at this point
I was deep into new territory at this point, having covered 125 miles with over 50,000 feet of climbing. I was tired and hurting, and there was still just so far to go. I was in a constant state of fear and doubt, and I really didn’t know if I could do this. I’m not sure when I started this mantra, but I’d repeat to myself “the only way out is through.” I came here to do this thing, and continuing on and crossing the finish line was the only option.
Coming out of Niel was a 2 mile and 2,500 foot climb in the heat of the day and mostly in the exposed sun. Christophe joined me on the climb, providing some most welcome company. In addition to feeding me, managing my gear, and fixing my pole, now he was also joining me out on the trail! What a guy.
Approaching Col Lasoney on the climb out of Niel
I was out of fluids on the top of the climb with longer than I would like to the aid station at Loo. When I finally arrived, I stayed there for a little while eating, rehydrating, and filling bottles. They were so kind and welcoming there, as were the volunteers all along this massive course. Christophe and the incredible volunteers were what kept me going, and I felt dependent on the kindness of others in a way I had never been before.
I felt a bit better after Loo and started making better time down to Gressoney. It would be around 5:30pm when I’d get there, but after this tough section and over 17 hours without really stopping, I decided for a longer stop and sleep before going out into night three. I called Jen on the way down, and she was very supportive of the plan. The heat of the day was rough, especially at lower altitude as I was now, and I seemed to move better at night. This would let me rest in the remainder of the heat and head back into the night a bit fresher.
Christophe said I looked tired coming into Gressoney. He was right …
I did this section in 17h30min, which was a good split on this monstrous section and as fast as I could have hoped to run it. I arrived at Gressoney and settled into what had become the life base routine. Drink some protein shake and eat some food, this time a delicious focaccia Christophe had conjured. I asked to be woken up after 1h20min and lay down in an almost completely empty sleeping room. The nice thing about being towards the front of the field and after so long out there is there weren’t many other runners around, and the aid stations and life bases were fairly quiet.
I fell asleep quickly, which was glorious. Less glorious was that I woke up after only an hour needing to go to the bathroom. Sigh. Well at least I had gotten some sleep. I polished off more food and managed to fill my hydration bladder with fizzy water, which turned out to be quite hilarious. Christophe had already filled the rest of my pack, and I changed clothes before heading out into night three at 7:30pm.
Christophe was super encouraging and said he would see me at Champoluc around midnight. And then I was off!
Gressoney to Valtournenche:
I admit I didn’t know this section well or what to expect. For anyone who knows me and my deep love of spreadsheets, this is straight up insanity. But this course was simply too big, and I’d just have to wing it on some sections.
A tradition at the Tor, especially for local runners with large support crews, is to have family or friends hike with them for a few miles coming out of the aid station (and sometimes the last few miles into aid). I found myself with a local French runner from the Savoie region and his crew / family as they hiked the road leaving Gressoney.
The sun was setting with stunning views of the Monte Rosa massif in the distance. I ended up chatting with the crew of the French runner for a few miles, me speaking in French with him responding in a French / English mix. It was a special moment you only find in Tor, and as rough as my French is, it was the most connection I’d had on the course in a very long time.
After a delightful stretch up the road, we hit the steep part of the climb, and I was back on my own. I felt great after my stop in Gressoney and powered up. We passed Rifugio Alpenzu, which was in full on party mode when I arrived around 8:30pm. Kids were out cheering and people were drinking and making merry. I felt too good and was fully stocked up from Gressoney, so I simply thanked everyone and moved on.
Not knowing what the course actually had in store, I assumed we would climb around 3,000 feet up to 7,500 feet and then descend to Champoluc. I was flying on the uphill and blowing by runners. One runner jokingly asked if I was in the Tot Dret, the 130km race that started in Gressoney at 9pm. That was a probably a good sign that I should slow down, and I dialed back to a more reasonable pace. Up we still went, and it turned out we would climb over 5,000 feet to 9,500+ feet. Of course that’s what we did. This was Tor after all.
The descent to Champoluc was extremely steep and technical, with some roped sections. After a bit, the lead Tot 130 runners started to pass us. This was truly a highlight of the race. It was great to see more people out on course, as things were pretty dark and lonely at this point. They were all very kind and encouraging, and they knew what we had been through.
I rolled into Champoluc a little after 11pm, ahead of schedule and feeling fantastic. I was blown away to feel this good so deep into the race on night three of minimal sleep. I knew it wouldn’t last, but I was enjoying it while I could! Champoluc was another party with all of the 130km runners coming through. The town was busy and bars were full of people cheering into the night.
I was delighted to see Christophe again and ate very well at this aid station. I bossed an entire pizza, and Christophe joked “pizza is life.” That was all too true - I was literally running on pizza at this point thanks to Christophe.
Pizza is life!
I felt great leaving Champoluc, mixed in with the Tot 130 runners as we ascended through town before getting back to the steep trail. But I went from high to low REAL fast, and the sleep monsters kicked in hard out of nowhere. I think my body finally realized that I planned to go through a third night with sleep and staged a full-scale revolt.
I didn’t plan significant sleep until Valtournenche, so I figured a short dirt nap would do me some good. I found a cozy patch of grass, but there were still lots of 130 runners, making it tough to get any sleep. Onwards I went.
I continued up with my 130km friends in the wee hours up to Rifugio Grand Tournelin. You could hear it coming from a mile away. They had two long poles with who knows how many giant cowbells slung between them. It was someone’s sole job to swing those two poles and ring those cowbells for all they were worth. Only at Tor …
I desperately needed sleep and decided to get 15 minutes here, but I was worried about being able to sleep with the cowbell grandmaster hard at work. They escorted me up to a small room that was completely empty. Better still, it was on the other side of the rifugio, keeping the cowbell cacophony to a dull roar.
I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to sleep for only 15 minutes deep into night three with a long way to go to Valtournenche. I had this whole rifugio to myself and should have taken advantage of it! I ended up waking up after only 10 minutes and refueled before heading out. Not my brightest move, but my brain wasn’t working so well.
We ascended up to Col di Nana, followed by Col des Fontaines. I was still just so sleepy after my too-short rifugio nap and took a dirt nap on a gentle slope between the Cols, letting the cold 9,000+ foot air wake me up. It was a long 4000+ foot descent down to Valtournenche. I actually felt ok at the start but faded hard as I went down. No amount of 80s music was able to keep me awake. I tried another dirt nap, but it was in vain as the Tot runners kept stopping to check on me. I wish they gave you a sign you could wear during dirt naps saying “Only mostly dead. Please let me sleep.”
I hit Valtournenche around 6am at the end of night 3. Despite the sleep challenges in the second half of this section, I had actually run a great split from Gressoney in just over 10 hours. But I was an absolute wreck. I nibbled some food and took a shower, which felt great. I told Christophe I would sleep for two hours, which seemed like a ridiculous luxury in Tor world. The room was quiet and mostly empty, and I was instantly out.
Sleeping like a baby in Valtournenche
Unfortunately, I was awoken AGAIN by needing to go pee, having slept maybe 1h15min. The bathroom was far away, and I was wide awake by the time I went there and back. Huge sigh. I had developed a small blood blister on my left heel and went to the medics to drain it and tape it. They made quick work of it, and I didn’t feel a thing - truly masters at work.
I went back to Christophe and set to work eating food and getting ready to drag myself back out. I got most of a pizza down and put the rest in my pack for later down the trail. On the bright side, I had managed to miss what looked like some fairly heavy rain while I was sleeping. I again should have eaten more here, but food was becoming less and less appetizing.
Getting out of Valtournenche was devastatingly hard. After 3 days and 3 nights with 4 hours of sleep, knowing I had another night and two days left was just too much for me. The only way out is through, Will. The only way out is through. I trudged out to start the penultimate section.