A close look at the 2015 PTL®

Race news: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® - August 24-30, 2015

La Petite Trotte à Léon (PTL), 300km and 26,000m of ascent in a maximum of 142 hours, is the first race during a mad week.

The PTL is one of the races during the Ultra-Trail du Mont- Blanc® week, but it is an event apart. Each year the PTL participants are faced with a new route around Mont-Blanc, crossing three international boundaries. On the menu are wild footpaths which are rarely used and challenges which go even higher and which are even longer. The PTL is a true adventure, which this year gives homage Jean-Claude Marmier, who was race director for six years and who passed away last July.

The PTL® is a very difficult ultra-endurance event. It takes place in the mid and high mountain, away from well-worn paths, which are even sometimes non-existent. This is not a race but an event without ranking where, in complete autonomy, teams of two or three  participants are inseperable.

Long-lasting friendships will be forged through the exploration of one's limits within the team spirit. This is not just a personal challenge but requires the solidarity of a whole team. To attempt the adventure, it is necessary to have experience of endurance sports, a good knowledge of the mountains and topography as well as a sense of solidarity and a team spirit. The route is not way-marked, simply mapped! (GPS tracks and maps are supplied).

2015 the year of the « Best-of » previous PTL®

For all those who knew Jean-Claude Marmier, this year will be a true homage to a man who became the leader at the creation of the event in 2008, while transmitting his love for the mountains and demonstrating his dedication.

For this special year, the route chosen passes the cairn constructed in his memory in the Tarentaise, near the Ruitor, on the descent from the Col de Montseti, where everybody can add their stone.

It was his idea to have a different route each year. For this, the eighth year, it is certain that the PTL® will pass the most beautiful sites, often difficult to access, demanding, with passages along the highest routes of the Mont-Blanc massif. Apart from the fatigue, each runner will be blown away by the beauty of the sunrise on a still virgin mountain.

On the programme are 16 passes at more than 2000m altitude. Buet (3 096 m) is the highest summit.

An exceptional route in a few remarkable points:

• Spectacular start via the 70 bends of the Vertical Kilometre under the Brévent.
• Col de la Cicle (km 41.50): superb pass with the view on one side of the Mont-Blanc massif and on the other the pre-Alps of the Beaufort country.
• Close to the Pierra Menta, magnificent view from the refuge Presset.
• From the refuge Archeboc (km 118) to the refuge Deffeyes (km 133) : the wild valley of Bellacomba with a multitude of lakes dominated by the immense Ruitor glacier.
• From the Tête de Licony (km 160) an extraordinary view of the south face of the Mont-Blanc massif, and the Grandes Jorasses.
• Catogne (km 221) : 360° over the Valaisian Alps with the imposing presence of Grand Combin, Mont Vélan and the Dent Blanche in the distance.
• The Luisin (km 253) : view of the Dents du Midi and the Chablais region, the Dents de Morcles and the Swiss Alps
• Mont Buet (km 277) : high point along the route with a panoramic view of the Mont-Blanc massif and  the Aiguilles rouges.